Directx 10 Graphic Cards ?is it meant tht end of directx9 card?

Question

What is directx10 cards?
when microsoft going to launch directx10 graphic cards?

aftr launching of directx10 card, is it to directx9 grahic cards?

when they will launch directx10 cards?
what is the advantage of directx10 cards?

is Windows vista's full features will be available only with directx 10 cards?

excuse my english:(

Thanks ..in advance!!!

is it end of directx9 graphic cards,aftr the launching of directx10 cards?

Answer 1

The first DirectX 10 card are already out, the GeForce 8800s. DirectX 10 itself will come out with the release of Windows Vista, which happens on January 30th. It will not be completely the end of DirectX 9 cards, they won't make any new ones, but the ones already out should still be usable for a couple of years.

Answer 2

You don't need to worry about DX10 just yet, although it is coming. DirectX 10 cards feature advances to the Shader Model (I believe it's going to version 4.0). Specifically, it allows the graphics card vertex and pixel shaders to access texture memory on the graphics card or in system memory. This will pave the way for all sorts of neat features like faster, better terrain and being able to do more physics on the GPU. It will also allow better communication between the CPU and GPU.