Directx 10 for laptops (wasn't sure where else to post this)

Hi,

I'm thinking of getting a laptop but heard that directx 10 will be available for laptops but if I get a laptop now that has directx 9 I won't be able to upgrade to directx 10, is this true?

If so when will directx 10 be available for laptops.

Thanks

 

Almost no Laptop can upgrade the graphics card so no you cant upgrade to directx10 since you need new hardware.

Directx10 should come out with Intels Santa Rosa also called Centrino Pro in mid to end of May. But I dont expect it to be widely available till late summer or fall 2007.

 

Your graphics card can't be upgraded, but you'll be able to install DX10. So you can play the new games, but without the new effects of DX10 which aren't supported by your card
My old desktop PC has a DX7 Graphics card but plays a number of DX9 games fine. It just depands on how powerful your card is.

 

thanks for the advice, am thinking of buying a laptop with either a x1900 ati card or a geforce go 7900, so will these be able to handle dx 10 quite well or not? (if that makes sense)

Thanks very much

 

Most answers can be found in the sticky at the top of this forum. Hard to say when dx10 laptop graphics cards will be out and you can buy a laptop with one, maybe 2 months maybe 5 months.

 

7900gs can run all todays game with decent resolution. I say go for 7900gs, you will be able to play all games for next 2 years on it.

 

Yeah, that's also my expectation. I think, the X1900 has pretty the same performance.

 

The 7900 is DX9 compatible. So, if you buy a DX10 game, like Supreme Commander, Crysis, or Unreal Tournament 2007, you will not be able to unlock special DX10 effects, like ultra-realistic shadows, lighting, or physics effects.

Your DX9 card will run the game fine, but it will not let you fully experience DX10 eyecandy.

 

Thats correct. At the moment, the drivers for the Mobility X1900 aren't mature, and the card doesn't perform as fast as it looks. When better modelled drivers do release, the card will get faster and faster with every update.

 

it is already out:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=3567

cheers ...

 

wait...I dont get it. That laptop does not have dx10, it has a x1900.

On a side note, If given the choice, I'd definitely prefer builds with the 7900gs rather than the x1900 simply because they're much cheaper and they definitely have better support. And, as an added perk, the 7900gs has renowned overclocking abilities (such as the one on my sig), which can easily perform on par (and sometimes even pass) stock 7900 gtx configs.

 

I would also prefer a 7900GS, or 7950GTX solution versus an X1900. The X1900 is very new, and ATI has been horrible at driver support recently (X1700, anybody?) The 7950GTX is also still the most powerful single-card mobile graphics card in existence.

 

direct x is out on laptop. i have a alienware 5790 , and i have direct x 10..i even called alienware to confirm.

 

Alienware lied to you.

 

Yes, they did. However, your notebook will be able to play directx 10 games (not with the new features of dx10 included, however). As mentioned before in this thread. It is simply because the technology is not on the market yet.

 

Why don't people seem to understand that DX10 is NOT out in any form for laptops, especially not consumers.

For the person that thinks that the x1900 is DX10, and for the person who supposedly has an AW with DX10 (because AW said so, not thru actual proof) you're all very sadly mistaken, and still stuck in DX9 world no matter what anyone says, be it AW, George Bush, or a little birdie outside.

 

to answer your question, directx 10 for laptops will be released with the Santa Rosa chipset currently in final stages of development. VERY scarse numbers of these laptops will be available late this coming summer, but as said earlier widely distributed early fall. however, if you dont want to spend a ridiculous amouont of money on a graphics card (youre lookin at around $500 maybe?) id suggest to get a HIGH-end geforce 7 series card such as the 7950GTX, or those suggested by other members. Unless you're HARDCORE about this sort of stuff, just go with a 7 series card

hope that helped

 

Now, isn't the X2300 a DX10 card? If so, Newegg is selling the Asus A8 w/ a X2300...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834220136

So then that would mean DX10 laptops are out...just not the Santa Rosa machines...

 

No. The X2300 is a marketing ploy by ATI to fool people into thinking it's a DX10 card just by its name. It is only DX9, and its performance is very similar to the X1400.

ATI doesn't even have a DX10 desktop card. It would make absolutely no sense for them to expand into DX10 world, with their first card being a low-end card for a notebook.

 

Umm.... you guys do realize that Clevo (at CeBIT 2007) has announce 2 notebooks that are going to support high-end DX10 videocards... you should see them by Summer 2007.

Read article here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=111325

These notebooks will initially ship with 7950GTX (512mb), but have a new modular videocard design that will have upgrade capabilities for future videocards, like the nVidia 8800 Go... which was projected to released for this notebook by Summer's end.

 

Oh ok, thanks for clarifying that for me.

 

Pwned......

 

I don't think Alienware lied. Here is what I believe occurred. The person asked do I have direct X 10 on this laptop. If he has vista then he has Direct X 10 on the laptop. However the discussion here is video cards that implement the Direct X 10 API. There are none currently being sold for laptops. There is a good chance that nVidia will have some out around the time Centrino Pro laptops are available (aka Santa Rosa).

 

Yeah any laptop running Vista can install the directx10 software packages. But even with that software all current laptops will only run in directx9 mode (or lower for older laptops.) And you will not see any directx10 graphic effects no matter what you do.

 

You'll need a native DX10 card to run DX 10 effects.

 

Thanks for the info, much appreciated. So do you think I should wait for DX 10 to come out which will no doubt push the prices up for laptops, my price range will be bout £1500

I prob won't be playing all the latest games on it as i will probably, most likely games like need for speed, call of duty, football manager, pro evo.

Also, (this may sound like a really stupid question), but will dx10 affect movie quailty (yes, i know nothing about computers).

thanks

 

Im not sure on this, but i think MXM motherboards also support DX10, since its possible to upgrade graphics cards with them, like the Clevo Dc900c.

 

Well with that budget you'll definitely be able to buy a DX10 laptop when they come out. The thing to be careful about is availability - Santa Rosa is being released in May and the initial supplies will probably be very low, because a lot of people will be buying laptops then and demand will be very high. I'd expect widespread availability in June.

I don't really think there will be price inflating, though. Take a look at the 8800 desktop series as an example. When they first came out they were selling for $600, and they were only in limited supply, and everyone was buying one. It's only down to $550 after about 5 months. Also, the Core 2 Duo E6600 was released more than half a year ago. It was $320 when it started selling back in August ... it's $315 currently on Newegg.

I doubt prices will inflate by more than 50-100 pounds.

 

I will be buying a notebook in late august because I will need a laptop for my study. Since I have had a very *beep* desktop for almost 6 years now I really want something I can play a game with (Red Alert 2 lags on this desktop =S ). I would really love to have a directx 10 notebook to be more futureproof and have better graphics.

Also, I think I do not want a high-end model (go 8800), but a medium end model. This, because of the costs, notebook size and battery life. Will it be possible to buy a laptop with for example the go 8600 in it before september? And if no, when will it? I hope you can give me an answer.

Thank you

 

MXM notebooks will be at a slight advantage, because of the upgradeability, however, the thermal aspects of some of the DX10 graphics cards need to be considered. For example, the Go 8800 will most likely have a high thermal output, and most notebooks won't be able to accomodte the extra heat. Even some of the best thermally managed notebook, like the Clevo M570U have had to be altered slightly, so that they can accept a Go 8800.

I think by September, there will be a few notebooks on the market with that graphics card. However, they may not be in a smaller notebook of 15.4" size, but rather in 17" notebooks. Some of the specialist notebook manufacturers, those who want sales from gamers, will almost certainly be the first to implement DX10 graphics cards into notebooks. We will just have to wait and see which notebooks will have upgraded graphics.

 

Thank you, Zero. I'll have to think of a temporary solution then (since I'd really like to have the card )

 

A suggestion that I would like to make is to wait and see what happens to the market. nVidia has confirmed it will ship the Go 8600 and Go 8400 in time for Santa Rosa, which is roughly one month away from release. That leaves alot of time for some manufacturers to implement the graphics cards into their notebooks.

 

It looks like I just have to be patient

 

How long do you think we have to wait until we start seeing DX10 gpus in 14-15 inch notebooks? I plan on purchasing an Asus A8Js because of its power and size. Also is the Go 8600 and 8400 the same as Go 7600 and 7400?

 

How long it will take depends on manufacturers, and the demand. Clevo seems to want to get ready for the new graphics cards quickly, but only because there sales thrive of gamers. HP and Dell will probably be a little slower, but eventually they will also get DX10 cards implemented. However, I can't say when exactly.

The Go 8600 is expected to be about as powerful as the current Go 7900 GS. It may be less slightly less powerful, but it will certainly be a good gaming graphics card. The Go 8400 can probably be compared to the Go 7600/7700 we have currently. So, these new cards will certainly be powerful and a level up from the current generation.

 

Do you think we'll be seeing the Go 8600 & 8400 in 14-15 inch notebooks? Is this all just speculation? (no offense) or do you have proof of what your saying? I dont mean to sound like an ass but I'm just curious because I plan on purchasing a notebook soon and want my notebook to be future proof for at least 3-4 years.

 

Yes, I suppose it can be called speculation. However, the trend is that when a new generation is launch, either on the desktop or mobile market, that the high end of the previous cards cn be harnessed in some of the mid range graphics cards. For example, the link below shows that new 8600 range of cards on the desktop market, will replace the current 7950 GT and 7900 GS. The same can be said for the mobile market.

http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=4723

 

Well it is all speculation at this point since nVidia has been keeping quite about their mobile DX10 GPUs and are working hard to try to get mainstream desktop GPUs to market, while ATI is working hard to get anything to market. According to the latest news/rumors/speculation, ATI will be launching their full DX10 portfolio including mobile parts on April 23:

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=38442

It's still hard to tell what's going to happen especially because ATI is skipping over the 80nm processor for DX10 and is trying to push to 65nm which currently has low yields. I really wouldn't expect to have wide availability and selection of DX10 GPUs until late May/June.

In regards to whether we'll see the Go 8400 and Go 8600 in 14-15" notebooks, there isn't like a formal statement, but it's implied since that is where mid-range parts are traditionally targeted. Whether this will make you future-proof is unknown since I really don't know what that means. I think my MacBook Pro with a 2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, 160GB HDD, and a 128MB X1600 should easily last me 2-3 years. On the opposite side of things, there is already talk of DX10.1 so the yet to be launched Go 8x00 series is already outdated.

 

Manufacturers like Asus are usually very fast at getting new cards into their notebooks. The A8J series is pretty well known for this. Asus incorporated new cards, like Radeon X1700 or Geforce 7700, into those laptops pretty quickly.

 

So do you guys think its worth waiting until summer for something similar to an A8Js with DX10? I know the A8Js is good enough for normal use because I dont even play games anymore but after I saw Alan Wake & Crysis, I had second thoughts.

 

Well I say the sooner gamers stop buying DX9 laptops, the sooner DX10 laptops will become available. If the DX9's are still selling, then the companies have no reason to release DX10. They will milk the market until it is dry.

So everybody thinking about buying a laptop, STOP. At least dont buy a new one..

Remember, consumers hold the power and if we want DX10 now, they better deliver if they want to sell anything.

 

Yes, you are correct about that. However, going from the Go 7600 to a Go 7700 isn't a massive leap, because the thermal outputs and power consumption are about the same. DX10 cards will bring their own thermal properties, and power consumption, and coupled with the release of Santa Rosa, it will take quite some effort from manufacturers to get the new notebooks equipped with all these features to the market. But yes, Asus won't sit and wait around, as they count on these sales.

 

so everyones saying that once new laptops start coming out you will need a MXM chipset to upgrade to a DX10 video card. will the santa rosa also be able to upgrade to a DX10 video card without any altercations?

 

Haha yeah, right... Sorry to say, the world isn't quite that simple. First, it takes ages for NVidia or ATI/AMD to even notice a difference in sales of laptop GPU's, because they're so far removed from the end product. (They deliver a bunch of chips to a manufacturer who then designs a laptop over a few months, starts production, again over a few months, maybe sends it to a few other companies who can stick their own names on it, before sending it to the shops)
So even if your little theory worked, the GPU makers wouldn't really be aware of the difference until, say, june or august. Then they could start pumping out DX10 hardware, which would then be ready for use in laptops around, oh, a december, january timeframe...

And that's pretty much useless because we'll see DX10 laptops before that anyway. So nothing you can do will really speed up that process.
But it takes a while for new technology to propagate out to laptops, and there isn't much you can do about that. I'm sure you wouldn't want a desktop-level 8800 in your laptop, killing the battery in ~30 minutes. They need time to come up with decent laptop models.

 

You would not recognize a barrel full of sarcasm if it fell on your head. :yes:

 

does anyone know the answer to my previous question?

 

Santa Rosa is just the Intel platform. It depends alot more on the notebook manufacturer, because they will decide if the notebook will have MXM or at east a modular/upgradeable graphics. Also, most of the notebooks with Santa Rosa will already be equipped with DX10 graphics cards.

 

Well I cannot wait to see how Asus will humiliate again the Mac, Vaio, XPS, AlienWare or other monsters, with the always new and powerful A8J series !! :wink:

 

The anticipation is killing me. I want the A8js but Santa Rosa, DX10, & HDDVD is right around corner.

 

The cardinal rule is: Do you need it now? If the answer is yes, because you have a business meeting in 5 days and you absolutely need a new machine before then, then you should go ahead and buy a laptop. If you can wait, as you've proven above, you can get more advanced features when a new generation of technology rolls around.