DX7 vs. DX9

[zZZz]

Great game, loving it...

I noticed better performance using DirectX 7 vs. DirectX 9. Was wondering if this is typical, and what advantage there is to DirectX 9. System has Core2Duo, nvidia 8600GT, running XP with DX 9.0c installed.

[Apoteos]

I also find the game much faster when using DX7, but then i´m using my rather tender laptop. I guess I´ll check back here when I´ve had a chance to run Book II on my less tender pc.

[CrazyBernie]

Great game, loving it...

I noticed better performance using DirectX 7 vs. DirectX 9. Was wondering if this is typical, and what advantage there is to DirectX 9. System has Core2Duo, nvidia 8600GT, running XP with DX 9.0c installed.

This is pretty typical from my experience. For XP, it's probably largely dependent on drivers. OpenGL generally offers the best performance in XP if you have a dedicated graphics card.

In Windows 7, I've noticed better Dx9 performance than OpenGL with my Radeon 4850.

[zZZz]

Would you recommend I use OpenGL then Bernie? I had just assumed DX because it (DX7) was the default launch option. Performance is fine right now, but I'm wondering if there is any visual benefit to the other available options.

[CrazyBernie]

From my testing on XP and older hardware, OpenGL can offer the best performance... I haven't seen any visual benefits.

Dx7 offers the best compatibility with older systems.

For those that don't mind fooling around with drivers, I've also noticed that the OpenAL audio drivers offer the closest performance to no audio.