DirectX being weird

[zaknafiend]

Hi,
i am running windows 7 32 bit and have an 8800gt.
when I run the "dxdiag" program which tell you all about the card/drivers/DX it says that my DirectX version is 11, when in reality the 8800gt is a DX 9/10 card. It recognizes that the graphics card is indeed an 8800gt, so why is it doing this?
thanks

 

[sabot00]

It tells you your software DirectX version, Windows 7 indeed has DX11 installed, you cannot argue that.

 

[mactronix]

+1^
Yea W7 is a DX11 capable Operating system thats all it is, dosent matter what card you have it will report DX11.

Mactronix

 

[zaknafiend]

soooo, does that mean games are running in DX11 or not? i.e. does the OS report it just cause that's what the OS uses even though the gfx card doesn;t support it or does it mean I'm actually using DX11?

 

[hunter315]

You have all the files for DirectX 11 installed, but since the card cannot support the features of DX11 it cannot run games in DX11 mode because it lakes the hardware support for it, you can only run games at the highest level that you have both hardware and software support for, so you couldnt run a DX 11 game on a system with a 5850 that was running windows XP, in the same way that your system cannot run a game in DX 11 mode due to hardware restrictions.

 

[jaguarskx]

Win 7 comes with DX11 already installed. It is backwards compatible with cards that do not support DX11 or DX10. The 8800gt is a DX10 card and will not support DX11 features. If you want DX11 effects then you need to buy a DX11 card.

 

[zaknafiend]

Best answer selected by zaknafiend.