All of the developers we have spoken to about DirectX 10 have greeted it with open arms. Many of those developers are working towards either porting an existing game to DirectX 10 or are in the process of creating a new game using the new API and acknowledge that the lower overheads associated with many heavily used functions will allow them to create scenes with more visual complexity and richness. Both AMD's and NVIDIA's developer relations teams are working with games developers to ensure that they have the necessary tools to make efficient use of DirectX 10's capabilities.

However, one of DirectX 10's benefits for game developers turns out to be a problem for end users. With DirectX 10 only being available under Windows Vista, gamers will have to not only purchase a DirectX 10 capable video card, but also upgrade their operating system too. In the past, gamers have only needed to buy new hardware to experience the new features and benefits bought to the table in a DirectX update.

Given what we've seen from the likes of Crysis on its DirectX 9 code path, we're confident that DirectX 9 will continue to progress until the developer's audiences start to really migrate to DirectX 10 hardware and Windows Vista. However, Crytek has already told us that Crysis will ship with effects that are exclusive to DirectX 10, and that it plans to implement more advanced effects through patches.

I think most gamers are hoping that Crysis will live up to the hype, but Crysis isn't the only game being developed for DirectX 10. Other games that have been confirmed for DirectX 10 include Age of Conan, Company of Heroes, Hellgate: London, Microsoft's Flight Simulator X, Supreme Commander and all games based on Unreal Engine 3, including the eagerly anticipated Unreal Tournament 2007.

Are you an AMD user who was planning on upgrading to a GeForce 8800 GTX or 8800 GTS sometime in the near future? If so, then you'll want to check out this article. The chaps over at Firing Squad gathered AMD CPUs ranging from the X2 3800+ all the way up to the FX-62, and paired them with the GeForce 8800 GTX and 8800 GTS, as well as ATI's Radeon X1950 XTX.

The bottom line for those of you with slower AMD X2 CPUs is you're going to want to overclock your processor a little in order to get the best performance out of GeForce 8800. The exact amount you should shoot for is going to depend on which graphics card you plan on getting. If you were thinking about upgrading to a GeForce 8800 GTS, you won't need to hit speeds quite as high; 2.4GHz or more is a good starting point you should shoot for when overclocking. But if you were planning on picking up a GeForce 8800 GTX, our 2.6GHz 5000+ was CPU bound in some cases, so you'll probably want to shoot for even higher speeds.

Of course, another aspect we noticed is that the amount you're CPU-bound varies depending on the game. In games based on older game engines like Valve's Source (HL2 and Dark Messiah) and Doom 3 (Quake 4), we found ourselves often CPU-bound with the GeForce 8800 GTX and GTS. Flight sims also draw heavily on CPU performance and therefore it was no surprise to see us being held back in Lock On: Modern Air Combat.

In fact if you've got an X2 3800+ running at stock speeds, there's no point in upgrading to a GeForce 8800 GTX, as there were often cases where the 3800+/8800 GTX combination were outrun by the 8800 GTS and a faster CPU like the 4200+ or 4600+.

There are no plans to support OpenAL. All effects were are using are real-time DSP effects, or reverb. That provides the same sound quality to everyone on any platform (like Vista) with any sound card. FarCry used FMOD 3.x as a 3rd Party library, actually it was renamed into CrySound.dll. For Crysis we significantly evolved. I can tell you, that we are working with the EX version of FMOD, but cant give any further details. Nevertheless, you control the soundsystem via code or lua and dont deal with FMOD directly. You can also easily replace sounds, add variations or sound effects.

Issues Resolved in Catalyst Software Suite 6.11:

• 3DMark03: Running the application on a system containing a Radeon X9500/9600/9700 series of product under the Windows XP operating system no longer results in the application failing. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23704
• PCMark05: The graphics test suite 3D pixel shader and 3D vertex shader tests no longer fail. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23695
• Rome: Total War: Playing the game under Windows XP with a Radeon X19x0 series product install no longer results in the overview map appearing corrupted. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22821
• Rush For Berlin: Setting the Shadows to Self Shadow within the games Graphics options no longer results in only half of the display being shaded when using the mouse scroll wheel to enlarging the soldier's view. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23700
• Tomb Raider Legend: Enabling CrossFire no longer results in slower performance being noticed. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23448
• Uber Soldier: Enabling CrossFire no longer results in the menu page of the game failing to display properly. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23690
• Window-Eyes Professional v5.0: The display resolution no longer reverts to 640x480 4bpp after the installation of the application on a system containing an Xpress 200 series product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23694

Valve makes a good case for its hybrid threading model, although it's hard to argue against using the most appropriate threading approach for a given task. Creating a programming framework that allows that kind of flexibility was apparently very difficult, but in the end, Valve says it will enable games that competitors who don't make the same investment in multithreading simply won't be able to match. Hybrid threading has also proven to be an asset in the company's work with Microsoft's multi-core Xbox 360 console, and Valve says it sets them up nicely for what they believe is a "post-GPU" era looming over the horizon. Interestingly, though, Valve noted that its model isn't particularly applicable to the PlayStation 3's Cell processor.

Valve intends to roll out hybrid threading enhancements in the next major Source engine update, which will be released before Half-Life 2: Episode Two ships. Those enhancements won't include the richer visual simulations, smarter AI, or more complex physics that are possible with multi-core processors, but dual- and quad-core systems should see a performance boost with Valve's existing Source-engine games.

- Do not turn off the PS3 system or remove the disc or storage media during installation. Doing so may cause damage to the system software.
- During installation, the power button on the system front is inactive. [We're guessing this means: In other words, don't panic, and don't get confused. Your system is on and busy - don't turn it off!!!!!]

1. Insert the disc or storage media that contains the installer in the system.
2. Select (System Settings) under (Settings) in the home menu.
3. Select [Install Other OS]. The system searches for the installer. When the installer is found, its content and location will be displayed.
4. Check the content of the installer, and then select [OK]. The installer starts. Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the operation.

Sony even offers hints. Wow! It's like they want us to try different OS! They keep showing how gamer-centric they are.

- To start the newly installed system software, go to (Settings) > (System Settings) > [Default System], and then select [Other OS] to restart the system.
- An appropriate USB adaptor (not included) is required to use storage media with some models.

The performance of our affordable AM2 gaming system was most impressive, especially given that it was two and a half times cheaper than the Core 2 Duo system. The core components cost just $600 which include the processor, motherboard, memory, hard drive and graphics card. In order to complete the system one would need to a case/power supply, keyboard, mouse and a monitor. There are also ways in which you could configure this system to save money. For example, a slower Athlon64 or even Sempron processor will save you money, as will a smaller hard drive or a slower graphics card.

However, if you enjoy playing computer games and wish to play the latest games in all their glory, then the system we went with today is a very good option for the price. All the components complemented one another very well, as it seemed to be the perfect balance between processing power and graphics performance. Also if you consider that the native resolution of most 19" and 17" LCD monitors is 1280x1024, and this system is quite capable of 1600x1200 gaming performance, settings such as FSAA and anisotropic filtering can be turned up quite high at 1280x1024 for extreme visual quality.

At least 70% of the textures of your game could be replaced by procedural equivalents. 70% is a minimum number of textures you can replace, in actuality the likelihood is you can replace more. So for example: replace 80% of the textures and if those textures occupy 50% of your game size, the overall game size would end up a little less than 50% smaller.

I have some actual examples from a recent game, Roboblitz. In this game, we replaced about 95% of the textures. The game has 6 levels and for each level the developers would use 80MB of compressed textures. So, let's do the numbers, a total of 6x80=480MB. Using our tools we replaced the 480MB with about 3MB of procedural data, a pretty spectacular decrease in game size.

The game now fits within 50MB and can be downloaded through Xbox Live. Without our technology this game would weigh approx 50MB-3MB+480MB=527MB. So the gain, for Roboblitz, we saved 90% of the entire game size. That is a massive gain for the developers which allows them to reach the Live audience - something they couldn't otherwise have done.

Motherboard.org (XFX GeForce 8800GTX): Gamers who want the best want the GeForce 8800GTX hands down as it offers the best performance, features and supported gaming titles than anything on planet Earth. ATI is nowhere to be seen and as the dust settles around the test lab there is only one card that dominates the show, the XFX 8800GTX. Games not only look superior, but they can be played at amazing resolutions with all the bells and whistles enabled without losing an ounce of performance. For now NVIDIA has caught up with current game technology and exceeded its needs. SLI mode has yet to be tested, but for now a single 8800GTX is faster than Dual-SLI enabled 7950GX2 cards, or Quad-SLI.

TechReport (NVIDIA's GeForce 8800): The G80 has just about everything else one could ask of a new GPU architecture, too. The new features and innovation are legion, anchored by the push for compliance with DirectX 10 and its new capabilities. The G71's texture filtering problems have been banished, and the G80 sets a new standard for image quality in terms of both texture filtering and edge antialiasing. This GPU's texture filtering hardware at last-or once again-delivers angle-independent anisotropic filtering at its default settings, and coverage sampled antialiasing offers the feathery-smooth quality of 16X sample sizes without being a major drag on frame rates. Despite being large enough to scare the cattle, the G80's doesn't draw much more power under load than the Radeon X1950 XTX. The chip is still too large and consumes too much power at idle, but this architecture should be a sweetheart once it makes the transition to a 65nm fab process, which is where it really belongs.

TweakTown (MSI GeForce 8800GTS): What's going to happen to the Radeon X1950XTX? Yes, it's cheaper then the 8800GTS, but not by a lot. And how could you not hold off for that next pay packet to throw it at the 8800GTS when it offers all this extra performance and all these extra features? It's clear that ATI will have to drop the price on the X1950XTX in the coming weeks to make their card more attractive. Plus, honestly, as much as we hate to say it but "fanboys" are going to want something until ATI's upcoming R600 GPU comes out. Which of course brings us to another point - is R600 going to be faster then the 8800GTX? We would think so. Why? ATI simply cannot afford to release a product four months after their competitor with what could only be the same performance or *shock*, worse. Start paying more attention to The Inquirer for the next few weeks because it's safe to say that if the R600 isn't performing up to the level of the 8800GTX, words like "delayed" will get leaked out all over the place.

In upcoming games using the Steam engine and even possibly some older games such as Half Life 2, you'll see smoke which not only drifts around the room but hits the roof and floats out the door in a true-to-life manor. You'll see individual rain drops which put out fire one by one. You'll see advanced AI which delivers more advanced computer enemies. Since the game has more processing power through the additional supported cores, computer enemies will be smarter and even be able to perform tactical analysis against you - for instance, working out the best place to hide because it has the processing power to work out where you are in the world and even where you might go to next. Maybe sometime in the future the US government will contact Valve to create some practice tactical military software for them?

Dual Core improved frame rate, Quad Core will add new experiences to the game such as life-like realism. Valve are bored (somewhat) with the GPU now - as they said, they can already create a model on the GPU to look like a real person but that model cannot act like a real person, yet. Now they want to focus on the CPU and create extreme realism. People ask when Half Life 3 will be ready but as Valve correctly state, the changes that they've made (or are currently making) are as good as a new version of the game.

These Multi-Core enhancements will be gradually added into the Steam engine and existing and future games using the engine, such as Episode 2 sometime early next year of Q1. There will be no single patch / update with the changes - they will be added over time.

Single-GPU Issues Resolved
- Error message occurs when running the NVIDIA Control Panel Television Setup Wizard.
- NVIDIA Quadro FX 4400: After changing the color settings from the NVIDIA Control panel, the settings revert to the default.
- GeForce 7950 GX2, NVIDIA Control Panel: The Multi-GPU performance mode default is set to Custom when initially creating a new application profile.
- GeForce 7950 GX2: In the NVIDIA Control Panel, Multi-GPU antialiasing modes are available when Multi-Display rendering mode is selected.
- GeForce 7900 GT: The new NVIDIA Control Panel lists the product name as GeForce 7900 GT/GTO, instead of the correct GeForce 7900 GT.
- GeForce 7600 GS, NVIDIA Control Panel/Classic Control Panel: HDTV component-out output is split vertically when applying the 1080i resolution.
- GeForce 7600 GS, GeForce 6150/6100: During video playback in VMR mode, video is corrupt and shaky when noise reduction is enabled.
- GeForce 6800 GT 256MB: Windows Media Player 10 video becomes corrupt when rotating the screen while playing a video.
- GeForce 6600 128MB: Windows Media Player 10 crashes when changing the resolution while playing a DVD.
- GeForce 6600 128MB: The secondary Dualview monitor flickers while playing any NTSC DVD.
- GeForce 6600 128MB: The NVIDIA Control Panel crashes while changing the desktop configuration after changing the video color settings.
- GeForce 6600, Windows XP Media Center Edition: While playing MCE Live TV in Clone mode with full-screen video mirror, the mirrored display is corrupted when resizing the application.
- GeForce 7300 GT, GeForce 6150/6100: HQV objects flutter and the test bar splits when noise reduction is enabled.

With Microsoft's decision to remove the audio hardware layer in Windows Vista, legacy DirectSound 3D games will no longer use hardware 3D algorithms for audio spatialization. Instead they will have to rely upon the new Microsoft software mixer that is built into Windows Vista. This new software mixer will give the users basic audio support for their old Direct Sound games but since it has no hardware layer, all EAX effects will be lost, and no individual per-voice processing can be performed using dedicated hardware processing.

EAX has become the de facto standard for real-time effects processing. It has been incorporated in hundreds of games and has become the method of choice for game developers wanting to add interactive environment effects to their titles. Some of the best selling games of all time use the EAX extensions to DirectSound 5.0 and beyond, including Warcraft3, Diablo2, World of Warcraft, Half Life, Ghost Recon, F.E.A.R. and many others. Under Windows Vista, these games will be losing the hardware support that came as standard under the previous Windows Operating Systems, and will no longer provide real-time interactive effects, making them sound empty and lifeless by comparison to the way they sound on Windows XP.

The good news for owners of advanced audio cards like SoundBlaster X-Fi is that the developer community has been preparing for this for over 3 years. Hardware audio will not be disappearing with the launch of Windows Vista. Games that support OpenAL today will continue to provide full hardware-enhanced 3D audio under Windows Vista. This includes games such as Battlefield 2, Doom3, Unreal Tournament2k4, Dungeon and Dragons Online, Prey, Quake 4, and many others (a full list can be found at http://www.openal.org/titles.html). These games have complete hardware-based HRTF support for multiple speaker and headphone setups as well as full support for all the different versions of EAX. Also, these games will be able to take advantage of the hardware-accelerated path on supporting hardware for performance and quality increases.

Like any solution with four CPU cores, the Core 2 Extreme QX6700's effectiveness depends on what you feed it. Give it a nicely parallelizable task with four or more threads, and it will utterly embarrass former top dogs like the Core 2 Extreme X6800 and the Athlon 64 FX-62. For applications like video encoding, 3D rendering, image processing, and scientific computing, the QX6700 trumps all other desktop processors-and, I suspect, a great many dual-socket Opteron workstations. 3DMark06's multithreaded CPU test gives us a glimpse of how multithreaded gaming might look, and the QX6700 performs very well there, too.

Feed it a simple app with only one or two threads, though, and this quad-core monster begins to look an awful lot like a Core 2 Duo E6700 with higher power consumption and a much steeper price tag. Of course, even that isn't a horrible place to be. In single- and dual-threaded applications, the QX6700 still wallops the Athlon 64 FX-62 nearly across the board, with similar power requirements and heat output. That fact simply underscores how good the Core 2 lineup truly is.

• 3DMark2006: Setting the display resolution to 1600x1200 and AA to either 4x or 6x no longer results in display corruption being noticed when running the HDR1 test. This issue was known to occur on certain specific systems only. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23443.
• Anarchy-Online: Screen corruption is no longer noticed when walking or running through the terrain. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22016
• Black & White 2: Battle of the Gods: Intermittent display corruption is no longer noticed when playing the game in a system containing an ATI Radeon X1900 series and running the Windows MCE operating system when setting the graphics options within the game to high details. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23275.
• Commandos Strike Force: Enabling CrossFire and playing the game no longer results in display corruption being noticed when using an Intel 965 motherboard. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23444
• Godfather: Task switching between the game and the windows desktop no longer results in display corruption being noticed when playing the game at a display resolution of 1600x1200 (or higher) when having the in-game video options set to optimal quality. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23440 
• Serious Sam 2: Playing the game on a system running the Windows MCE operating system and containing an ATI Radeon X1800 CrossFire Edition product no longer results in the operating system rebooting after approximately 20 minutes of game play when playing the game in a high setting windowed mode. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23445.
• World of Warcraft: Playing the game for an extended period of time no longer results in the game failing to respond when using a Radeon X800. Further details can be found in topic number 737-22632
• Catalyst Control Center: Setting new clock values no longer results in the confirm changes dialog box failing to be displayed and clicking on cancel option may result in the new values still being applied. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23278

AnandTech: The performance of the X1650 XT is just what you would expect from a mainstream graphics card of this type. With the 7600 GT being on the market for so long without any competition from ATI, the X1650 XT was overdue. With the release of this card, we now see performance from ATI that is very similar to the popular 7600 GT. This card handles a wide variety of games with ease at flexible resolutions. It still has trouble running some of the games at 1600x1200 and above, but getting smooth frame rates at 1280x1024 in nearly all the games we tested is a nice achievement in a card projected to be in the <$150 price range. Those with 1280x1024 monitors can easily shun more expensive GPUs without sacrificing that much in the way of gaming enjoyment.

FiringSquad: In terms of performance, the Radeon X1650 XT ran neck-and-neck with the Radeon X1800 GTO despite its 128-bit memory interface, even though we were testing with 4xAA. Overall the Radeon X1800 GTO was a little faster than the X1650 XT in most of our benchmarks, but the X1650 XT's new RV560 GPU kept it close for the most part. In comparison to the GeForce 7600 GT, the Radeon X1650 XT earns its fair share of wins and losses, but ultimately it wins more than it loses. The only games where the GeForce 7600 GT clearly came out ahead were in Quake 4 and Lock On: Modern Air Combat, while the Radeon X1650 XT clearly put up a stronger showing in Oblivion and to a less extent in Half-Life 2 Lost Coast, everywhere else the two cards really were neck-and-neck. Also keep in mind the plethora of factory overclocked GeForce 7600 GT cards which aren't tested here. Hopefully ATI's board partners will step up to the challenge and produce factory overclocked X1650 XT boards of their own, as our tests with the GPU indicate that it scales easily to higher clock speeds.

TecReport: The Radeon X1650 XT performs almost exactly on par with the GeForce 7600 GT overall. At long last, it establishes a performance balance between ATI's Radeon X1000-series products and Nvidia's GeForce 7 series products at $149. This same performance balance has existed for a while at other price points, and things are tighter than ever after the fall round of graphics card refreshes. In fact, I'm a little surprised to see ATI simply meeting Nvidia with a product that offers nearly equivalent performance to the GeForce 7600 GT. Typically, you'd expect some one-upsmanship to kick in here. After all, it's not like the GeForce 7600 GT wasn't a well-defined target-it's been selling since March. Had ATI pushed the GPU or memory clocks a little further, they could have grabbed the decisive performance lead.