One of the main attractions with Windows Vista is without a doubt DirectX 10, which will offer new and exciting graphical effects with the next generation of PC games. The problem is that we need more than games sporting the new API but also graphics cards supporting the new technology to be able to actually utilize the new effects. NVIDIA has its G80 architecture already out on the market and it sports DX10, the hardware does at least, but the cheapest DX10 cards on the market still costs over $300, far out of reach for many.
But both AMD and NVIDIA are working on several DX10-compatible cards and the first budget cards, with a price tag at and below $100, should appear in April.
According to The Inquirer, NVIDIA is almost done with its G86 circuit and the manufacturing of cards will start at the end of March or beginning of April. AMD/ATI is in turn expected to start the full scale production of its RV610 circuit in April and aims to launch it in May. We’re looking forward to a broader support for DX10 on the graphics card market, which should perhaps get the game developers moving.
