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XP SP3 and Vista SP1: DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 Patches Updated

Two security bulletins, from December 2007 and from June 2008 respectively, affecting the DirectX components of a wide range of Windows operating systems including Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3, have been updated.
windows - comments - 17.7.2008

New Hardware for Vista SP1 DirectX 10.1 - XP SP3 Too?

Microsoft is currently in the final stages of cooking both Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3. In December 2007, the first public builds of Vista SP1 and XP SP3, namely the Release Candidates became available for download.
windows - comments - 15.1.2008

DirectX 9.0 and 10.1 Downloads for Vista SP1 and XP SP3

August 2008 has been synonymous with three separate releases of DirectX for a variety of Windows operating systems. The DirectX refreshes are tailored to Windows Vista Service Pack 1, Windows XP Service Pack 3 and Windows Server 2008 RTM/SP1, but also to Windows Server 2003.
download - comments -

DirectX 9.L will be a DirectX 10 for Windows XP

We managed to glean a few facts about the upcoming DirectX 9.0 L we told you about here.
windows - comments - 17.10.2006

DirectX 10 vs. DirectX 9.0b

Microsoft made its very own DirectX 10 vs. DirectX 9.0b. Now, if the Redmond company's comparison won't convince you to switch to Vista, nothing will. DirectX 10 is the next generation graphics technology integrated exclusively into Windows Vista.
microsoft - comments - 23.8.2007

Forget about DirectX 10 - Introducing DirectX 10.1 Preview for Windows Vista SP1

Forget about Windows Vista's DirectX 10, Microsoft is delivering a preview of DirectX 10.1 associated with the first service pack for the operating system. The Direct3D 10.1 Tech Preview is an integer part of the August 2007, DirectX Software Development Kit, and is designed to provide the evolution of the current Direct3D 10.0.
microsoft - comments - 30.7.2007

DirectX 9.0c

The first three are for Developers, and the last one is for us lot to play our games with the latest version of DirectX 9.0c.
download - comments - 3.2.2007

Microsoft announces a new DirectX Beta

Welcome to the Microsoft DirectX SDK October 2005 Update Beta Program!

This is the Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Software Development Kit (SDK) Update for October 2005. This release includes a new SDK component Xinput, graphics samples, tools, documentation, and Pre-release components Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool (XACT) and support for the 2.0 Common Language Runtime in Managed DirectX.
microsoft - comments -

DirectX 10 & the Future of Gaming

How is DirectX 10 and its Unified Architecture going to benefit gamers? What is the gamer going to need to take and advantage of it? We recently sat down with ATI and talked about DirectX 10 and how their next generation desktop GPU will benefit.
microsoft - comments - 2.5.2006

DirectX 11 coming to Vista

As with Windows Vista, the newest version of Windows brings with it a newer version of Microsoft's DirectX. Windows 7 was released with Direct X 11 support, and it was initially thought that Direct X 11 support would remain a 7-only technology.
windows - comments - 3.11.2009

Microsoft DirectX 10 & the Future of Gaming

Way back in the ?dark ages? of computer gaming there were few choices to achieve hardware acceleration for 3D. The two most notable methods were OpenGL and 3dfx? proprietary ?Glide.? Glide required the use of specific 3dfx hardware while OpenGL is an open platform that is supported by the community and can also run under a Linux operating environment. With Windows, Microsoft decided to capitalize on what they saw becoming the multimedia experience.
microsoft - comments - 7.5.2006

DirectX 11 at the Vanguard of the GPGPU Revolution

Microsoft's next iteration of DirectX is bound to be situated at the forefront of the general purpose graphics processing (GPGPU) revolution, according to the Redmond company.
microsoft - comments - 6.8.2008

DirectX 11 for Windows Vista SP2 Available

Microsoft is beginning to backport Windows 7 features to Windows Vista, and as an integral part of the process, the company is also upgrading Vista’s graphics technology to the level of Windows 7.
microsoft - comments - 12.9.2009

Intel integrated G35 supports DirectX 10

IT looks like Q3 2007 will be very exciting for the industry. A lot of people will be on their holidays, but never the less Intel plans to introduce its first DirectX 10 chipset then.
common - comments - 19.12.2006

DirectX 10.1 in Windows Vista SP1 – The Evolution

As Windows Vista brought to the table the exclusive DirectX 10, the first service pack for the operating system will evolve Microsoft's graphics technology to version 10.1.
microsoft - comments - 31.10.2007

DirectX 10.1 in Windows Vista SP1 – The Evolution

As Windows Vista brought to the table the exclusive DirectX 10, the first service pack for the operating system will evolve Microsoft's graphics technology to version 10.1.
windows - comments - 19.11.2007

Windows 7 RC Immune to 0-Day DirectX Vulnerability

Windows 7 RC, as well as its precursor, Windows Vista, and the R2 and RTM/SP1 releases of Windows Server 2008 are immune to a zero-day vulnerability affecting DirectX on older versions of Windows.
windows - comments - 29.5.2009

Nvidia Launches DirectX 10 Graphics Card for $299

Partners of Nvidia Corp., the world’s largest supplier of standalone graphics processors, have unveiled a 320MB flavour of the GeForce 8800 GTS (the other flavour has 640MB memory onboard).
common - comments - 13.2.2007

DirectX Redistributable 9.0c August 2007 for Windows Vista

Microsoft has made available fresh DirectX downloads for Windows Vista and Windows XP. The Redmond company offered since earlier this week the DirectX End-User Runtimes (August 2007) delivering the updated package of the DirectX end-user redistributable addressed at developers for direct implementation into their own software in order to leverage the graphics technology of the Windows platform.
download - comments - 11.9.2007

Windows 7 RTM Changes Disable DirectX Client-side Rendering over RDP 7

Changes implemented post-RC and ahead of the release to manufacturing deadline of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 have stripped away the DirectX client-side rendering over RDP 7 from the operating systems, Microsoft has informed.
windows - comments - 22.6.2009

It's Time to Face the Ugly Truth, SP3 or No SP3, the Clock Is Ticking for Windows XP

As 2008 has kicked in, it's now time to face the ugly truth. The clock is ticking for Windows XP. And while Microsoft may view this as a natural stage in the evolution of a product introduced all the way in 2001, a healthy proportion of end-users and businesses will fail to see eye to eye with the company on this one.
windows - comments - 5.1.2008

The Only Way for Windows XP SP3 Is Down

SP3 will do nothing for XP, but still more than what SP1 will do for Vista - The third and final service pack for Windows XP will do little to nothing for the operating system, but will manage to deliver a superior boost to the platform's momentum in comparison to Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista.
windows - comments - 12.4.2008

Office XP SP3 Info

Office XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) provides the latest updates to Microsoft Office XP. SP3 contains significant security enhancements, in addition to stability and performance improvements. This service pack applies to any level of Office XP.
common - comments -

Sneak Preview of XP SP3?

An unofficial preview pack containing what purports to be Windows XP Service Pack 3 has been uploaded to The Hotfix web site. The Hotfix is an independently-run site that specializes in downloads and discussions of Windows patches and bug fixes.
windows - comments -

Microsoft Delays XP SP3

Bink has an interesting article up on his site concerning Windows XP SP3. Microsoft has apparently pushed back the scheduled release date of SP3 to the second half of 2007.
windows - comments - 16.1.2006

Windows XP SP3 Preview No. 5



download - comments - 11.2.2006

Windows XP SP3 On The Horizon

According to Microsoft press release about Unified Access Control and Network Access Protection, Windows XP service pack 3 (SP3) is in development and will be released later this year.
windows - comments - 24.5.2007

Windows XP SP3 Available for Download!

In two weeks too :) Microsoft confirmed officially that Windows XP Service Pack 3 will be made available for download in the next couple of weeks.
windows - comments - 29.8.2007

Windows XP Closes In on SP3

Microsoft's most successful operating system, ever, has inched closer to Service Pack 3. Release Candidate 1 is now available from MSDN and—so I hear—from TechNet. I can only personally confirm MSDN availability.
windows - comments - 4.12.2007

Deploying Windows XP SP3

With a pre-Release Candidate build of Windows XP Service Pack 3 available for download, the imminence of the final version of the refresh is starting to take contour.
windows - comments - 13.12.2007

DirectX 10.1 in Windows Vista SP1 - The Evolution

As Windows Vista brought to the table the exclusive DirectX 10, the first service pack for the operating system will evolve Microsofts graphics technology to version 10.1. DirectX 10.1 is already available to over 12,000 testers via the first beta of Vista Service Pack 1, concomitantly with the official release of Build 6001.16659. Although the testing milestones of Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows XP SP3 Beta, are officially limited in terms of access, a hack is available designed to permit the download of Windows Vista SP1 Beta Build 6001.16659 straight from Microsoft, and simultaneously test drive DirectX 10.1.

However, Vista users have to understand that DirectX 10.1, as well as DirectX 10 is a technology intimately connected with the underlying graphics card, such as the upcoming ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series. According to an AMD whitepaper focused on the implementation of DirectX 10.1 in the ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series, the latest application programming interface from Microsoft, manages to "unlock the state of the art in GPU technology."


neowin.net - 31.10.2007

Despite rumors, Windows XP SP3 still not quite ready

With Windows Vista Service Pack 1 out the door, Microsoft was largely expected to release Windows XP SP3 last week or this week. It didn't, instead making public a refresh build of SP3 Release Candidate 2...
betanews.com - 26.03.2008

DirectX 11 to get announced this month

Microsoft will start talking about DirectX 11 in less than two weeks. Sources have confirmed that Microsoft game technology conference, previously known as Meltdown and now renamed to Gamefest 2008, will be the place where Microsoft plans to officially announce DirectX 11.

This conference takes place on the 22 and 23 July in Seattle, Washington and it will set you back $550 if you register online. You can find some more details about the conference here.

The big feature of DirectX 11 is Tessellation/Displacement while we also heard that Multithreaded Rendering and Compute Shaders are part of it. DirectX 11 also brings Shader model 5.0 but we don’t know many details about it.

It looks like DirectX 11 will stick to rasterization as there is no any mentioning of Ray tracing support.

Nvidia will also talk about DirectX 11 at its Nvision event / conference in late August 2008


jcxp.net - 10.07.2008

Gaming Performance: Windows Vista SP1 vs. XP SP3

Even as Microsoft tries to shove Windows Vista down the collective and unwilling throat of computer users worldwide, the company is still perfecting the well-aged and well-loved Windows XP. The latter of the two operating systems just received its third (and evidently last) service pack.



<...> Of course, with the release of a new service pack comes a huge, pressing question: How does it compare to Windows Vista and its own recent update, Service Pack 1, in the game performance department? Vista, of course, has been plagued by criticism that games run on it don't perform as well as they do in Windows XP, even though most of the problems were due to early graphics drivers and have gradually been worked out.



Come with us as we install XP SP3 and take it for a test drive, and more importantly compare it to Vista SP1 with a batch of performance tests. Though DirectX 10 is Vista-only, many a gamer has sworn not to upgrade; will XP SP3 cement their decision, or has Vista and its drivers matured enough to change a few minds?




winbeta.org - 12.05.2008

Microsoft continues to warn of IE8 lock-in for XP SP3 users

Last year when Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2, Jane Maliouta announced that consumers using Windows XP SP3 would be locked-in with the IE8 if they had installed the IE8 beta prior to upgrading to SP3. Microsoft again yesterday issued that same warning to it's consumers. If you are still one of the millions of users on Windows XP with SP3 installed, Microsoft has provided crucial steps to follow if you're ready to upgrade to IE8 RC1. You can obtain IE8 RC1 from the links on this page. To see if you're one of the people who will have IE8 locked in, follow these steps. Is your computer running Windows XP SP3?

Read full story.....
neowin.net - 27.01.2009

Microsoft DirectX 10.1 Version “ Final Update for DirectX 10, Says AMD Dev Rel.

Microsoft DirectX version 10.1 is projected to be the last and final update to the DirectX 10 application programming interface (API), the head of developer relations of ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, recently said.



While Microsoft DirectX 9 had several shader models, including versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0b and 3.0, the DirectX 10 will exist in two versions, 10.0 and 10.1, said Richard Huddy, worldwide developer relations manager of AMDs graphics product group at a conference recently.



The DirectX 10.1 is a relatively minor superset of DirectX 10, but it will last for quite a time, unlike the 2.0a or 2.0b versions of shader model 2.0 that were promoted back in 2003 and 2004 by Nvidia and ATI, which did not become popular due to availability of shader model 3.0.




winbeta.org - 05.12.2007

DirectX 11 Details Emerge

Microsoft released a handful of details about DirectX 11 today and the folks at Shacknews have the scoop.

Similar to DirectX 10, the software will be available only on Windows Vista and future versions of Microsoft's operating system. DirectX 11 will add new compute shader technology that Microsoft says will allow GPUs to be used "for more than just 3D graphics," allowing developers to utilize video cards as parallel processors.


jcxp.net - 23.07.2008

Windows XP SP3 moves closer to completion

Beta testers have received access to a release candidate of Windows XP Service Pack 3, but general consumers still have a long wait until they'll see SP3 available for download...
betanews.com - 20.11.2007

Microsoft Will Not Release DirectX 10 for WinXP

Microsoft will not release next-generation graphics application programming interface (API) called DirectX 10 for the currently shipping Windows XP operating system (OS), instead, the company will keep the new API strictly for the forthcoming Windows Vista OS, despite earlier assumptions about DirectX 10 for the XP.


jcxp.net - 26.05.2006

Microsoft DirectX 10.1 Version - Final Update for DirectX 10

Microsoft DirectX version 10.1 is projected to be the last and final update to the DirectX 10 application programming interface (API), the head of developer relations of ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, recently said. While Microsoft DirectX 9 had several shader models, including versions 2.0, 2.0a, 2.0b and 3.0, the DirectX 10 will exist in two versions, 10.0 and 10.1, said Richard Huddy, worldwide developer relations manager of AMD’s graphics product group at a conference recently.

The DirectX 10.1 is a relatively minor superset of DirectX 10, but it will last for quite a time, unlike the 2.0a or 2.0b versions of shader model 2.0 that were promoted back in 2003 and 2004 by Nvidia and ATI, which did not become popular due to availability of shader model 3.0. If Microsoft does not have plans to develop its DirectX 10 further and will concentrate on the DirectX 11 instead, developers of graphics processing units (GPUs) will not need to add any new functionality to their products and will therefore have to focus on performance, rather than on innovation of functionality.


neowin.net - 05.12.2007

New Features Discovered in Windows XP SP3: Is It Better Than Vista?

The principal reason given for the tremendous under-the-hood changes to Windows unveiled early this year in Vista was the need to overhaul the security model. Now it seems many of those changes are also coming to XP in SP3...
betanews.com - 10.10.2007

DirectX End-User Runtime & SDK Available (August 2008)

The Microsoft DirectX® End-User Runtime provides updates to 9.0c and previous versions of DirectX the core Windows® technology that drives high-speed multimedia and games on the PC.



This DirectX SDK release contains updates to tools, utilities, samples, documentation, and runtime debug files for x64 and x86 platforms.



For additional information please see Microsoft DirectX Developer Center along with reviewing the Readme for last-minute updates.




winbeta.org - 09.08.2008

DirectX End-User Runtime & SDK Available (November 2008)

The Microsoft DirectX® End-User Runtime provides updates to 9.0c and previous versions of DirectX the core Windows® technology that drives high-speed multimedia and games on the PC.



This DirectX SDK release contains updates to tools, utilities, samples, documentation, and runtime debug files for x64 and x86 platforms.



For additional information please see Microsoft DirectX Developer Center along with reviewing the Readme for last-minute updates.




winbeta.org - 06.11.2008

ATI to Ship DirectX 11 Capable Cards This Summer

Guru3D: We already reported that ATI is going to ship DirectX 11 capable graphic cards this year, but German magazine heise revealed today that according to some well-informed internal sources ATI is planning to ship their first cards supporting DirectX 11 as early as late July or early August.




winbeta.org - 22.04.2009

BioShock Frame Rates: DirectX 9 Vs. DirectX 10

Want a serious performance boost in BioShock? Play it on DirectX 9. Sad, but true. As DirectX 9/10 hybrid games have trickled to market, we've been testing them to see whether the newer, Vista-only API library is worth its salt. We've done it with Company of Heroes, Lost Planet, and more. In every case, DirectX 9 performance was far better than that of DirectX 10.



Add another game to the pile. Using FRAPS to measure frame rates, we've discovered that BioShock plays much more smoothly on DirectX 9. We ran the informal test on a Vista machine with an AMD ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT graphics card, an Intel QX6700 CPU overclocked to 3.19 GHz, and 4GB of memory.



Playing through five very similar minutes of the game with FRAPS and timing the frames per second, we shot up a batch of splicers in DX10 and then in DX9, with all other settings being equal (high quality defaults at 1680x1050). In DirectX 10, FRAPS showed an average of 61.658 fps; in DirectX 9, the average was 80.300 fps.



The game looks pretty much the same in either mode. You certainly don't notice a difference in graphical splendor when you're running breakneck through the Rapture, dodging grenades thrown by splicers while looking for the telekinesis upgrade.



While we continue to wait for a game built upon DirectX 10 from the ground up to wow us with its performance, evidence mounts that DirectX 10 just isn't all it's cracked up to be compared with its predecessor.




winbeta.org - 23.08.2007

DirectX 10 is Dying

We've seen games with the new API suite spliced in; now we're going to be able to play games that were built for DirectX 10. Will they change our perception as the only Windows Vista feature gamers really care about? Probably not.



Microsoft spells it out clearly, as it has for many months, right on its own website:



To the writer of that blurb I say: Are you high?



I haven't noticed much of a performance improvement, or the promised visual splendor, that Microsoft seems to think DirectX 10 provides. So far, in most games, engaging DirectX 10 mode cripples them on all but the most powerful computers. To be fair, we've been working with early DirectX 10 games on premature drivers, and as the drivers have taken shape, the performance has improved.



A change is hopefully in the wind.




winbeta.org - 31.10.2007

XP SP3 RC Preview Clarification

I just noticed a post at Bink.nu where Steven mentions that the XP SP3 RC Preview is now available on Connect. Just to clarify, Microsoft have not released any new build of XP SP3 to the general Windows Beta Program. While there is the possibility that he may be talking about a different private beta program on Connect, the main Windows Beta Program on Connect which houses the Vista SP1/Server 2008/XP SP3 betas was last updated with the XP SP3 Beta (Build 3205) in early October.




winbeta.org - 24.10.2007

Microsoft to push XP SP3 via AutoUpdate July 10

Microsoft is going to release Windows XP Service Pack (SP) 3 via its Automatic Update (AU) service on Thursday July 10, company officials confirmed this week.

The client team has been vague about when it planned to push the latest version of XP to users. "Early summer" and "sometime soon"were favorite comebacks when officials were asked for an AU timeframe for SP3.

Customers who have automatic updates turned on but who don’t want XP SP3 to be downloaded to user desktops this week — for whatever reasons — need to deploy the Microsoft Service Pack blocker toolkit to delay pushed-delivery of SP3.

While Microsoft will begin pushing SP3 tomorrow, not all users will receive it immediatly, as the company will be staggering the rollout.

Microsoft has postponed and temporarily halted the distribution of SP3 a couple of times this year because of compatibility and performance problems.


jcxp.net - 10.07.2008

DirectX 11 coming to Vista

As with Windows Vista, the newest version of Windows brings with it a newer version of Microsoft's DirectX. Windows 7 was released with Direct X 11 support, and it was initially thought that Direct X 11 support would remain a 7-only technology. Reports indicate that a platform update is being pushed via Windows Update that will enable DirectX 11 support on Vista PC's. With an impressive lineup of Direct X 11 games announced which includes Crysis 2 and The Lord of the Rings Online, Vista users will be happy to know that they can go out and purchase a Radeon 5870 and use it to its full potential.

Read full story.....
neowin.net - 03.11.2009

DirectX 10.1 Requires No New GPU

Microsoft has announced the details of its new DirectX version; to ensure full support one need not only to install Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista but may also need to replace a graphics card. Contemporary graphics accelerators from Nvidia GeForce 8800 and AMD/ATI Radeon 2900 may not support all the new features added to Direct3D 10.1. The features of DirectX 10.1 include incremental improvements to 3D rendering quality. As for the innovations, among them are 32-bit floating-point operations (instead of 16-bit ones, used today by default) and obligatory support of 4x FSAA.

Microsoft's Sam Glassenberg did however note that " DirectX 10.1 fully supports DirectX 10 hardware. No hardware support is being removed. It's strictly a superset. It's basically an update to DirectX 10 that extends the hardware functionality slightly ." Glassenberg says DirectX 10.1 will be fully compatible with all graphics cards supporting DirectX 10. All the company wants to do now is to increase the API life cycle. Sam confirmed that existing graphics cards may still not be able to use all the new features of DirectX 10.1 but also stressed that applications designed specifically for DirectX 10.1 are very unlikely to appear, because overall, the updates aren't that critical.


neowin.net - 17.08.2007