DirectX 9

I’ve been checking on new 3D Cards and all they’re talking about is support for DirectX 9. I’m getting that this implies DirectX 9 has many advanced features, is it better than OpenGL?

Dre

DirectX???Better!!!



i don’t so…

No, DX9 class hardware has it’s abilities exposed either through DX9, or through OpenGL extensions. Typically the extensions eventually filter down to the core of OpenGL, once the majority of IHV’s are happy with how they work.

OpenGL + Extensions exceed what is capable in DX though, provided you’re willing to use Vendor specific extensions.

direct x today means both an api, and a hw standard… its easier to sell “dx9 capable hw” than “hw, capable of ARB_fragment_program, ARB_vertex_program, … + opengl1.4”…

and often, gl extensions can add, vary, change, or even get removed with driver-updates… so you can’t directly write it on package…

when you read dx9 hw, that implies it supports all/most of the dx9 features both in dx9 AND in opengl…