DirectX10 and DirectX9 (mostly card Q's)?

Question

1: should i get a DirectX 10 card? ---- a few weeks ago i was gona get a Geforce 7600 GT cause its cheap and plays a few games i wanna play
2: are DirectX10 cards compatible with DirectX9? ---- i have no idea why but people are saying this and i wanna get my facts straight.
3: other than DirectX10, is it a good idea to upgrade to Vista? ---- i looked around and saw that HOLYCRAP a bunch of games arnt playable on vista! wth? i wanna stay with XP cause it has more games, or at least until a few more games are for vista that are for XP also.
4: whats a good cheap (50 - 150) card for DirectX10 and 9 (one for each)

thanks all =)

Answer 1

1. Yes, it is more "future proof"
2. Yes they will also work w/ DX9 in XP
3. There are lots and lots of matured drivers for XP. It may not yet be the case for Vista. Next year could be different. Big enterprises are willing to wait for an SP1.
4. DX10 - 8600GT (plenty of OC headroom)- http://sg.vr-zone.com/index.php?i=4925
DX9 - ATI X1950 Pro; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102061

Answer 2

i recommend you get a geforce 7900 or 7950 for now, since some of the dx10 cards actually arent as fast as those. especially if your rig supports sli, you can actually use 2 gpu's and it gives you quite a bit of performance. geforce 9 series wont be too long now that radeon is catching up with the dx10.

i say stick with xp for now until game publishers catch on to vista and start making compatible games, other games actually work with vista, but either have more requirements or needs a little tweaking.

you can also divide your harddrive into 2 partitions and install vista on one xp on the other, that way you can install programs into each partition that fits it.

if you really want a dx10 card, get 8800 gts or gtx, or none at all, because while 8400 8500 8600 are all cheap ($100-200) their performance isnt worth the upgrade. 8400 and 8500 already runs too hot to safely OC with stock cooling, 8600 is expensive enough for you to be able to suck it in enough to buy a 8800 gts

Answer 3

Directx10 is for vista but verson 9 is common used on all other windows

Answer 4

direct x 10 is only for vista.it is not compatible with xp.