DirectX 10 and future laptop gaming question

I am trying to understand the difference between DirectX 10 supported games and games that will run only with DirectX 10. The last couple of weeks of being on the road with a history of 80% per year for the last 2 years, I have been even more persuaded to purchase a desktop replacement laptop for when on the road. Now I know laptops like this are expensive and compared to a desktop you spend more than you need but when you have been on the road as much as me it gets old not being able to enjoy the games currently released.

Let’s use the Dell XPS M1710 as an example for this post. Right now as you know you can by the following configuration.

Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T7600G (2.33GHz, 4MB L2 Cache, 667 MHz FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista™ Ultimate
2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHZ, 2 DIMM (Upgradeable to 4GB)
Speed: 200GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
8X CD/DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW) with double-layer DVD+R write capability
512MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ Go 7950 GTX
Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™HD Software Edition
17 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen UXGA Display with TrueLife™

…but it also comes with a hefty price tag and with the recent release of Santa Rose 2.4GHz with a 800 MHz FSB a lot of people are screaming wait. There is a downside in my opinion in waiting because with the new Santa Rose comes the Nvidia 8600M series card running only at 256MB and compared to 7950 GTX it ranks very low in benchmark standards. They only thing going for it is that is DirectX 10 and features NVIDIA PureVideo HD. Now I know it could be quiet possible that Dell releases the 512MB version but till that is confirmed I don’t want to sidetrack.

Looking at games coming out this year for DirectX 10 (Bioshock, Crysis) and current DirectX 10 supported games (FSX, Eve Online and COH) all I have been reading is that they are all playable with DirectX 9 cards and have better FPS by a good 2x than the 8600M cards so when exactly will a user be required to only have a DirectX 10 card to enjoy the future of gaming? Basically how I read it not till sometime mid-late 2008 so why would a user want to wait when the current systems seem to be better suited for gaming and industry standards?

Thank you for any advise you might have.

[Edit]Changed 8800M to 8600M

 

It will be a few years before you will really need to have dx 10 or you can't play a games, every gamer out there won't ditch their notebooks for a dx 10 GPU.

I've heard anywhere from 2-4 years before you must have dx 10. The new games coming out are mainly in 2 versions, dx 10 and dx 9.
Dx 10 GPU's are pretty powerful and seem to give like 2x FPS than some dx 9 gpu's. But once you play a Dx 10 you'll have about a 1/2 drop in FPS due to the larger amount of FSAA that can be done by the GPU. As well as the lighting effects and other eye-candy.

Some people have bought Dx 10 notebooks because they were going to buy one a couple months ago but waited for Dx 10 and Santa Rosa.

The 8800M hasn't been released I think so there's no benchmarks out there, it should be better than the 7950GTX, but who knows by how much. Dell might not use the 512MB 8800M due to heat restrictions, look more towards Sager notebooks and the Asus C90 to use that thing ^.^.

 

Sorry for that typo but I meant to state 8600.

 

O I see, well the thing about the 8600M is that it fits into hm.I think 14"-15.4" notebooks? maybe smaller, but the power of the 8600M which is ~7900GS in such a small notebook is a huge performance boost from the old 7600-7700.

Probably by the time you need dx 10 you'll probably need 4 gigs RAM, 200-300 gig Hybrid HD, alot smaller notebook, and who knows what else will come along in a few years.

 

It will be many, many years before games require DX10, and by that time your card won't be powerful enough to play them anyway.

DirectX 9 has been out for about 6 and a half years now, and most modern games still support older DirectX versions. (for example, Source-engine based games can go all the way back to DX6, and games like Call of Duty 2 and Call of Juarez have a DX7 mode).

At the moment, it's really not worth it to get a mid-range DX10 card. As you said (and as we've seen with benchmarks on the desktop DX10 cards), enabling DX10 can cause massive performance decreases, and it's really only useful if you have gobs of extra FPS to spare (i.e., you have a desktop 8800 GTX or similar).

You seem to be in the same boat I am. You might want to look at the Sager NP5790 (which can be pre-ordered from reputable resellers like XoticPC.com or PowerNotebooks.com). It has specs similar (or better, since it's Santa Rosa) than that Dell XPS, and it's much cheaper (the notebook in my sig was a little over $2000).
I've decided not to wait for the 8700M GT (supposedly coming sometime around August), since it's not really powerful enough to enable all the pretty DX10 effects anyway (See this article: The desktop 8800 GTS gets almost unplayable framerates in DX10 mode). It's unknown at this time how the 8700 will perform, but I'm putting my money (literally) on the Go 7950 GTX continuing to be the high-end mobile GPU king.

 

first off.

dont get caught up in the numbers. 512 megs of ram vs 256 vs 1032422.

whatever. it barely matters. 256+ and you are rocking.

second.

the choice is basically up to you. but if you are laying down a large amount of money for a dtr laptop and you want it to last you a while, you might want to wait around for the 8800m. in all likelihood it will be here before you know it. 1 month? less? who knows...

forget directx 10. no one cares about that. what does matter is that the 8800m is likely going to be almost twice as fast as the go 7950gtx. every new gen. of gpu's tends to be leaps and bounds beyond the last. with the new set right around the corner, you will want to keep that detail in mind.

why lay down huge dolares just to have to put your in game settings at medium knowing that you have the horsepower to run them at high? just wait this one out. you will be a happier customer.

edit: i didn't make this clear. you aren't waiting for santa rosa. santa rosa is not important, just slightly faster speeds (you would never ever notice) and slightly better battery life (you might notice). santa rosa is just a mild added benefit of waiting for the 8800m.

good luck, whatever you decide.