That’s because Microsoft says it doesn’t have any plans to make DirectX 11.1 compatible with Windows 7 (or any other version aside from Windows 8 for that matter). “DirectX 11.1 is part of Windows 8, just like DirectX 11 was part of Windows 7,” said Daniel Moth on the Microsoft Answers Forum. “DirectX 11 was made available for Vista… but at this point there is no plan for DirectX 11.1 to be made available on Windows 7.”

Of course, that might not be a very big deal, as many games we see these days are still based on DirectX 9. Now that there are a large number of Windows 7 machines running DirectX 11, we might see developers begin making more games for that version of DirectX, but it seems that widespread support for DirectX 11.1 is still quite a ways – possibly even years – off. Therefore, if you were planning to upgrade simply because it meant you’d have DirectX 11.1, it’s probably okay to wait a bit.

Moth, however, seems to leave the door open when it comes to DirectX 11.1 on Windows 7, saying “at this point” there aren’t any plans to retrofit DirectX 11.1 to Windows 7. Those few words seem to suggest that Microsoft might change its mind about DirectX 11.1′s exclusivity in the future, but for now, it remains a feature of Windows 8 and Windows 8 only. Keep it tuned here to SlashGear, as we’ll have more details for you if Microsoft decides to talk more about DirectX 11.1.

[via Neowin]

As long as it beats the competition in the NVIDIA GTX 580 while not being too power hungry and heating the entire house like the dual-GPU GTX 590 I’ll be happy — and I’m sure the enthusiast gaming crowd will be too. Below are a few of our favorite reviews for the new AMD Radeon HD 7970 for everyone to enjoy. We’ll start with the all popular Anandtech.

AnandTech’s Ryan Smith says at the end of the day this graphics card is geared to be a gaming workhorse — but being their new flagship GPU I wouldn’t expect anything different from AMD. He goes on to mention in most gaming scenarios the power consumption was lower than the competing GTX 580 while offering 20% better performance and sometimes more. He does mention being priced much higher than the last-gen 6970 could be a potential drawback for some.

Tom’s Hardware explains that this is a big improvement and a step in the right direction with the new, smaller 28 nm fabrication and called it “Fast, Forward-Looking, But Not Fully Baked.” Saying that NVIDIA’s upcoming Kepler GPU is still months off so they’ll still retain the fastest single-GPU title for now, but without further testing they didn’t want to give a recommendation just yet.

HardOCP is known for breaking things down very thoroughly and have came up with some decent overall numbers. Claiming the 7970 is at least 30% or more faster than the previous generation while offering 10%+ performance increases over the current GTX 580 competition making this definitely worth the price for giving increased performance across all available games.

Bit-Tech said the HD 7970 by AMD “has certainly thrown down the gauntlet. The HD 7970 3GB is a huge improvement over the HD 6970 2GB and GTX 580 1.5GB” They also mention overclocking — something many enthusiasts and water-cooling fans do daily was a huge surprise. Squeezing around 20% more performance from the card without even tweaking the voltage.

While you are at it don’t forget to check out the review from HotHardware, and Hexus who claim it’s a great graphics card but wont win and Bang4Buck awards. Guru3D also mentions the huge overclocking potential before and after overvolting — making this a great graphics card with plenty of potential.

So the question is: Will you be buying the AMD Radeon HD 7970? And if so will you be tossing this bad boy under a DangerDen waterblock or going all out with some LN2?

AMD also noted they’d continue their strong ties to gaming developers through 2012, this on top of supporting (in one way or another) all gamers, not just those working with AMD products. They spoke of the current state of gaming rigs there much higher resolution displays cost much less than previous lower-end models, and how according to their sources (Steam Hardware Surveys), high-definition monitors are the more common of the two display categories in gaming today. They spoke of power efficiency, reduced cost of ownership, and the thinning out of devices allowing for easier transport and daily storage.

AMD noted that they’ve now got word that over 200 applications are accelerated by AMD GPUs specifically at this very moment, this pointing towards the fact that GPUs aren’t just working for gamers as they once essentially were. They spoke of how awesome they were in that they were the first to work with 28nm processes, how they were the first to PCI-E Gen 3, and how they worked with DirectX 11.1 first as well.

Then came the talk of what was code-named Southern Islands. In this project came three islands: Tahiti, Pitcairn, and Cape Verde. The first of these three, Tahiti, contained Enthusiastic Gamers and the “World’s Most Powerful and Advanced GPU.” Then there’s Pitcairn where all the Hardcore Gamers live and the “sweet spot” for hardcore gamers must also reside. Lastly there’s Cape Verde where Performance Gamers sit with their “new paradigm of performance and power.” What does this all mean? It means AMD is getting specific with their hardware, seeking each different kind of user for precise computing for all!

Thusly they break this project down again into Graphics Core Next, AMD Eyefinity 2.0, and AMD App Acceleration. Here you’ll find their many pinpoints of power including the lovely 28nm Process tech, PCI-E Gen3, custom resolutions, the ability to work with 5 x 1 landscape, and a whole mess of new software partnerships for the very near future.

All of this leads up to the AMD Radeon HD 7970, with stream processors adding up to 2,048, Graphics Core Next shader architecture, 3GB GDDR5 memory and 384-bit bus, 6 pin and 8 pin power connectors, DVI, HDMI, and two mDP outputs, and yes, yes indeed, up to 6 displays working on this same bit of hardware at once. It’s got a whole mess of fabulous display configurations for you to work with aside a full slot for better cooling than ever before – and the fan up back of the hardware has the most advanced cooling and silent acoustics an AMD bit of hardware has ever had.

Matching up against their biggest competitor NVIDIA this AMD Radeon monster out-does it in every benchmark they’ve set up, and their AMD CrossFire Technology is laid out to look rather impressive against the same GPU with no such scaling in place. A whole pack of power-saving technologies are visualized as well such as ZeroCore Power Technology with AMD CrossFire as well as AMD ZeroCore – idle out!

They launch into AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series codename “Tahiti” details, speaking about how inside you’ll find up to 32 compute units, 8 render back-ends with 32 color ROPs per clock and 128 Z/stencil ROPs per clock. Here you’ve got a 384-bit GDDR5 memory interface with over 264 GB/sec memory bandwidth and 4.3 billion 28nm transistors. That’s a lot of little pieces of graphics magic! AMD rolls out details on how they’re about to change the whole earth with their first ever GPU with the ability to simultaneously output multiple independent audio streams, one for each screen you’ve got if you like! Be sure to check out Anand’s benchmarks and review of this GPU for starters, then pick one up for yourself at the start of 2012 and rock it all night long.

Obviously the Xbox 360 and PS3 are more than a few years old, and clearly do not support anything near DX11, or even DX10 for that matter. I’m not going to get into the dirty details regarding this, but clearly a game like Crysis 2 on consoles will present a challenge, and it did. There has been a lot of talk about DX11 for PC, why it was missing, and reports of it coming soon have been posted all the time since the game launched back on March 22nd. As things sit today we still do not have DX11 for Crysis 2. Other than the graphical changes to the CryEngine used in the game, it runs on the same DX9 that the original Crysis from 2008 did, and even Crysis had DX10 support unlike Crysis 2. So why the somewhat “downgrade” for the new big hit? Compatibility and development for consoles is the reason behind that.

According to stories like this one from Eurogamer, a DX11 patch was on its way and would be here soon, but that was very quickly put to rest by a few people from Crytek/EA. A spokesperson for publisher EA added “We have not made any official announcements about a patch yet.” That was back in March right after the game had launched and all the fanboys were still angry we didn’t have DX11 or any advanced graphic settings in game. Why does all this matter you might ask me? Below is two photos. The first is a screenshot of Crysis 2 on PC, the second on xbox. Clearly PC looks better, but for the superior hardware used on the PC (GTX 590) it should look a lot better.

In writing this I don’t want to get into the console vs PC argument or anything. Maybe PC users need to just relax and enjoy the game. When they all loved the original and were super excited for Crysis 2 and DX11 on Windows 7 they all upgraded their graphics cards, pre-ordered the game, and then the demo came out and there was DX9 only. Upon waiting for the actual game to come out they were only let down to see we didn’t have any advanced graphic options in game. Such as AA, filtering, bloom, shadow details and more. All of those were available to be adjusted on the original game but missing in Crysis 2.

This is all old news, I just felt like writing up a little information about it with the pictures above and maybe stir the DX11 pot some more. I can only imagine what Crysis 2 will look like on DX11, probably amazing. I do know the single player campaign is much longer than Homefront, so that is a plus.

Just in case anyone is worried, or missed it a Crytek employee posted on the development forum that a DX11 patch is in the works and is coming. We first heard about this here so that is good news. If it takes 2-3 months to release will it be too late? Or will gamers play it again with DX11 enabled? I know I would. Will they even release this patch? For now you can do some graphic tweaks and changes with an application that is floating around, get more details on that here. So what do you gamers think about this, are people making to big of a deal out of nothing? Or should we all have DX11 and graphic enhancements on a game released 3 years later than the original? Just thinking out loud.

[via PC Gamer]

Specifications wise, the Qosmio X500 doesn’t slouch. Featuring NVIDIA’s high-end GTX 460M discrete graphics, DirectX 11, Optimus technology, and 3D support, the X500 covers all the bases right off the bat. The display is a monstrous 18.4-inches, and you can choose to have up to 8GB of RAM tucked away inside. Toshiba is giving you plenty of options in the SSD range, and you can choose from Intel’s Core i5 or Core i7 processors.

Rounding it out, you’ll get simulated 5.1 surround sound thanks to the Harmon Kardon speakers, and you’ll even get a backlit keyboard. As for that price tag, Toshiba is asking for an MSRP of $1,300. Not as bad as it could be, surely, but it’s enough to make anyone blink twice. You’ll be able to get your hands on it, once you decide to spend the cash, on September 26th.

Press Release

New Toshiba Qosmio X500 Series Delivers Extreme Mobile Performance for Games, Media Creation and HD Entertainment

Now Equipped with New NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M Graphics Processor, Qosmio X500 Delivers Blazing Fast Performance and High-Definition 3D Gaming with Full DirectX® 11 Support

IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Toshiba’s Digital Products Division (DPD), a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced its award-winning Qosmio® X500 Series laptops is getting a graphics performance boost from the new NVIDIA® GeForce™ GTX 460M graphics processor1 with 1.5GB of discrete graphics memory. The high-performance Qosmio X500 Series laptops deliver elite mobile performance and high-end features for demanding tasks – games, media creation and HD entertainment – for an affordable price, starting at $1,299.99 MSRP2.

“The Qosmio brand is about bringing the extreme performance gamers and HD content creators crave without the extreme price,” said Carl Pinto, vice president of product development, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., Digital Products Division. “With the new NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M GPU, consumers can now take advantage of a sophisticated graphics engine optimized for the newest and most demanding DirectX 11 games. The Qosmio X500 delivers an enthusiast-class package equipped with everything needed to fully enjoy and create high-definition content.”

Qosmio X500 Series laptops feature Intel® Core™ i5 and Core i7 processor3 options with Turbo Boost technology. A stunning 18.4-inch diagonal HD TruBrite® widescreen display4 delivers plenty of screen real-estate for multi-tasking and multimedia enjoyment, while the premium sound system of harman/kardon® speakers and Dolby Home Theater® audio technology delivers rich 5.1 surround sound.

Additional features include LED backlit keyboard and Blu-ray Disc™ player5 options, speedy dual-configuration 7200RPM HDD and solid state drive options, DDR3 memory configurations expandable up to 8GB6, plus a host of ports, including three USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA/USB Combo port with Sleep and Charge7, ExpressCard, IEEE 1394 and a 5-in-1 media card reader.

The laptops also feature Toshiba’s exclusive package of convenience-driven smart applications and features, including Resolution+™ DVD upconvert technology, eco Utility™, ReelTime™, Toshiba Media Controller and Bulletin Board.

Pricing and Availability

The Qosmio X500 Series starts at $1,299.99 MSRP and will be available on Sept. 26, 2010 at Amazon.com and direct from Toshiba at ToshibaDirect.com.

Image Gallery: http://bit.ly/ToshibaQ42010QosmioX500

Connect with Toshiba on Twitter at twitter.com/ToshibaLaptops and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ToshibaLaptopsUS.

About Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. (TAIS)

Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TAIS is comprised of four business units: Digital Products Division, Imaging Systems Division, Storage Device Division, and Telecommunication Systems Division. Together, these divisions provide mobile products and solutions, including industry leading portable computers; imaging products for the security, medical and manufacturing markets; storage products for automotive, computer and consumer electronics applications; and telephony equipment and associated applications.

TAIS provides sales, marketing and services for its wide range of information products in the United States and Latin America. TAIS is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation. Toshiba Corporation is a world leader and innovator in high technology, a diversified manufacturer and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products. These products span from information & communications systems; digital consumer products; electronic devices and components; as well as power systems including nuclear energy; industrial and social infrastructure systems; and home appliances. Toshiba was founded in 1875, and today operates a global network of more than 740 companies, with 204,000 employees worldwide and annual sales surpassing $68 billion (6.3 Trillion Yen). For more information on Toshiba visit www.toshiba.com.

© 2010 Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. All product, service and company names are trademarks, registered trademarks or service marks of their respective owners. Information including without limitation product prices, specifications, availability, content of services, and contact information is subject to change without notice. All rights reserved.

1 Graphics. GPU performance may vary. See Graphics Legal Footnote at www.info.toshiba.com

2 Price. Reseller prices may vary. MSRP means “Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price.”

3 Processor. CPU performance may vary. See Processor Legal Footnote at www.info.toshiba.com

4 Display. Any small bright dots that may appear on your display are an intrinsic characteristic of the thin film transistors manufacturing technology. See Display Legal Footnote at www.info.toshiba.com

5 Blu-ray Disc™ Player Technology. Compatibility and/or performance issues are possible. See Blu-Ray Disc Player Technology Legal Footnote at www.info.toshiba.com

6 Memory. Memory size may vary. See Memory Legal Footnote at www.info.toshiba.com

7 The “USB Sleep & Charge function” may not work with certain external devices even if they are compliant with the USB specification. In those cases, turn the power of the computer ON to charge the device.

As for ATI Eyefinity, the HD 5670 is apparently capable of driving three simultaneous displays, each with their own resolution settings.  Port support includes HDMI v1.3 (max 1920 x 1200), dual-link DVI (2560 x 1600), DisplayPort (2560 x 1600) and VGA (2048 x 1536), though which of those you’ll actually get is dependent on which specific card manufacturer you opt for.

There’s also ATI CrossFireX support for adding multiple cards to a system, HDCP copy protection support for high-def content, and maximum power draw of 64W (idle 15W).  We should be seeing the first cards based on the HD 5670 GPU go on sale any day now.

Press Release:

Generation HD Gaming and Multimedia Features to the Mainstream

ATI Radeon™ HD 5670 is the first graphics card with support for Microsoft DirectX® 11 and ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology for under $1001

Sunnyvale, Calif. —1/14/2010
AMD (NYSE: AMD) today introduced the ATI Radeon™ HD 5670 graphics card, the latest addition to the award-winning line-up of the world’s first and only graphics products to fully support Microsoft DirectX® 11 gaming and computing, as well as new innovations such as ATI Eyefinity technology. Priced at less than USD $100,1 the ATI Radeon™ HD 5670 graphics card enables a superior HD gaming experience in the latest DirectX® 11 titles, employs ATI Stream technology to boost performance in video playback and productivity applications,2 and helps enable the full Microsoft Windows® 7 experience.

• Big performance, small price: The ATI Radeon™ HD 5670 graphics card delivers up to 620 GigaFLOPS of compute power and GDDR5 memory, delivering unprecedented gaming performance for under USD $100 in the latest DirectX® 11 titles such as Codemaster’s Colin McRae™: DiRT® 2™, EA Phenomic’s BattleForge™ , GSC Game World’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Call of Pripyat™ and Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2 as well as DirectX® 9, DirectX® 10, DirectX® 10.1 and OpenGL titles. In some of today’s most popular games, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5670 graphics processor showed a more than 20 percent performance improvement over the closest competing product in its class.3
• Panoramic computing hits the mainstream: The latest in ATI Eyefinity technology enables up to three displays to be used with a single ATI Radeon™ HD 5670 graphics card4, delivering the most immersive gaming experience with a graphics card for under $100.
• Accelerate with ATI Stream technology: ATI Stream technology speeds up video transcoding and improves video playback performance with applications such as Adobe Flash, and helps to deliver video enhancements that produce better visual quality with sharper, more vibrant images.2

“AMD recently celebrated the shipment of its two millionth DirectX 11 graphics chip. AMD has already enabled DirectX® 11 support for the majority of the PC market and today’s introduction of the ATI Radeon™ HD 5670 graphics card is yet another clear indication of AMD’s commitment to address the strong market demand for DirectX 11-capable graphics cards,” said Matt Skynner, vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics Group. “Combined with the successful launches of the ATI Radeon™ HD 5970, ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 series and ATI Radeon™ HD 5700 series, AMD has defined the DirectX 11 gaming experience like no other, bringing graphics innovations like ATI Eyefinity technology and ATI Stream technology to millions of consumers worldwide.”

“DICE prides itself on delivering the best possible experience to gamers, and ATI Radeon™ graphics cards help us to do that with Battlefield: Bad Company™ 2 through the use of DirectX® 11 and our Frostbite engine,” said Johan Andersson. “The fact that AMD has now shipped two million DirectX® 11 graphics processors demonstrates how excited gamers are by the awesome performance and feature set of the latest ATI Radeon™ products.”

As you might expect, it’s not a cheap upgrade option in any case.  On Maingear’s flagship desktop, the Ephex, the HD 5870 is the entry-level ATI card on offer in a system starting from $2,385.  Alternatively, you can have two or even three of them, for $500 or $1,000 extra respectively.

If you’re on a budget, Maingear’s cheapest model on which you can spec an HD 5870 is the X-Cube, and there the new ATI Radeon is a $370 option.  That’s just under $10 less than what you’d pay for the card on its own; you can also slap two of them in there, for $870.

Hot Hardware, HardOCP and AnandTech have also run reviews, and frankly the general consensus is excellent.  The HD 5870 uses 40nm processes and has a 850MHz core clock speed, 1,600 stream processors and a whopping 153.6GBps memory bandwidth, adding up to performance that’s double what was on offer from last-gen cards, with”the best visual output, and the most compelling set of features” saying The Tech Report.  All that, and potentially months ahead of whatever NVIDIA can pull out of the bag to support DirectX 11.

Right now, though, they’re not budget cards.  Both the Sapphire and the ASUS Radeon HD 5870 come in at $379.99; there’ll also be a cheaper version, the Radeon HD 5850, with a slower 725MHz clock speed, 1,440 stream processors and slower GDDR5 memory.  We’re yet to see any reviews of the HD 5850 cards, however, though they’re expected to come in at around $259.

Press Release:

AMD Changes the Game with ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series DirectX® 11-Compliant Graphics Cards, Harnessing the Most Powerful Processor Ever Created

World’s Most Advanced Graphics Processor Allows Consumers to Expand, Accelerate and Dominate Their PC Experience with First Full Support for Microsoft DirectX 11

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–AMD (NYSE: AMD) today launched the most powerful processor ever created1, found in its next-generation ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 series graphics cards, the world’s first and only to fully support Microsoft DirectX® 11, the new gaming and compute standard shipping shortly with Microsoft Windows® 7 operating system. Boasting up to 2.72 TeraFLOPS of compute power, the ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 series effectively doubles the value consumers can expect of their graphics purchases, delivering twice the performance-per-dollar of previous generations of graphics products. AMD will initially release two cards: the ATI Radeon HD 5870 and the ATI Radeon HD 5850, each with 1GB GDDR5 memory. With the ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 series of graphics cards, PC users can expand their computing experience with ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, accelerate their computing experience with ATI Stream technology, and dominate the competition with superior gaming performance and full support of Microsoft DirectX® 11, making it a “must-have” consumer purchase just in time for Microsoft Windows® 7 operating system.

“With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards driven by the most powerful processor on the planet, AMD is changing the game, both in terms of performance and the experience,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Products Group, AMD. “As the first to market with full DirectX 11 support, an unmatched experience made possible with ATI Eyefinity technology, and ATI Stream technology harnessing open standards designed to help make Windows 7 that much better, I can say with confidence that AMD is the undisputed leader in graphics once more.”

Dominate your competition with Microsoft DirectX® 11 support

With the ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 series of graphics cards, gamers will enjoy gaming supremacy and the ultimate advantage, realizing incredible HD gaming performance and the most engaging experience possible with DirectX® 11 gaming done right:

* Designed and built for purpose: Modeled on the full DirectX 11 specifications, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards delivers up to 2.72 TeraFLOPS of compute power in a single card, translating to superior performance in the latest DirectX 11 games, as well as in DirectX 9, DirectX 10, DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL titles in single card configurations or multi-card configurations using ATI CrossFireX™ technology. When measured in terms of performance experienced in some of today’s most popular games, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series is up to twice as fast as the closest competing product in its class,5 allowing gamers to enjoy incredible new DirectX 11 games – including the forthcoming DiRT™2 from Codemasters, and Aliens vs. Predator™ from Rebellion, and updated version of The Lord of the Rings Online™ and Dungeons and Dragons Online® Eberron Unlimited™ from Turbine – all in stunning detail with incredible frame rates.
* Generations ahead of the competition: Building on the success of the ATI Radeon™ HD 4000 series products, the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards is two generations ahead of DirectX 10.0 support, and features 6th generation evolved AMD tessellation technology, 3rd generation evolved GDDR5 support, 2nd generation evolved 40nm process technology, and a feature-rich compute shader, all geared towards delivering the best gaming experience money can buy.
* The ultimate in game compatibility: The DirectX 11 API was developed on AMD graphics hardware and represents the cornerstone of DirectX 11 gaming. All initial DirectX 11 games were developed and/or continue to be developed on AMD DirectX 11 hardware. With more than 20 DirectX 11 games currently in development, this innate optimization for ATI Radeon graphics cards, in combination with monthly ATI Catalyst™ driver releases, help ensure a stable, reliable and high-performance experience for the latest games.

Accelerate with ATI Stream technology

With the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics card, PC users can unleash Windows 7 and realize the potential of a better computing experience to help do more with their PC:

* Harness the home supercomputer: One ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card would have been one of the top 10 supercomputers in the world just six years ago – today that same processing power can be found in your home PC, working with high-performance CPUs to deliver a superior experience.
* Windows® 7 done right: Windows 7 is the first compute-capable operating system and the ATI Radeon HD 5800 series of graphics cards with ATI Stream technology accelerate it like nothing else, being the first and only card to support DirectCompute 11.
* Create and do more, faster than ever before with ATI Stream technology: Enjoy new features, functionality and improved performance in top media, entertainment and productivity applications made possible by ATI Stream technology.6
* Most expansive support of industry standards: The ATI Radeon HD 5800 of graphics cards fully support both DirectX 11 and OpenCL, ensuring broad application support now and the future.

Expand the PC experience with ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology

Enjoy multi-monitor computing with seamless enablement of the biggest game environments ever seen:

* The ultimate in seamless flexibility: Arrange one to three displays using the ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 and ATI Radeon™ HD 5850 graphics cards, or up to six displays using the forthcoming ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 Eyefinity6 graphics card, in a variety of configurations – any mix of portrait or landscape.
* See them before they see you: Unlock the potential of multi-monitor gaming at up to 12 x full HD resolution, the largest game environments ever displayed.10 Experience more visual detail and expanded battlefields that your gaming competitors may lack.
* Enjoy visual computing in eye-definition: Virtually obsolete scrolling by taking advantage of vast desktop real estate to put more information at your fingertips. Enjoy the best of today’s latest visually-enhanced online applications – social networking, video conferencing, video entertainment, and satellite imagery – all in stunning detail.

Ecosystem support

* The ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 series of graphics cards is supported by a dozen add-in-board companies, including ASUS, Club 3D, Diamond Multimedia, Force3D, GIGABYTE, HIS (Hightech Information Systems), MSI, Multimedia, PowerColor, SAPPHIRE Technology, VisionTek and XFX.

Supporting Quotes

“By incorporating the ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 graphics processor’s revolutionary DirectX 11 and ATI Eyefinity multi-monitor capabilities into the Alienware desktop gaming system, Dell Gaming continues to lead the industry in delivering performance, immersion and visual experience levels that shatter all previous limitations,” said Arthur Lewis, head of Dell gaming group.

“I had high expectations of AMD’s new DirectX 11 GPUs, but nothing really prepared me for the breathtaking experience that I’m now enjoying,” said Dirk Ringe, vice president, EA Phenomic. “Frame rates are so silky-smooth at ultra high-resolutions, even with all effects turned to max, that the new hardware makes previous hardware look like a quaint antique! The quality of the rendering in BattleForge is something that I used to dream about only a year ago – and the flexibility and power of DirectCompute 11 opens our eyes to a multitude of new possibilities. We applaud AMD’s and Microsoft’s vision in creating the DirectX 11 API and this amazing new hardware and we can say without hesitation that it represents the future of gaming.”

“We were simply astonished by the performance of the DirectCompute 11 hardware in AMD’s DirectX 11 GPUs,” said Ruslan Didenko, project lead, GSC Gameworld. “By meeting the full DirectX 11 hardware spec AMD has created a beast of a GPU that is light years ahead of its DirectX 10.1 and DirectX 10 predecessors. We strongly recommend a full-on DirectX 11 GPU from AMD as very simply the best way to experience our stunning new game, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat. A vision of loveliness, in every gut-wrenching detail!”

“Trinigy remains committed to supporting the game development industry with top-notch game engine technology that combines efficiency, creative freedom and performance,” said Dag Frommhold, managing director at Trinigy. “We’re extremely excited to be working with AMD to support their DirectX 11 graphics processors. AMD’s quality drivers and hardware complement our commitment to game developers perfectly by empowering them to produce higher-level in-game graphics than ever before.”

There’s not a huge amount to be seen, really, given the huge black plastic shield covering the mainboard, but the dual-width card does show its various output ports and a considerable fan.  Connectivity looks set to include two DVI outputs, an HDMI and an DisplayPort socket, which pretty much covers all the bases you may require.

The production DirectX 11 cards themselves are expected to land on the market by the holiday shopping season.  No word on pricing but having read some of the demo feedback from PC Perspective and Legit Reviews we’re not expecting anything cheap.

[via The Tech Report]

In a demonstration, AMD showed how a user could drag a video file to a PSP and have the clip automatically transcoded into the correct format automatically.  Of course, DirectX 11 will also have an impact on gaming, with the Microsoft standard’s new tessellation, multithreading and compute shader.

AMD also talked about their attempts to encourage manufacturers to switch to using 3DMark06 for their battery testing, which simulates use with a more active profile compared to the more typical MobileMark07 testing that shuts off wireless, dims the display and limits the CPU to around 7-percent (in contrast, 3DMark06 sets it to 47-percent).  They also outlined their expectations for netbooks, which they see as remaining a minority in comparison to ultrathin notebooks that fit just underneath a MacBook Air.

Apparently, part of the reason for the WARP is to stave off some of the problems Vista occurred when some systems couldn’t run the OS, even though the spec list said they could. WARP stands for Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform. This system will work fine on systems with just an 800MHz processor.

Microsoft has already performed some Crysis benchmark tests on the new system and the results were quite impressive with 7.36fps frame rate with 800 x 600 on a PC running Core i7. This is better than the current Intel integrated graphics have been able to produce. And while this certainly isn’t an alternative to a dedicated GPU, it is a decent built-in solution.