Specifications

Illustration by Sean McCabe NOVEMBER 6, 2007 PC MAGAZINE 99
Windows Vista is the most graphically
intensive operating system ever, and
DirectX 10, its multimedia and gaming
component, has computer users all over
the world considering upgrading their PCs.
With its 3D-driven Aero graphical user
interface (GUI), Vista requires more graph-
ics-card muscle than XP does. And because
DirectX 10 isn’t backward- compatible,
gamers who are captivated by its power-
ful specs are being forced to upgrade their
hardware in order to enjoy it.
Unlike earlier versions of Windows,
which used the 2D components of graph-
ics hardware to display their GUIs, Win-
dows Vista presents its Aero interface in
a 3D-intensive manner. The various win-
dows displayed on-screen are actually 3D
surfaces. That allows interesting effects
like Flip 3D, the new alternative to the Alt-
Tab method of browsing through open
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programs. It also means Vista needs more
sophisticated graphics cards than Win-
dows XP or Windows 9x ever did.
DirectX
The DirectX libraries make gaming and
multimedia possible on the Windows
platform, and they absolutely require
current-generation hardware. (Vista does
feature a version of DirectX 9 as well, for
compatibility with older games.) Basically,
DirectX is a series of application program
interfaces (APIs). An API, in turn, is a layer
of code that makes it easier for manufac-
turers and programmers to create hard-
ware and software for a given platform. In
theory, developers shouldn’t have to worry
about making their products compatible
with the vast amount of hardware that
exists; they simply make their titles com-
patible with an API.
Prior to DirectX 10, each new version
of DirectX has been backward- compatible.
For instance, a DirectX 8 game can run on
DirectX 9 hardware. DX9 games, mean-
while, will usually run on DX8 hardware—
albeit without all the features of the newer
library.
DirectX 10, however, has thrown back-
ward compatibility into the recycle bin.
Its rigid requirements mean anyone who
wants to run DirectX 10 games must have
DirectX 10 hardware. DX10 hardware will
work with software written for earlier ver-
sions of DirectX, but the opposite is not
true: a DirectX 8 or 9 graphics card abso-
lutely will not run DirectX 10 titles.
The “Big Two” makers of graphics hard-
ware, nVidia and AMD (ATI’s parent com-
pany), both have DirectX 10 hardware on
the market. nVidia’s DirectX 10 line is the
GeForce 8 series (it includes the 8800
K