The upcoming iteration of 3DMark will only be available for Windows Vista and DirectX 10.

In a blog post to the Futuremark website, Nick Renqvist says that "the next generation 3DMark will be Windows Vista only, and will require DX10 compliant hardware."

So why no fallback to DX9? Nick cunningly anticipates this point. "You may ask: Why no fallback to DX9 then?" Yes Nick, we just did. "Well, we already have a Vista enabled DX9 benchmark (3DMark06) and the last three 3DMarks have all been DX9".

Interestingly, Nick says that the latest 3DMark will contain volumetric effects, based on DX10, that will bring "cinematic rendering" quality to the series. We've been waiting for cinematic rendering on our PC ever since Nvidia announced that it would be available to us all thanks to the awesome power of the GeForce FX5800. It still isn't.

Source:? The Inquirer

3DMark 2007, Windows Vista, DX10, DirectX 10, Applications