Graphics Cards and API's

[Joeblake]

Hi everyone,
I am completely new to the world of graphics cards but my work involves using a program that gives you a choice to use either OpenGL or Direct 3D. I deal with many different people using all sorts of computers and Graphics card combinations so does anyone know if different graphics cards prefer either OpenGL or Direct 3D.

Any help and advice would be appreciated.

 

[KSoD]

Hello,

Direct 3D is a part of DirectX as i believe OpenGL is also controlled by DirectX. So you would want to look at the best card to match up with your Operating System. If you are using Windows XP you can only run DirectX 9 and could run any video card out there. But if you are running Vista you have DirectX 10 and can only use DX10 cards. Which start with the nVidia 8000 series if i am not mistaken. Not sure which ATi cards are DX10.

But almost anything in the past 6 months to a year are all DX10 and you could get anyone of them.

Cheers,
Mak

 

[Apokalipse]

Hardware wise, no current card will have problems with either DirectX or OpenGL.
I think Nvidia cards used to run a bit faster in OpenGL compared to ATI cards, though I don't know what the situation is now (drivers and cards are very different to what they were with X800's vs 6800's)

the advantage of OpenGL, of course, is that it isn't restricted to just Microsoft OS's

but irrespective of the API, ATI's 4800 cards currently have the best cost/performance

 

[Joeblake]

Thanks for the info guys.