DXDiag, DX versions, and what your computer can do
DXDiag is this great diagnostic for your gaming hardware. It was created during my time as DX SDK PM by the DX SDK and Tools team. It is hard to imagine gaming before DXDiag and its reporting what is on your machine; but lately I have seen a lot of misunderstanding what DXDiag is and what it does.
DXDiag is a tabbed application that presents information about your gaming hardware.
The front page is the "System" tab and provides general information about what is installed on your machine.
There are tabs specific to DirectXFiles, Display, Sound, Music, Input, Network. and More Help. Each of these specific tabs provides detailed information on that component and all but the Input tab have "Test" buttons to allow you to test the gaming functionality. The results of those tests will inform you as to what the max DX version you can successfully run is. Go to the Graphics tab, and based on the versions it lets you test and what versions pass the test, that defines what Windows thinks your hardware *can run*. Not installed, but what is actually supported by your hardware.
If you are translating what DXDiag says is the highest level of DX installed on your machine, as shown by the data contained on the 1st tab of DXDiag, into what us being used or running - you misunderstand DXDiag. The front tab of DXDiag is informative only, so that is what you *have installed*. DXDiag on Vista will report DX10 is installed even if you have only a DX9 graphics card because DX10 is installed on Vista by default.
That still doesnt mean you are running DX version N. Now it is up to each app to detect what the hardware *can run* and then instantiate an instance of a graphics engine *to use* the hardware. Since most of the previous versions of DX are available, there is nothing to stop an application from using DX7, for instance, on your DX9 hardware.
So unless you know exactly what renderer a specific game is using, you cannot state what you are running unless you are on Vista. Vista itself uses DX9.Ex or DX9.L to render the desktop, the windows, and the other UI elements. Thus on Vista DX9 *is always* being used.
XP uses GDI, and thus does not get full benefit from the video card like Vista does.
And just for the record, FSX-SP2 ( and Acceleration ) have both a DX9 and a DX10 renderer, and will detect what hardware you have. If you are on Vista with DX10 hardware, you will get the 'DX10 Preview' checkbox. No Vista, no DX10 hardware, no checkbox.
Comments
Anonymous
December 28, 2007
PingBack from http://msdnrss.thecoderblogs.com/2007/12/28/dxdiag-dx-versions-and-what-your-computer-can-do/Anonymous
December 28, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 29, 2007
In my humble opinion, I believe that FSX is an unfinished product, like Windows Vista. I think you should devote more time to optimize FSX instead of wasting time saying nonsense. I bought the 2 FSX versions (regular and deluxe), I bought the Acceleration Pack, and I feel cheated, because I have a computer with a hitech graphics card valued at more than $700 and not get a good frame rate. Every time I am more convinced that you are crooks.Anonymous
December 29, 2007
Crook, a slang term for a criminal or a person of questionable morality. Specifically it refers to someone who is corrupt and uses dishonest or unethical tactics to gain money. The adjective crooked can refer to such persons or actions. This version of the term may also be archaically used as a verb in reference to becoming a criminal or causing another to become a criminal. How can you tell that to me, if you don't even knows me? I just post my opinion acording to my results, thats all. Why are you giving me the oportunity to think you are suffering fron fragile X syndrome.Anonymous
December 29, 2007
Hi, Phil! QUOTE XP uses GDI, and thus does not get full benefit from the video card like Vista does. UNQUOTE Could you provide an explanation? (blurb or url) Cheers, jahman.Anonymous
December 30, 2007
Are you sure you ran DxDiag on Vista at least once, because on my comp running Vista, I see no buttons to test ANY of the functions, which drove me completely mad. Another Vista feature removed silently?Anonymous
December 30, 2007
Jahman: Vista uses DX9.L to render the Aero interface on the GPU in 3D. XP uses GDI to render the XP shell mainly on the CPU in 2D.Anonymous
December 30, 2007
Ice: its a game. if you were that unhappy, you should haved returned it. have a great Holidays.Anonymous
December 30, 2007
So is the testing ability removed? Why? Wasn't it useful for troubleshooting? Okay, DirectSound got removed but what about DirectMusic, DirectInput, DirectPlay and Direct3D 10? No test for Direct3D 10?Anonymous
December 30, 2007
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December 30, 2007
I must admit being an end user I have been using DxDiag since the year dot and have never found one bit of use for it yet. DX10 preview gives me about 8fps more than running FSX without it so I am more than happy... Vista™ Home Premium AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5200+, 2612 Mhz ASUS M2N-SLI DELUXE Corsair 3GB RAM NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX Creative X-Fi Fatal1tyAnonymous
December 30, 2007
originally posted by Phil Taylor 12/30/2007 in response to ice f102: "Ice: its a game. if you were that unhappy, you should haved returned it have a great Holidays." Phil, I assume you know that an end-user cannot return opened games. Once you buy them and open them, you're stuck with it. You are really not aware of this? martyAnonymous
December 30, 2007
Marty, I believe you are wrong, read : http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/productrefund/refund.mspxAnonymous
December 30, 2007
yes, I would also like to return, please explain how?Anonymous
December 30, 2007
Phil, in Australia it is illegal to return opened software, unless the disc is damaged in which case a replacement can be given. Once it's bought, you're stuck with it and yes, with (at least) Vista* Home w/ PCI Express the VGA and Sound test buttons have been removed from dxdiag.Anonymous
December 30, 2007
Also in the link supplied, under the section: What Products are not Eligible for Refund Products no longer actively sold or technically supported by Microsoft. the point seems to conflict as FSX is no longer actively technically supported... is this correct?Anonymous
December 31, 2007
Blue: read the link.Anonymous
December 31, 2007
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December 31, 2007
Te: wrong, that refers to products past the 7 year product lifecycle. do not confuse the fact we are making no more service packs with not supporting FSX.Anonymous
December 31, 2007
Ice: you get 1 comment on this blog, not 3. time to move along.Anonymous
December 31, 2007
The comment has been removedAnonymous
January 02, 2008
"do not confuse the fact we are making no more service packs with not supporting FSX." Phil, I break my silence one more time and hopefully for the last time. For the sake of clearing this up once and for all can you please clarify what this statement means? No more service packs, is clear, but what does the future support for FSX entail? For instance will there be further small patches fixing long term bugs in the retail version of FSX, the bugs created by SP1 and the bugs created by SP2? I am sure that there are many FSX users who would like to know what the word "support" actually means in the context you are using. ArchCarrierAnonymous
January 02, 2008
Arch: "Support" as I am meaning here is does Product Support take a call on a product or not. And that is what the MS returns policy is talking to as well; which is what started this part of the discussion. MS provides clear guidelines on what the lifecycle of a product is and when it ages and fall off of the support list. http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy And specifically for FS Acceleration: http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=13043 There is more to support than producing service packs so please do not conflate the two.