Thread: AMD Plans DirectX 11 GPUs Soon

Advanced Micro Devices plans to deliver its first graphics processor with support for Microsoft's new DirectX 11 graphics API (application programming interface) later this year, the company announced in June.

This GPU promises to deliver more-detailed and more-realistic images on systems that support the technology. AMD says it expects to beat competing graphics chip makers to market with the feature. "It's the biggest inflection point in graphics in ten years," says Rick Bergman, senior vice president of AMD's products group.

The new technology brings three major improvements to DirectX, AMD says.

The first concerns a graphics technique called tessellation that lets game designers create 3D models with much higher definition than before. The result is a much more natural look to the graphics.

DirectX 11 also brings a new way to program the graphics chip. "It's the ability to unlock the massively parallel capabilities of the graphics processor in different ways," says Bergman. Combined with Windows 7, it could be used to help programs run faster.

The third major change improves multithreading in multiple-core CPUs to better graphics performance.