At QuakeCon, AMD Shows DirectX 11 GPU in Action

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AMD's DirectX 11 graphics processor might be getting close to release.

Update on 8-17-09 at 1:38 PM: TechPulse 360 is reporting that the new GPUs will be released on September 10th of this year.

At least, close enough that AMD showed it in action to both PC Perspective and Legit Reviews at QuakeCon last week. The sneak preview involved a look at the new Wolfenstein title, showing how the new hardware handles current-gen games, plus some tech demos showcasing new DirectX 11 features.

The two sites got a look at tessellation, soft shadows, and ambient occlusion running in DX11 mode. PC Perspective noted that the first demo registered 78.2 FPS at 2560x1600 with vsync disabled, and that the same demo identified the new GPU as simply "FUTURE CARD." Meanwhile, the Legit Reviews folks tried to get a peek inside the case, but AMD only let them get as close as the rear display output ports (dual-DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort).

AMD first showed its DX11 silicon in wafer form two months ago at the Computex trade show in Taiwan. While talking to people around the show floor, we learned that the hardware could be ready for a launch in late September or early October.

The word is finally out. AMD will launch it’s much anticipated next generation graphics processors code name “Evergreen” on September 10th; ahead of Windows 7’s launch in late October..

For AMD, these 40-nm, Microsoft DX11-compliant GPUs will fundamentally change the graphics industry and give it a clear advantage over Nvidia, again!

The prior generation of ATI cards was such high performance and so cheap that they forced Nvidia to hastily put together competitive video cards.

Source: The Tech Report, TechPulse 360

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