dx9 | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Thu, 02 Feb 2023 09:33:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png dx9 | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Intel’s latest Arc driver brings big improvements to DX9 gaming performance https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/intels-latest-arc-driver-brings-big-improvements-to-dx9-gaming-performance/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/intels-latest-arc-driver-brings-big-improvements-to-dx9-gaming-performance/#respond Wed, 01 Feb 2023 18:00:45 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=592133 This week, Intel began rolling out a new graphics driver for its Arc GPUs. The driver launched earlier this morning, but it is only now that we can talk about the big improvements this driver brings. Since Arc's launch, Intel's engineers have been hard at work to polish up performance, particularly in DX9 titles. With this new driver, Intel has delivered up to 43 percent better performance in DX9 with smoother frame times too. 

The post Intel’s latest Arc driver brings big improvements to DX9 gaming performance first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
This week, Intel began rolling out a new graphics driver for its Arc GPUs. The driver launched earlier this morning, but it is only now that we can talk about the big improvements this driver brings. Since Arc's launch, Intel's engineers have been hard at work to polish up performance, particularly in DX9 titles. With this new driver, Intel has delivered up to 43 percent better performance in DX9 with smoother frame times too. 

The new Intel 4091 graphics driver brings the performance improvements we've been waiting for. Using an Arc A750 GPU, Intel claims its new driver delivers up to 43 percent higher performance in DX9 titles. CS:GO is a particularly good example here, with a big performance improvement at 1080p. In the slide above, you'll see even more comparisons, with performance bumps across the board.

Another slide shows frame time improvements too, reducing latency and smoothing out the overall experience, particularly in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Other titles, like Skyrim, League of Legends, Lost Ark and others also see big frame time improvements, with some games receiving a 2x improvement.

In the above slides, you'll see additional frame rate and frame time improvements with the new driver while gaming at 1440p too. Overall versus the launch driver, the Arc A750 appears to be in a much better position for mainstream gaming.

To cap off Intel's big performance improvements, the company is also dropping the price tag of the Arc A750 graphics card. These GPUs will now start at $249, versus the $279 launch price tag, creating a better value product overall.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: Intel's first-generation Arc graphics cards have been available for a little while now but this driver seems to address a lot of the performance concerns with older titles. It will be interesting to see further results as users begin to test out the driver in a wider range of games. 

The post Intel’s latest Arc driver brings big improvements to DX9 gaming performance first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/intels-latest-arc-driver-brings-big-improvements-to-dx9-gaming-performance/feed/ 0
Intel discusses Arc graphics and optimising for legacy and modern APIs https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/intel-discusses-arc-graphics-and-optimising-for-legacy-and-modern-apis/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/intel-discusses-arc-graphics-and-optimising-for-legacy-and-modern-apis/#respond Fri, 05 Aug 2022 14:30:45 +0000 https://www.kitguru.net/?p=570189 Intel is continuing to ramp up its marketing efforts for Intel Arc. Earlier this week, Intel uploading a new video discussing Arc A750 GPU benchmarks and performance versus the RTX 3060. Now, in a new video Intel continues to keep expectations in check for Arc, with a discussion around graphics APIs. In the latest video, …

The post Intel discusses Arc graphics and optimising for legacy and modern APIs first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Intel is continuing to ramp up its marketing efforts for Intel Arc. Earlier this week, Intel uploading a new video discussing Arc A750 GPU benchmarks and performance versus the RTX 3060. Now, in a new video Intel continues to keep expectations in check for Arc, with a discussion around graphics APIs.

In the latest video, Intel graphics marketing lead, Ryan Shrout, is joined by Tom Petersen to talk about legacy APIs and the differences between them and newer ones.

In the A750 graphics benchmark video, Intel used DX12 titles, showing that Arc works well with modern low-level APIs like DX12 and Vulkan, which allow closer communication between the GPU and the game. However, DX11, DX9 and other legacy APIs don't have that same level of resource management, meaning a bigger burden is placed on optimising drivers for those games.

The pair explain that there is still more work for Intel to do on the software side to optimise performance across many PC titles. We should hear more later this month, as Intel will be posting another performance-oriented video detailing its upcoming desktop graphics cards.

Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.

KitGuru Says: We're finally starting to get more frequent updates from Intel on its upcoming desktop graphics cards, which hopefully means launch is just around the corner.

The post Intel discusses Arc graphics and optimising for legacy and modern APIs first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/matthew-wilson/intel-discusses-arc-graphics-and-optimising-for-legacy-and-modern-apis/feed/ 0
nVidia drops the price of GTX460 another $20 https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/faith/nvidia-drops-the-price-of-gtx460-another-20/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/faith/nvidia-drops-the-price-of-gtx460-another-20/#comments Sat, 04 Sep 2010 17:27:39 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=15396 If KitGuru had known that nVidia would be announcing weekly price cuts, we would have hired an intern to write these stories. The GTX460 is easily the most popular of the Fermi cards released so far, so why another price cut?  KitGuru empties the bins around nVidia's HQ in Theale, looking for an answer. This …

The post nVidia drops the price of GTX460 another $20 first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
If KitGuru had known that nVidia would be announcing weekly price cuts, we would have hired an intern to write these stories. The GTX460 is easily the most popular of the Fermi cards released so far, so why another price cut?  KitGuru empties the bins around nVidia's HQ in Theale, looking for an answer.

This time last year, nVidia's sales force were overheard telling customers that it was time for AMD employees to update their CVs, because ‘Fermi is coming'. While that career advice might have been a little premature, Fermi is now starting to prove its worth and it's beginning to provide a viable alternative to the AMD Radeon HD 5000 series in the DX11 space. But are the new, affordable, Fermi products coming to market too slowly?

Over the last 2 weeks, we have seen Black-Ops marketing taken to new levels by both AMD and nVidia.

Normally, new graphics drivers are carefully scanned to ensure that no unreleased product names are contained in the code. nVidia's latest driver showed that it's finally ready to launch the 420 etc products that KitGuru publicised back in May. In the same month, AMD went one step further by ‘driver announcing' that it has a complete new generation of cards ready to go – the Northern Islands refresh to the 5000 series.

nVidia shareholders won't mind Jay Puri relaxing with some karaoke, as long as he does not start to sing the blues

Right now, Jen Hsun Huang (CEO) and Jay Puri (VP Sales) must be utterly conflicted. Looking at the massive Steam Power Stats Survey, nVidia is sitting on 59% of the overall graphics market space. Now that's a figure any company would be proud of.

At the same time, nVidia positions itself as a technology leader, which means it wants to be doing best in the newer markets. As August drew to a close, the independent Steam Powered DX11 statistics read 87% Radeon and 13% GeForce. With these publicly available numbers to chew on, how did we think nVidia's head honchos would react?

Looking closely at the Steam Powered data, the majority of the people buying DX11 are those with existing DX9 cards. To us, this means a gamer who's upgrading to a complete, next generation rig, which they will hang onto for a good while. That's a lot of sales revenue gone and no easy chance to re-sell into the same user for a couple of years. nVidia is ambitious and wants a bigger slice of that DX11 pie.

One thing that looks set to help is the launch of the GTS450 product, which we predicted would be in stores on 14th September (Flags of our Predictions – back at the start of July). That prediction is still looking safe.

So will the new launch be enough for Jen Hsun and Jay?  Not Likely. What else might they do to try and gain parity in the DX11 market?

Something surprising? You bet!

When we just heard from our Far East nVidia sources that another $20 price cut has been made to the GTX460. KitGuru was shocked.

Cutting the price of the GTX470 seemed an obvious move, because it was simply not competitive against the HD 5850 at launch. The same is true for the high-end GTX480 price cuts.

But with the apparently popular GTX460 already down around the £145 mark (with sales tax), in the UK and USA, the landing spot for pricing on the GTS450 product has become very small. Think ‘Eagle landing on moon' small.

KitGuru originally predicted that the GTS450 cards would be in the £99 to £129 range – depending on clock speed and memory. If the GTX460 drops to £130 or less in the next week or so, then we have to say the £129 upper limit for the GTS450 is looking unlikely. It's too close. No one would pay £129 for a GTS450 when they can have a GTX460 for the same money.

Another $20 off the already reduced GTX460 will make it competitive, but what fate the GTS450?

Normally, a graphics company would want the biggest sensible price gap between each product and, certainly, when a new product is launching the last thing you do is drop a much faster product down in price, to sit right next to it. Interesting times!

KitGuru says: We really don't understand this price cut. Sure, it represents great value to KitGuru readers who were interested in the GTX460, but were looking for a bit more value. It also makes GTX460 SLi very attractive, but the GTS450 is also supposed to be followed by a slightly quicker GTS455 (GTX460 fall out part). If that happens, where can it possibly slide into this product stack? We are really asking.

Intelligent explanations welcome below, we stand ready to be educated on the intricacies of product placement.

The post nVidia drops the price of GTX460 another $20 first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/faith/nvidia-drops-the-price-of-gtx460-another-20/feed/ 11
Graphics Card Buying Guide https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/faith/which-graphics-card-to-choose/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/faith/which-graphics-card-to-choose/#comments Sat, 03 Apr 2010 08:01:16 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=56 Almost nothing affects your PC experience as much as the graphics procssor you choose, from integrated chips that come with the mainboard – through to running multiple high-end DX cards – KitGuru breaks this complex subject down into some very simple, practical advice. So what are the main considerations? Do you play games or use graphic …

The post Graphics Card Buying Guide first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
Almost nothing affects your PC experience as much as the graphics procssor you choose, from integrated chips that come with the mainboard – through to running multiple high-end DX cards – KitGuru breaks this complex subject down into some very simple, practical advice.

So what are the main considerations? Do you play games or use graphic design programmes? What size of screen and resolution do you want to use ?

If you're not playing games or using a graphics applications, then integrated graphics should be fine. Your choices are GMA from Intel, GeForce from nVidia and Radeon HD from ATI. Right now, all three of these are pretty decent, so it's hard to make a mistake. Just check what outputs the mainboard has – compared to the connections of your screen.

Resolutions? Older, squarer screens typically run up to 1280×1024. That’s 1.3 million pixels to update for one frame in a game. Modern high-definition monitors can cost less than £150 and run at 1920×1080, which is over 1.7 million pixels. That’s a workload increase of almost 60%. This table shows you how many pixels need updates for each resolution:-

1,024 x 768     =    786,432  pixels to be updated
1,280 x 1,024 =  1,310,720
1,680 x 1,050 =  1,764,000
1,920 x 1,080  = 2,073,600
2,560 x 1,600 = 4,096,000

Entry level? If you're looking to play games from several years back, at newer games at low resolutions with the image quality turned down – then consider adding a graphic card for less than ~£50. Good choices include the ATI Radeon HD 5450 (DX11) and the nVidia 9500GT (DX10).

Mid-Range? If you're spending around £100, then you have some great choices available. With an nVidia GTS 250 (DX10) or Radeon HD 5750 (DX11), you can expect decent frame rates (over 30fps is playable) at 1920×1080 at high quality in games like FarCry 2 (32fps and 35fps respectively).

High-End? If you're spending around £300 on a card, then you probably have some specific preferences already. nVidia's GTX470 is a solid DX11 choice alongside the Radeon HD 5870. According to nVidia's figures, for most games the 5870 will be quicker – although the GTX470 has a lt more tessellation power available for newer games.

The other things you need to be aware of are (a) the length of the card (where it needs to fit inside your case) and (b) the power draw. If your power supply is weak, then it can cause system instability.

KitGuru uses a 1920×1080 screen for most games and feels that DX11 is a definite plus. On that basis, the Radeon HD 5770 at £130 is a great choice and, for added performance, you can always add a second card later if your mainboard supports CrossFire. As far as nVidia goes, we reserve judgement until the new mid-range DX11 cards come out. Right now, the fastest single GPU on the planet is nVidia's GTX 480 at £430 and the fastest single card is the Radeon HD 5970 at closer to £500.
KitGuru says…  Dream on!

Where to buy…

The post Graphics Card Buying Guide first appeared on KitGuru.]]>
https://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/faith/which-graphics-card-to-choose/feed/ 1