Direct X10 vs Direct x11

[sk065]

Hi guys

Just wondering if any of the tech heads here will be able to state what the likely differences in GFX will be between a DX10 and a DX11 GFX card on Civ V

I have a 1GB DX10 card and cant afford to upgrade.. Hoping that the differences will be minimal..

Thanks

 

[Schuesseled]

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

 

[Tylerryan79]

Microsoft unveiled Direct3D 11 at the Gamefest 08 event in Seattle, with the major scheduled features including GPGPU support (DirectCompute), tessellation[29][30] support, and improved multi-threading support to assist video game developers in developing games that better utilize multi-core processors.[31] Direct3D 11 runs on Windows Vista and Windows 7. It will run on future Windows operating systems as well. Parts of the new API such as multi-threaded resource handling can be supported on Direct3D 9/10/10.1-class hardware. Hardware tessellation and Shader Model 5.0 require Direct3D 11 supporting hardware.[32] Microsoft has since released the Direct3D 11 Technical Preview.[33] Direct3D 11 is a strict superset of Direct3D 10.1 - all hardware and API features of version 10.1 are retained, and new features are added only when necessary for exposing new functionality.

Microsoft released the Final Platform Update for Windows Vista on October 27, 2009, which was 5 days after the initial release of Windows 7 (launched with Direct3D 11 as a base standard).

The bolded is all you need to care about. Tessellation allows more polygons, so faces look more real etc. Unless you have a real high end graphics card with dx11 support you wont notice it, turning on tessalation will lower your fps on a lower end dx11 card and may not even be worth it.

 

[mattcrwi]

The only difference will be a little better terrain via tessalation and a little better shadows/lighiting due to the updated shaders.

There really is next to no reason to upgrade if you already own a DX10 card and don't have money to burn on shinny new things.

 

[Wardancing]

Hi guys

Just wondering if any of the tech heads here will be able to state what the likely differences in GFX will be between a DX10 and a DX11 GFX card on Civ V

I have a 1GB DX10 card and cant afford to upgrade.. Hoping that the differences will be minimal..

Thanks

Here is a little example someone did showing the differences between 9 10 and 11 in screenshots, there are also video comparisons made, you can find them through google or youtube.

http://www.overclock.net/ati/597046-dx11-vs-dx10-vs-dx-9-a.html

 

[tokala]

The only difference will be a little better terrain via tessalation and a little better shadows/lighiting due to the updated shaders.

Do we have anything (quasi-)offical that indicates that Civ5 will indeed be able to use DX11 exclusive features? AFAIK only use of software DX11 is confirmed, and the recommended cards are DX10, too

And this Unigine demo is specifically designed to showcase DX11, in a real game you will not be able to get even close to such large differences for the next few years.
Or, as someone over there at the forum put it: "Basically the benchmark is designed to make DX10/9 look bad."

 

[bhavv]

Do we have anything (quasi-)offical that indicates that Civ5 will indeed be able to use DX11 exclusive features? AFAIK only use of software DX11 is confirmed, and the recommended cards are DX10, too

And this Unigine demo is specifically designed to showcase DX11, in a real game you will not be able to get even close to such large differences for the next few years

We have official information that Civ 5 will use tessellated maps in DX11, I dont have the link, but they are tessellating the hills, mountains and other rough terain in the game.

The recommended DX10 cards are indictive of the speed that is required to play the game without DX11 enabled. I would assume that with DX11 and tessellation, you will need even higher hardware than a 4800 equivalent DX 11 card (I dont think that a 5770 would be enough, maybe a GTX 460 or 5850 is what will be required to play with tessellation turned on).

 

[Zhahz]

I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Agreed.

 

[tokala]

We have official information that Civ 5 will use tessellated maps in DX11, I dont have the link, but they are tessellating the hills, mountains and other rough terain in the game.

Link or it didn't happen

I seriously doubt that they made the effort to design a seperate renderpath just for those maybe 10% of customers that have DX11 hardware potent enough to use this. And if they did, shouldn't we be already drowning in gorgeous promo pics

 

[SirSaab]

Link or it didn't happen

I seriously doubt that they made the effort to design a seperate renderpath just for those maybe 10% of customers that have DX11 hardware potent enough to use this. And if they did, shouldn't we be already drowning in gorgeous promo pics

http://www.civilization5.com/#/community/system_requirements

How's THAT for your link?

Recommended DirectX®: DirectX® version 11

POW!

Edit: I realize this doesn't actually PROVE they have UTILIZED any DX11 features, but I also recall mention that tessellated maps are in. It's be kind of silly to recommend DX11 if you didn't USE it somehow...

 

[Azazell]

DX 11 is only in window diplomacy with other leaders.

 

[bhavv]

Link or it didn't happen

"According to the developers, Civilization V includes DirectX 11 features such as tessellations for the terrain and "a new, proprietary texture compression format" for speeding up interactions with rival civilization leaders, but the game will still run on DX10 video hardware."

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2367392,00.asp

DX11 isnt a seperate render path tbh, it just adds extra stuff onto the DX10 render path. Plenty of games are adding DX11 to their games now, it isnt anything new or hard.

DX 11 is only in window diplomacy with other leaders.

Wrong.

I seriously doubt that they made the effort to design a seperate renderpath just for those maybe 10% of customers that have DX11 hardware potent enough to use this.

Why wouldnt they? People who buy the latest computer hardware also tend to be the most hardcore gamers you know, and if DX11 is now available, why wouldnt a game developer use it?

And if they did, shouldn't we be already drowning in gorgeous promo pics

There are plenty of screenshots available? And having better bump detail on the maps from tessellation doesnt exactly mean that DX11 is going to be vastly more gorgeous than DX10 mode, just that the terrain will have more pronounced rough areas with more polygons.

 

[tokala]

Edit: I realize this doesn't actually PROVE they have UTILIZED any DX11 features, but I also recall mention that tessellated maps are in. It's be kind of silly to recommend DX11 if you didn't USE it somehow...

Apparently even pre-DX11 hardware gains a speedup when using DX11 under Windows7.

"According to the developers, Civilization V includes DirectX 11 features such as tessellations for the terrain and "a new, proprietary texture compression format" for speeding up interactions with rival civilization leaders, but the game will still run on DX10 video hardware."

That sounds good enough, let's see if anyone will be able to really spot a difference in the finished product

 

[aziantuntija]

Apparently even pre-DX11 hardware gains a speedup when using DX11 under Windows7.

..and Vista i would imagine, because it has DX11 also.

 

[bhavv]

Apparently even pre-DX11 hardware gains a speedup when using DX11 under Windows7.

I dont think they do, not as much as DX11 hardware.

In battleforge, DX11 cards get performance gains from running in DX11 mode instead of DX10. DX10 cards can only run the slower and less efficient DX10 setting.

 

[Schalke 04]

Hm, I have WIN XP and a DirectX 9c graphic card.

The PC however meets all the other requirement for maximum settings.

How big will the disatvantage of a 9c card versus 11 be? Most of the info here is about the comparison between 10 and 11.

 

[bhavv]

How big will the disatvantage of a 9c card versus 11 be? Most of the info here is about the comparison between 10 and 11.

We will have to wait until the game is out and people take screenshots to compare.

I would like to do that very much, but since I'm in the UK, I wont have the game until the 24th.

 

[wilebill]

Based on this link given by Wardancing's post above, I don't think you have anything to worry about.