Windows 7 Direct3D 10Level9

Martin | Nov 26, 2008 | Comments

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The release of Direct3D 10 exclusively for Windows Vista was an unpopular move. Windows XP gamers felt that this was a move by Microsoft to make them switch to Windows Vista so that they would be able to enjoy the benefits of the new technology. This meant that someone playing a game like Crysis on Windows XP with a DirectX10 compatible video card would be only able to run it in DirectX 9 while a gamer playing it on Windows Vista would be able to make use of DirectX10.

Gamers with a DirectX 9 compatible video card would on the other hand also only be able to play the game in DirectX9. This is something that Microsoft intents to change in Windows 7. Microsoft will – according to Long – make use of something they call Direct3D 10Level9 which will allow users to run Direct3D 10 applications on Direct3D 9 hardware. This has an impact on the performance obviously.

Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP) will kick in if the video card is not supporting Direct3D 9 or Direct3D 10. Direct3D 10 can then be fully emulated by software. The image quality will be almost identical to that of Direct3D capable hardware. The downside is a huge performance drop that will make games like Crysis unplayable on even the fastest processors.

The fastest tested processor (Intel Core i7 8 Core @ 3.0 Ghz) managed an average of 7.36 frames per second in the Crysis benchmark running at 800×600 with lowest settings. That’s more than the Intel DirectX 10 integrated video card managed but only a tenth of a NVIDIA 8800 GTS video card.

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About the Author: Martin Brinkmann is an Online Journalist from Germany who discovered his love for technology in high school. He is currently working as a freelancer for several publications and runs his own Internet website Ghacks

  • chieftain20
    Seriously, for you people running with onboard graphics: Buy a video card! I will NEVER use onboard EVER again. Ever since my first video card (x1650 pro agp) I have never gone back. With all my PC builds every one now has an equivalent of an 8800gt or better in them.

    You don't know what gaming is like until you experience it with an 280GTX at 1920x1200 with 40fps in Crysis on High settings. Or even Fallout 3 at max settings with 60+ fps.
  • zammbi
    Windows 7 works fine for game.
    I have intel inbuilt graphics and I can run COD4 and left 4 dead fine.
  • Dinalth
     Im just looking for a fix for win7 to run older games... but reading this i have to say really fast i have win 7 i have vista and i have xp... so which system is the best? by far and wide xp LOL vista dont support ddr3 ram 7 is glitchy atm about it and xp could care less about it. as for game compatability everything worked in xp vista was always sketchy about it and 7 seems to crap out on games atm. So im waiting for a fix for all this and probably stepping back to xp
  • smilingman
    I have tested BF2/2142, Guild Wars, HL2, Second Life, and even Myst Uru work. I have many more games to test but to be honest I see the PC at less of a gaming platform than I use too.
    If your trying to run Win95 games them maybe you should us a virtual machine like  VirtualBox.
    I have Mixman DM2 usb turntable and it is only for WinXP and Win2K, so I thought I would have to give it up. But I now run a strip down version of WinXP in VirtualBox and it works.
    You may have to give up some older game if no patches are made.
  • smilingman XG
    I agree with Tom D to a point, that you need to upgrade at some time. If your a gamer your doing that all the time any way. But an OS should not be unusable for more than 80% of your user base on launch day.

    As a lite gamer for MS to give no DX10 support to WinXP was a bad call, DX11 I can understand that move. Considering Vista bad RAM management it was just one more bad decision of many with Vista.

    This 10level9 is just meaningless, you can get a DX10.1 APG Radeon 3650 for less than 100 US dollars and 2GB DDR RAM for 60 US dollars. Its time to start planning life after WinXP and start thinking about your next OEM computer or your new DIY hardware configuration.

    Thankful everything I read on this site leaves me to believe that Win7 will fix what Vista broke. But if you are still run 6 year old hardware and think that's good enough, you be wrong and to complain about it is ridiculous.
  • Tom D
    oh my goodness, quit whining! just upgrade your old computers if you want the best gaming experience. Vista + a DX10 graphics card makes (i have the nvidia 8500 GT 512mb DDR2) the best gaming machines, period.

    If you know anything about technology, you should know that XP wouldn't last forever... technology drastically changes year by year, and XP is over 6 frickin years old now! Go Vista!
  • Silma
    My god, this is even worse than restricting DX10 to Vista. That way newb l(users) really will go "ZOMG XP IS LIEK SOOOO SLOW LET'S WINDOWS 7" over and over again.
  • Firehawk2012
    tim , i think you read wrong , it said" Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP) will kick in if the video card is not supporting Direct3D 9 or Direct3D 10" so its saying that if you install this dx version and your card doesnt support dx hardware requirments that it  will use software emulation,so to sum that up you will be fine if you own dx 10 hardware,and if you dont then just stick with dx 9
  • Tim
    Point is marketing.  DirectX 11 for Windows XP, Vista and 7.

    Instead of dropping XP support, lets make it run like shit instead.  No HAL support, only software emulation for XP even if its got hardware capable of operating by HAL.  That'll get them saying XP is so slooow compared to  7.
  • :)
    At the end of my pencil :)
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