DirectX8 Preview

Conclusion

Ok, so that's the overview. What does it all mean to you the end user *RIGHT NOW*? Not a darn thing. ;)

Why do I say that? You have to understand why the API is getting pumped with new features in the first place....It's all for the future. Developers have to recode and retool to take advantage of new features, and existing code will rarely if ever see any performance increase in a new DirectX API. In fact, poor code implementations might see a decrease, but this should be rare. I wont waste your and my time pounding out meaningless Quake3Arena, or 3DMark scores in this article. I have done casual testing of performance of DirectX8 interim build 0166 with both of the above applications and many more, but mainly to look for anomalies/bugs that may rear their ugly head. The performance differences arent even worth mentioning. There is no free cpu-time or fillrate hiding anywhere in your PC waiting for DX8 to magically unlock it. ;)

DirectX8 is solidly laying the groundwork for the next generation of games. Expect to see games with cooler per-pixel shading eye candy, and more complex geometry come the holiday releases (but only on hardware that can take advantage of the API changes: the new stuff).  Microsoft's API is driving the industry right now, with every video chipset manufacturer tailoring features in current new and future products towards the DirectX API. It's a shame, but sadly OpenGL seems to be standing still as an API. Although OpenGL was light years ahead of what was really the first usable DirectX API (DirectX3), it is truly no longer the case.

There are still those few holdouts *cough - John Carmack - cough* who still keep the OpenGL flame burning (mainly I feel, at this point at least, because it's still just a 2D/3D API and cleaner to code to), but DirectX8 surely shows that MS continues to "have a clue" and is not letting the API founder. Most of the "goodies" in DirectX8 are still coming to us from the Direct3D/DirectGraphics API, but it's clear that the whole API is finally firming up into an all-in-one developer API of choice.

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