worth a DX11 card?

[zapatista]

i suspect it will come down to the first buyers/reviewers doing fpsec comparisons in dx9, 10, 11, and seeing which gives the best compromise between speed and quality

but i agree, some indication from oleg on what version of dx he is aiming at optimizing for would be helpful. with the current changes in combining various different versions of the game engine elements (see most recent comments from oleg today), he might not know yet himself

[Flyby]

I found the test of DX11 to be interesting. [H]ardOCP tests the title "Metro 2033". Interesting: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/...rformance_iq/1
for the low-down you can go directly to the "conclusion" page in the drop-down menu.
Flyby out

[Thunderbolt56]

To answer your question...is it worth it to buy a DX11 card right now? The easy answer is ...no.

First, there simply isn't much done (or even in the pipeline) right now that is DX11 based. Second, as is typical, the early hardware that is released to use the most recent version of DirectX usually only does it well enough to run it...not make it sing. (remember DX10?).

Regardless of what Oleg's answer is regarding DX versions and their relation to SoW, I wouldn't bother with any of them right now. At least wait for a refresh in a few months or wait until something you really want to play is using DX11, then the value of your purchase is better realized anyway.

[Codex]

Well I think it depends what you want and can afford. I do have to disagree on the point on performance. I have two 5870's in Crossfire, but even when I disable Crossfire, Metro2033 and AvP3 are smooth as butter at 1920*1200, even Crysis runs well on enthusiast settings at full res on one card, but Crossfire is much better.

But if your on a budget and want to upgrade just for flight sims / SoW, I'd wait. Wait for a wider range of Fermi cards to hit the market and for some SoW / DX11 benchmarks to hit this site. Even now the ATI cards are starting to come down in price.

[whatnot]

And another thing I haven't seen an answer to is that how will the performance balance be between CPU and GPU.

I'm planning on investing on a new cpu to accompany my GTX285 for FSX, but it pisses me off that I can't find anything that would clock high without OC'ing them regardless of how much I'd invest.
So do I have to put my propeller hat on and go SubZero on my cooling arrangements with SOW or can I rely on decent CPU accompanied by high end GPU?

I don't need any specs at this moment, but general thoughts on the matter would be nice.

[lbuchele]

I think I agree with Codex.New generation of VGA are so powerful that we are probably in one of the rare points where hardware surpasses current software.
I suspect that we will be able to run fine SOW with the current hardware ( the very best of it, of course)

[AKA_Tenn]

So far, all the dx11 games i've tried don't look a lot different in dx10, but the difference between dx9 and dx11 is quite a bit, i think games that don't just add dx10 and dx11 layers onto an existing dx9 base, but actually make full use of dx11, u might see a bigger difference... but so far, all games have been is dx9, but with a few features from dx10/11 added after the fact.

it'd be nice to see a game where it was specifically designed to work with directx 11, and won't work without... but it'll probly be directx 15 coming out before dx11 becomes standard... if it ever does...

[Codex]

And another thing I haven't seen an answer to is that how will the performance balance be between CPU and GPU.

There is no balance yet, almost all games are limited by the GPU when pushed to their limits. You'll get very little difference in frame rates when comparing a budget processor to an extreme processor while using the same video card.

What's really important IMO is memory bandwidth, especially on Vista / Win7 as the OS sees all memory (RAM, VRAM and Page File) as one chunck of addressed space. Hence Fast VRAM, RAM and HDD speed is important.

it'd be nice to see a game where it was specifically designed to work with directx 11

The DX11 title really only indicates that the current version of the DirectX API has had additional features added. While SoW will use DX11 functions, it will most likely also use other DX functions that are from earlier revisions, e.g. " IDirectInput8::EnumDevices() " is a DX8 function that allows you to setup and use joysticks, and is still current in the API.

[JG27CaptStubing]

I would also wait to let Nvidia address their current issues with heat and noise. They're going to need a die shrink to address these issues. I would wait at least till fall with their new refresh.

On the other hand you have ATI which is showing that it's almost as fast in some cases faster (most likely driver) than Fermi. Much cooler and a lot less cost than Nvidia.

As tempting it is to go with a single card that's more than 2 times faster than what I have now I'm going to wait yet another summer before upgrading. ATI may be the way to go if their second revs which are starting to surface now. It's hard to say with the lack of DX 11 titles if its worth the upgrade now.

[Flanker35M]

S!

Indeed Captain It will be interesting to see how it settles after both companies get their stuff refreshed and drivers top notch. Hopefully it results in a healthy price competition, good for us consumers I am waiting for my 2Gb ATI card now, ordered it. Shall see when it comes, waited for my 5870HD for like 2 months last year after release...