What happens when DirectX 9.0 is installed and your card only supports

[Digitalcandy]

DirectX 8.1?


I have an ATI Radeon 8500LE 64MB and the box says it only supports DirectX 8.1 but Microsoft's download site has 9.0 available. I am reformatting my hard drive and installing everything. I'm installing Win98 but I think it comes preloaded with DX7.0. Should I install the DX8.1 that I assume comes with the video card software or just download the DX9.0 from Microsoft's website?

 

[dakota81]

Grab DirectX 9.0a (i think they're up to that version now...).

I believe the Radeon 8500 cards are built to support DirectX 8 at the hardware level, which means games written for DirectX 8 will see speed boosts; while games written for 7 or below, or if you get a game written for 9, the video processing will be handled through the software drivers.

Just get version 9 then also the latest version of ATI's drivers.


And I don't recall Win98 being preloaded with any version of DirectX, but either way that's besides the point.