DirectX 11 to come with Vista SP2, uses raytracing

[camper.]

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.a...tno=526&pgno=1

According to a confidential source, Microsoft has decided to switch to ray-tracing in DirectX 11. They also plan to have DirectX 11 ready in time to debut with Windows Vista Service Pack 2. To do that, they have also decided to base it on the x86 architecture and Intel's ray-tracing engine. There are rumours that Intel did more than just "suggest" it to Microsoft, but that's another story altogether.

As DirectX 11 is a work in progress, Microsoft does not have an exact timeline. But the source claims that DirectX 11 could be part of Windows Vista by late 2008. Development is expected to be very short as much of the work had already been done by Intel. Coincidence?


You need not worry about your old raster-based DirectX 10 or older games or graphics cards. DirectX 11 will continue to support rasterization. It just includes support for ray-tracing as well. There will be two DirectX 11 modes, based on support by the application and the hardware (see table on the right).

Obviously, DirectX 11 would be a great boon to everyone, especially Microsoft and Intel. AMD and ATI would come out pretty well too. But NVIDIA might be in some trouble.

As the ray-tracing component of DirectX 11 will be designed around the x86 architecture, Intel and even AMD-ATI would have no problem coming up with processors and graphics cards that support DirectX 11. NVIDIA, on the other hand, will have to start from ground up or licence some technologies from Intel or buy up VIA's x86 team (ex-Cyrix). Obviously, they cannot do any business with AMD!

What will NVIDIA do? Well, that's something to watch out for. We are pretty sure that NVIDIA would have heard of Microsoft's decision to use Intel's work as the basis for DirectX 11 by now. We bet those guys are scrambling to come up with a solution. With that said, DirectX 11 and ray-tracing are still months away from reality. NVIDIA may have been caught with their pants down, but one can still do a pretty good shuffle even if one is not fast enough to pull up the pants to run.

Let's take a look at what some industry reps have to say about DirectX 11 and its support for ray-tracing.

There is a pre-alpha edition leaked from Microsoft (WARNING: DO NOT INSTALL ON ANY MISSION CRITICAL SYSTEMS) - http://files.filefront.com/DX+11+Pre.../fileinfo.html

[=98=]

I installed the alpha from that link and i'm getting an extra 30fps in Crysis. Thanks a lot for the link!!!

And, on the subject, won't ray tracing rape any of today's cards?

[Kreepy Kitteh =^o.O^=]

http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.a...tno=526&pgno=1



There is a pre-alpha edition leaked from Microsoft (WARNING: DO NOT INSTALL ON ANY MISSION CRITICAL SYSTEMS) - http://files.filefront.com/DX+11+Prerelease+Milestone+One/;7517404;/fileinfo.html

i just installed that.. its pretty awesome! got me dancing..:banana: i highly recomend it...

[CaptainKirk]

Is this (the article) serious? I would hope that it's an April Fool's joke. I am looking forward to 10.1 ffs.

[jesus]

what is ray tracing?

[camper.]

I installed the alpha from that link and i'm getting an extra 30fps in Crysis. Thanks a lot for the link!!!

And, on the subject, won't ray tracing rape any of today's cards?

Ray tracing will demolish today's CPUs, let alone cards. But hey, photorealism at 5fps, sounds good. Not too far from Crysis performance.

what is ray tracing?

Simulating rays of light going from the origin (light source), reflecting off ****, and into the observer/camera. Very computationally intensive but **** is it good.

Is this (the article) serious? I would hope that it's an April Fool's joke. I am looking forward to 10.1 ffs.

Serious business. 100% serious.



Vista SP2 is miles away. Lucky for the DX11 pre-release leak, I guess.

[CaptainKirk]

Is this internet serious or real serious?

[jesus]

Ray tracing will demolish today's CPUs, let alone cards. But hey, photorealism at 5fps, sounds good. Not too far from Crysis performance.



Simulating rays of light going from the origin (light source), reflecting off ****, and into the observer/camera. Very computationally intensive but **** is it good.



Serious business. 100% serious.



Vista SP2 is miles away. Lucky for the DX11 pre-release leak, I guess.

Is this what you mean? [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKqZKXwop5E&feature=related[/media]

[Vash2051]

It will take your shinies and make them MORE SHINEY.

[Iwantcable]

Is this internet serious or real serious?

Rick Roll is srs bsns.

************************

(nice try btw )


Edit:

A) Why is the URL blocked now?
B) Why does the original link to a Lost Planet demo?

[Hellsent 2.0]

Lols scinto gots annoyed and changed it..look at the reason for edit..GROW UP!! It aint april fools day here anymore...finished about half hour ago...

[sava700]

This would be a major blow to early sales of the new 9800cards if this were true and leaking it as it should. Now you have people huffing cause they will end up purchasing a 9800GTX to only have to purchase another card in the fall to keep up. Bad idea to leak this info on Microsofts and Intels part.

[camper.]

LOLOLOLOL SELF-SCINTOWNED!!!!

Oh by the way, I posted it on the 11th hour - literally.

Is this what you mean? [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKqZKXwop5E&feature=related[/media]

Yes, but you can't really see anything amazing about it there.

Quake 4 got raytraced: http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquir...ets-ray-traced

And yes, it takes your shineys and makes them even shinier. Well, not really. What it does is effectively take off the whole idea of "static shadows vs dynamic shadows" and simply have... shadows - just like real life. In real life, raytracing is exactly what happens, so to speak. This replicates it. Won't see anything very amazing until developers get their hands on it though (performance wise), which is going to be a long way away.

This would be a major blow to early sales of the new 9800cards if this were true and leaking it as it should. Now you have people huffing cause they will end up purchasing a 9800GTX to only have to purchase another card in the fall to keep up. Bad idea to leak this info on Microsofts and Intels part.

Good news. nVidia is getting too big for its boots and this move somewhat screws them royally, considering they can't do anything about it except for swallow up another large company.

[jake_]

hehe, scintowned.

more of the article for those too lazy to actually check it out.

Microsoft

Who told you this? We have been monitoring your articles based on leaked Microsoft information and like this one, they are ALL incorrect. Please let us know who your source is so we can correct him. (Editor : Or fire him???)

Note that we have notified our legal department and the FBI as all Microsoft internal documents are not meant to be taken out of the building. They will be in touch shortly. Please extend all courtesies in cooperating with their investigation. (Editor : Good luck! We are in Malaysia! )



Intel

This is a great day for Intel. For too long, those wannabes in Santa Clara and Ontario have basked in all the attention. Come November, the CPU will reign supreme again! Why buy graphics cards when all you need is an Intel multi-core processor?

I can't give you guys much more details than this. NDA restrictions and all that, but we have been running Crysis on Nehalem samples and some Core 2 processors. I can't quote exact numbers but the QX9650 is getting frame rates in the upper 30s. Nehalem samples are currently 50-60% faster but we think it will be closer to twice the performance at launch. Eat that, GPU!



AMD

Our Phenoms have no problem supporting DirectX 11 when it launches. What we fear is the inclusion of some codes that strongly favour Intel's microarchitecture. They are getting close to 100% scalability while we are hitting much lower percentages. We will be lobbying Microsoft to remove such blatantly anti-competitive actions by Intel or we may have to come up with a much better processor. In the meantime, I hope you will tell your readers to buy more AMD and ATI products. Times are tough for us.



ATI

Our merger with AMD is finally vindicated. The press may have derided that decision time and time again, but we are now well-placed to benefit from the switch to ray-tracing. In the meantime, our DirectX 10.1 advantage will see us well till DirectX 11 emerges. NVIDIA will finally get their just desserts for being so rude to us in your NVIDIA-AGEIA interview. We may be Canadians, but we are not stupid.

By the way, we are aware we have not been always responsive to smaller websites like Tech ARP but with our future successes with DirectX 10.1 and DirectX 11, we promise to hire more staff to reply e-mails and we may even allocate some budget for review samples. Just ask your readers to buy more ATI graphics cards! NVIDIA is screwed.



NVIDIA

No comment. (First try)

Again, we have no comment or knowledge of the matter. (Second try)

This is our final word on the matter. No comment. (Editor : Crap, they removed our login for their press documents!)



S3

Where did you hear this??? We have been working on a new series of high-end DirectX 10 graphics cards, and now they are shifting to ray-tracing?????



VIA

It is not relevant. Our customers do not play games. Neither should you.

That part made me lol more.

[sava700]

Good news. nVidia is getting too big for its boots and this move somewhat screws them royally, considering they can't do anything about it except for swallow up another large company.

Nvidia is a good company..the prices are still within a decent range considering the costs they have to go through for development. In no way is this good "leaked" news for not only Nvidia but ATI as well...hell their sales suck even without this.