AMD Expects DirectX 11 and Windows 7 in 2009

[Heinz68]

AMD Expects DirectX 11 and Windows 7 in 2009, More in Store
AMD conducted a presentation at CEATEC Japan, where the company took a sneak-peak at how the role of GPUs would become critical to the PC of tomorrow. This of course revolved around the company's newly adopted "The Future is Fusion" slogan, integrating all of AMD's technological expertise into object and function oriented solutions for the PC industry.

Among the numerous slides that formed part of the presentation, one such slide, shows some very interesting points on what the year 2009 looks like, from AMD's perspective. It shows a lot of things slated for much later to make it to the industry. To begin with, the DirectX 11 API and Windows 7 (Vienna) operating system could make it to the industry in 2009. However, there's no mention of them being "released" as such, or if they could just be working prototypes, such as alpha releases for use by select parts of the industry for mutual technology development.
http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/8398/amd2009as0.jpg
For AMD to be ready with compatible hardware as and when the software hits the store, it needs the software way before-hand, so its hardware could be tailored to the software. The second most interesting bit is about OpenCL, and its propagation. OpenCL is a high-performance computing (HPC) API that finds competition in NVIDIA's proprietary CUDA. The API could be "open" for use by all players in the industry, and it could as well drive AMD's Stream Computing initiative. This also forms base for GPGPU applications that would well be compatible with AMD and any other HPC hardware vendor that chooses to implement it. The company also hints at the implementation of the 40nm silicon fabrication process for its upcoming graphics processors.

GDDR5 memory technology could propagate, and there are already indications of NVIDIA implementing this technology in its upcoming products. Also in line, are HD+ video standards, that take the HD video display resolution beyond the 1080i, multi-touch technologies that are human interface screens which are sensitive to touch at multiple points (zoomed into an image on an iPhone?). Source techPowerUp (http://www.techpowerup.com/72854/AMD_Expects_DirectX_11_and_Windows_7_in_2009_More_ in_Store.html)
Here is the translated PC Watch (http://translate.google.ca/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fpc.watch.impress.co.jp%2F docs%2F2008%2F1002%2Fceatec09.htm&sl=ja&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8) article the techPowerUp used as a source. Many more slides in that article.

[K007]

oooooooooooooooooooooooo :D

[Xion X2]

Damn, Vista didn't last long, did it!?

[npras42]

Nobody is saying that DX11 won't be available for Vista as well. In fact, they are going very much out of there way to say that the driver model for Vista and 7 will be 100% compatible so there is no reason for DX11 not to be for Vista.

Besides by Q3 2009 it will be 2.5-3 years since Vista launched which is a pretty reasonable timeframe for an new OS. XP was the exception not the rule.

[CaptNKILL]

Screw that. I just bought an OS last year. Windows 7 can wait unless they're going to upgrade me for free. :p

[Xion X2]

In fact, they are going very much out of there way to say that the driver model for Vista and 7 will be 100% compatible

What do you mean by "compatible?" What I see is Nvidia and ATI having to program 3 driver sets: one for XP, one for Vista and one for 7. That would be a nightmare, IMO, as we went through this stupid thing with XP/Vista not that long ago. And now having to optimize drivers for 3 different OSs at once? There are still a ton of people on XP.

Besides by Q3 2009 it will be 2.5-3 years since Vista launched which is a pretty reasonable timeframe for an new OS. XP was the exception not the rule.

I think they should wait until most users migrate to the most recent OS first. You're going to have plenty of people out there running 3 different operating systems.

Perhaps I'm worried about nothing, but this seems premature.

[Vanzagar]

3d stereoscopic displays, yeah right...

[npras42]

What do you mean by "compatible?" What I see is Nvidia and ATI having to program 3 driver sets: one for XP, one for Vista and one for 7. That would be a nightmare, IMO, as we went through this stupid thing with XP/Vista not that long ago. And now having to optimize drivers for 3 different OSs at once? There are still a ton of people on XP.

What I mean is that MS are making out that the transition for driver development from Vista to 7 will be a very simple one. There will be no major changes between the 2 OS in that respect. Therefore, ATI and NV won't have to do much to 'port' a driver from Vista to 7 or vice-versa.

Its nothing like the difficulty of transitioning from XP to Vista. That is according to what I understand anyway. The truth of the matter won't be known until RTM.


I think they should wait until most users migrate to the most recent OS first. You're going to have plenty of people out there running 3 different operating systems.

Perhaps I'm worried about nothing, but this seems premature.

I don't think they want to wait for people to transition to an OS that is proving to be very unpopular with the public. People will skip to 7 straight from XP if this time round the new OS gets a better rep than the last time.

[methimpikehoses]

DX10 was so awesome... I can't wait for 11. :headexplode:

[Single Player]

what's digital walls?

must be something good! :D

[GamblerFEXonlin]

I have a question. Geforce 200 series does not support neither DX11 nor DX10.1, which means no fine grained task switching (smoother multitasking?). Does this mean any lagging or jerking when using many simultaneous things on the GPU?

Like having all the GUI draw calls excecuted on the GPU (like OS X), folding@home and HD movie hardware decoding at the same time.

[nutcrackr]

Damn, Vista didn't last long, did it!?
dot

[nemecb]

Methinks they are a bit over-optimistic with some of that. HD+ displays? What would you watch on them? Half of the HD content available now isn't even in 1080P.

[Heinz68]

I'm still using the Windows XP and would prefer to skip the Vista and wait for the Windows 7. With my next system upgrade (Nehalem) I wont have that option and have to buy the Vista 64bit.

Yes DX11 will be Vista supported and in case there is going to be any Windows 7 delay we might even see the DX11 on Vista first.

Here are some bullet points about DX11, too bad NVIDIA doesn't even support the DX10.1 yet.
* Full support (including all DX11 hardware features) on Windows Vista as well as future versions of Windows
* Compatibility with DirectX 10 and 10.1 hardware, as well as support for new DirectX 11 hardware
* New compute shader technology that lays the groundwork for the GPU to be used for more than just 3D graphics, so that developers can take advantage of the graphics card as a parallel processor
* Multi-threaded resource handling that will allow games to better take advantage of multi-core machines
* Support for tessellation, which blurs the line between super high quality pre-rendered scenes and scenes rendered in real-time, allowing game developers to refine models to be smoother and more attractive when seen up close
Source shacknews (http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/53810)

Another article about "DirectX 11 detailed; Vista and DX 10 / 10.1 hardware supported (http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/22/directx-11-detailed-vista-and-dx-10-10-1-hardware-supported/)"
or Google for much more

[Quick420]

Screw that. I just bought an OS last year. Windows 7 can wait unless they're going to upgrade me for free. :p

I refused..at first to purchase Vista,and Damn I refuse Win7 as well.Fix XP to handle 4+gb and we can talk.:bugeyes:

[npras42]

That's never gonna happen you know. Unlike some Vista fanboys I have no problem with you or anyoen else using XP, but you gotta understand that it will need replacing eventually and support for it should end.

[Heinz68]

I refused..at first to purchase Vista,and Damn I refuse Win7 as well.Fix XP to handle 4+gb and we can talk.:bugeyes:
Fixed long before Vista.
Windows XP 64

[Viral]

lol, fix it. XP is good because it's fast for games, that is all. I don't want to go back to XP.

[Heinz68]

lol, fix it. XP is good because it's fast for games, that is all. I don't want to go back to XP.
I sure wont recomend to anybody going back to XP at this point. I only pointed out to "Xaxly24" that Windows XP 64 supported the use for more than 4GB memory even before Vista 64 was here.

[Viral]

I know, I was just laughing at how he said they need to "fix it". The only thing MS should have "fixed" with XP is allowing it to use DX10.

[Dreamingawake]

Yeah.

Whatever.

Hopefully dx11 will be what dx10 should have been.

But it doesn't matter... as long as we (as gamers) enjoy the games we play, then that's all
that really freakin' matters. Bring it on. I want better graphics in my games!!!

[NaitoSan]

I doubt Windows 7 will be out in 2009. Maybe early 2010. I'll probably get Windows 7 for free at school. :D

[Toss3]

I doubt Windows 7 will be out in 2009. Maybe early 2010. I'll probably get Windows 7 for free at school. :D

I doubt we'll be seeing a retail version of Windows 7 next year, but I do think microsoft is going to start releasing beta versions in 2009. :)

[lduguay]

I refused..at first to purchase Vista,and Damn I refuse Win7 as well.Fix XP to handle 4+gb and we can talk.:bugeyes:

:headexplode:(lee63)

[mrsudz]

If the kernel is basically the same code as vista then Windows 7 could be out earlier then originally thought.

Vista 64 bit with slight modification to the GUI and reduced intrusion from the UAC, as in it learns of what programs are approved...like zone alarm, with DX11 and Bingo.

If the drivers are signed and WHQL then for V64 then they will work with Windows 7.

Really not that far off IMHO.

Now touch screen (Active Table Top) and the like will likely take the most development time. But the driver issues of Vista should be none exsistant.

BTW I boot both V64 and XP32