Details and specs for DirectX 11, the newest version of Microsoft’s gaming and multimedia API are beginning to pour in as its October 22nd release date approaches. DirectX 11 was originally announced around this time last year and is due to be released this October along with Windows 7.
Here’s a breakdown of DirectX 11’s details and specifications so far.
* Improvements in synchronization between multi-core CPUs
* Compute shader to handle non-graphical tasks such as physics acceleration and stream processing * Improved texture compression
* Improved tessellation calculations * Windows 7 and Vista compatibility
* Offers improvements to existing DX 10 and 10.1 hardware
DirectX11 has also been designed to to be easier for programmers to work with. ATI will release the first wave of DX11 cards, the Radeon HD 5850 and 5870 late this summer, with Nvidia’s Geforce GTX300 expected early next year.
An ATi demo illustrating some of the improved features of DirectX 11