Ever since DirectX 10 came out with Windows Vista, most gamers have upgraded (changed, rather) their OS to vista to experience games with DX10.

Games look better on DX10 no doubt, but it is equally true that switching to DX10 sacrifices a lot of FPS (Frames Per Second). Now this difference may be little while playing on lower settings with highly capable graphic cards but as you increase the details and set a higher resolution with higher graphics settings, the difference becomes noticeable. There is a significant drop in frames per second, causing the game run less smoothly, in some cases, ruining the gaming experience.

If you have an expensive top-of-the-line graphics card or even use SLI or CrossFire, you may get a decent FPS even in ultra settings (at resolutions like 2500×1600) with games like Crysis in DX10. But if you don’t, you will certainly have a laggy experience at highest settings with similar games and you will be forced to switch to a setting lower to get playable FPS. However, you are likely to get the same playable FPS at highest setting in DX9. And the game at ultra settings in DX9, looks better than in high settings with DX10, undoubtedly. Even in ultra settings, some games are visually indistinguishable whether you run them in DX9 or DX10. A fine example is BioShock. The guys at ExtremeTech have performed a test and here are the results:

(Backlink: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2174759,00.asp)

I cannot see much of a difference. Can you?

If the images were not labelled as DX9 and DX10, could you say that the top one is in DX10 and bottom one is in DX9?

They even reported an average drop of 20 FPS after moving from DX9 to DX10.

Another fine example: A benchmark from Anandtech (link)

In this chart, the performance of a game in DX10 and Dx9 is compared. The above numbers show the % of performance of DX9 obtained in DX10. In extreme cases, this is seen to be a mere 25.7%. If you used this card and got, say 50 FPS in DX9, you will get only around 12 FPS in DX10, settings unchanged.

If you have a mid-end or even high end graphic card, switching to DX9 will give you the chance to play in higher settings,  a resolution which nullifies the small differences which come by while playing in DX10 and more importantly, a higher FPS. Do not worry if you only have Windows Vista or Windows 7 on your PC, most games can be run in DX9 mode either with a separate .exe file or by adding a word or two in the “Target:” property or more easily, by just selecting Windows XP under compatibility tab in the executable’s or the shortcut’s properties.

Have a better gaming experience!

(Featured image: pcgameshardware.de)