DirectX Support : Hardware, Software Or Else...

[TigerKingX]

I was going through different games and found different Direct X 9.0 to 11.0 compatibility required. My don't have graphic card for my computer.
My computer uses Gigabyte G41-M Combo motherboard and Pentium D 840 CPU.
I opened dxdiag and found Direct X 11 version in my comp.
My question is that which hardware (motherboard or anything else) gives support for Direct X 11 for playing games or etc? And what if I want to play game supported Direct X 11.1 can I play that game? Future updates like rumor mill saying Direct X 12 (Blue), if I buy now new graphic card (gtx 760) will it support 12.0 in future. I am newbie at this gaming world. Please help me.

 

[jaguarskx]

You need the hardware in order to take advantage of DirectX 10 and 11.

Your motherboard has the old Intel GMA 4500 graphics core which supports DX10. However, DX10 is pretty demanding, it was not widely used in may games and the GMA 4500 is much to weak to make use of DX10 any way. The release of the Intel HD 3000 in the Sandy Bridge generation Core i3/i5/i7 CPU was a huge boost in performance compared to the GMA 4500. But the Intel HD 3000 is only as fast as a Radeon HD 5450 graphics card.

DX11 is installed by default for Win 7 & 8. But a graphics card with DX11 circuitry is required to make use of it. If you attempt to play a game that requires a DX11 graphics card like Just Cause 2, but you do not have a DX11 card, then you will probably not even get into the game's main menu.

DX12 will again require a graphics card with the hardware to make use of DX12.

 

[jaguarskx]

Additionally, the Pentium D 840 is considered a weak CPU by today's standards. Even a modest Radeon HD 7750 which is consider a more or less mainstream performance level graphics card would be bottlenecked by the Pentium D 840's relatively poor performance.

 

[TigerKingX]

You need the hardware in order to take advantage of DirectX 10 and 11.

Your motherboard has the old Intel GMA 4500 graphics core which supports DX10. However, DX10 is pretty demanding, it was not widely used in may games and the GMA 4500 is much to weak to make use of DX10 any way. The release of the Intel HD 3000 in the Sandy Bridge generation Core i3/i5/i7 CPU was a huge boost in performance compared to the GMA 4500. But the Intel HD 3000 is only as fast as a Radeon HD 5450 graphics card.

DX11 is installed by default for Win 7 & 8. But a graphics card with DX11 circuitry is required to make use of it. If you attempt to play a game that requires a DX11 graphics card like Just Cause 2, but you do not have a DX11 card, then you will probably not even get into the game's main menu.

DX12 will again require a graphics card with the hardware to make use of DX12.

Hey thanks bro for lots of your info.
I'm going to buy ASUS GTX 760 DirectCU II OC 2 GB (with new system) is this graphic card can run Direct X 9 or 8 games.

My System:
Intel 3.5 GHz LGA1150 Core i7 4770K Processor
ASRock Z87 Extreme 4 Motherboard
ASUS GTX 760 DirectCU II OC 2 GB
Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) PC RAM (CMZ8GX3M1A1600C10)
Samsung 840 Series 120 GB SSD Internal Hard Drive (MZ-7TD120BW)
Seagate Barracuda 3 TB Desktop Internal Hard Drive (ST3000DM001)

 

[jaguarskx]

Your new system should handle games just fine. A DX 11 graphic card can handle DX9 and DX10 games just fine. However, just be aware that older games may not be 100% compatible with Win 7 / Win 8. For example, Fallout 3 is not very old, but some people seems to have issues playing that game in Win 7. Based on some thread that I've come across, Fallout 3 does not seem to be compatible with Win 8. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2 are old DX 9 games and from what I've read it needed some type of hack to get them to run in Win 7. Additionally, some really old games have trouble running on new hardware. I recall reading a post about some trying to play some shooter game from the mid 1990's on a 2009 PC. The game simply ran too fast to be playable.

As for DX 12, the GTX 760 will not be compatible with it. In fact, no cards currently out will be able to use DX 12 effects since the specifications for DX 12 are still being developed and I not even sure when it will come out.

Lastly, unless you are going to be using programs that can make use of Intel's Hyper Threading (HT) technology, then you are simply better off buying the less expensive i5-4670k which does not have HT.