The ongoing trend towards integrated graphics cores in office and home personal computers may soon slowdown, as Microsoft recommends those, who would like to install Windows Vista, to get standalone graphics cards due to their higher performance when rendering graphics user interface (GUI) of the upcoming operating system (OS).
?The new graphics capabilities in Windows Vista will require a powerful graphics engine if you want to take full advantage of all the new and cool stuff, such as the new Aero Glass look. You probably want to avoid the low-end of the current GPU range and make sure you get a GPU that supports DirectX 9 and has at least 64MB of graphics memory,?a special article by Microsoft dedicated to hardware requirements of Windows Vista explains.
Windows Vista Aero Glass, Aero Express and Diamond themes (interfaces) use DirectX 9.0 pixel shaders to render the GUI and everything on the screen. This puts pretty high requirements for graphics processor used for rendering, as rapid appearance of dialog boxes and windows is crucial for comfortable and fast work of a user. Given that graphics cores integrated into chipsets generally provide relatively slow performance under substantial workloads, Microsoft seems to be correct in advising customers not to expect those to be sufficient choice for Windows Vista.
It should be noted that DirectX 9.0-supporting graphics card with 64MB of memory is an entry-level of Microsoft's recommendations, which means that higher-end graphics cards are preferable for the Vista's advanced interfaces, such as Aero Glass, Aero Express and Diamond.
?If you chose a system that has built-in graphics, again make sure that the system has a PCI Express or AGP slot that will let you add a graphics card later in case the onboard graphics chipset doesn't fully support Windows Vista,?Microsoft advices.
Still, Microsoft's Vista will?have a cut-down version of its interface in order to support notebook computers that do not tend to have high-end graphics, as more advanced GPU means shorter battery life. At this point Microsoft has not yet made its mind about the range of supported mobile graphics solutions as well as minimal graphics chips required, so, customers looking towards Windows Vista should look at machines with more or less advanced visual processing units by companies like ATI Technologies or NVIDIA Corp.
Other recommendations Microsoft gives about the hardware that provides adequate user experience with Vista include a 64-bit capable chip from upper end of the processor spectrum of AMD or Intel, 1GB of memory; a Serial ATA HDD with 7200rpm motor, 8MB cache and Native Command Queuing; a DVD¡ÀRW optical drive; in addition, Microsoft recommends rapid networking technologies ?54Mbps or 100Mbps to be supported by a PC that runs Windows Vista.
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