Direct X 9

Windows XP Home Edition

I was looking at the Direct X 9 download and I am wondering if I need it...I do alot of work with photographs in photo shop, and I am now playing around alot with Movie Maker 2...I just purchased the Microsoft Plus DME and I am probably going to install Photo Story...should I download the new Direct X 9 or stick with what originally came with Windows XP..thanks for your help

Check your video card's website.

If your card doesn't support it, there's no point installing it.

There's not much around yet that directly utilises DX9, so considering some folk have found it troublesome, it might be better to stick with the DX8 in XP.

That said, your applications may well have some functions that use DX8. If your video card doesn't have hardware support for DX8, like the older DX7 GeForce cards or even GF4 MX cards (still DX7), those DX8 functions will be implemented in software. The DX8 algorithms have been optimised a bit further in DX9, so there have been reports of modest performance improvements with older cards in DX8 games etc.

the gf4 mx and titanium cards only support up to Directx 8.1 whereas the newer gf4 fx 5200-5800's support the newer Directx 9. If you don't have the money to spend on the 5600-5800's, stick with the titaniums considering that the fx 5200's are about the same speed as the mx cards since they don't have built-in fans, just heatsinks.

hi ...thanks for all the replies...guess I will stay away from Direct X 9....I kind of thought that I really didn't need it for what I'm doing on the comp, but it never hurts to get an opinion ...

Hi,
my last game installed on my PC, required Direct X 9, I installed it and so far havent encounterd any problem, my PC specs are listed bellow.
Regards