DirectX 11 will become reality on October 22nd when Microsoft launches its new operating system Windows 7. Before then we won't see many DX11 effects on our screens, but by the looks of it we will not have to wait for long before graphics circuits supporting the new API arrives. As we reported yesterday, AMD has shown world's first DirectX 11 compatible GPU.
“Today, we’re previewing AMD’s DirectX 11 graphics processor to build enthusiasm for this key technology so developers will have games available at launch and shortly thereafter. With the benefits it delivers to gaming, applications and Windows 7, developers are lining up to get their hands on our hardware, and we’re confident that consumers will too.”
Together with semiconductor TSMC it has presented the first 40nm graphics circuit sporting DX11. The circuit was code-named Evergreen and is functioning well. Die size has been suggested to be in the 180mm2 range.
AMD emphasized DX11 during the presentation and that it will be the first to bring it to market. It has released several video clips that demonstrates some of the new features coming with Microsoft's multimedia API.
DX11 Tessellation
Even if AMD didn't reveal any solid launch date it says that DX11 will arrive sooner than expected and that it will beat NVIDIA.
The Evergreen chip consists of around 1 billion transistors, which is actually a relatively small upgrade from the first 40nm AMD GPU RV740 that housed 826 million transistors. With a new architecture it is hard to say what this means though, but Evergreen will most likely replace RV770 (Radeon HD 4870) when it arrives.
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AMD release DirectX 11 videos
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