AMD unveil Mantle and EA/BF4 drops DirectX

[Dohc-WP]

Does this mean we're going back to proprietary API's, or am I understanding this wrong? I hope that's not the case.

i really dont want a glide situation again !

[MetalSoup]

i really dont want a glide situation again !

That's exactly what I was thinking.

[Necuno]

A nice read on the mantle...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7371/u...cs-api-for-gcn

[Wesley]

For the 1st time in history it'll finally benefit gamers to buy one gpu over another.

3DFX and Glide says "Hi!" from the 90's :P If you're old enough to remember those days...

How will it fair with older AMD GPU's ?

Seeing as I have a HD5970, will the tech still be viable?

Mantle will only work with GCN-based graphics cards, so older cards will still be able to render the game using DirectX. As far as DICE has revealed, Mantle is currently equivalent to what they can do in DirectX 11.

Does this mean we're going back to proprietary API's, or am I understanding this wrong? I hope that's not the case.

Somewhat, yes. But we haven't had a strong option aside from DirectX and OpenGL for decades, and numerous game developers (Carmack being one of them) have complained before that DX is too weighed down with legacy code and Microsoft's restrictions. This is pretty much doing what Microsoft does for the Xbox One - strips away everything that isn't necessary and gives that to devs to work with.

Mantle should also make porting to Linux and OS X a little easier if it ever appears on those platforms. I like the idea of a consistent API across multiple platforms. Its definitely a stab at DirectX's monopoly.

Will this apply to all AMD graphics cards? I buying a new card, pretty much for battlefield. so should I go for AMD?

Only cards from the HD7000 series and up. If you're playing Battlefield 4, yes, go for AMD. DICE is a hardware partner and you'll get a good experience right out of the box (mind you, the same is true for Nvidia). And if Mantle takes off and appears in all Frostbite games, you'll have the hardware to support it.

[AlphaJohn]

Only cards from the HD7000 series and up. If you're playing Battlefield 4, yes, go for AMD. DICE is a hardware partner and you'll get a good experience right out of the box (mind you, the same is true for Nvidia). And if Mantle takes off and appears in all Frostbite games, you'll have the hardware to support it.

I am not a fan of where this is going...

Nvidia dropped or shall we say walked away from the console space due to lack of profits and joined the Steam camp, even gone so far as to give Valve access to Shield tech for streaming. All this in order to promote the Steam Bo^b^b Machines.

So we looking at a serious split in the next gen Games. Mantle for performance on ATI vs OpenGL + Nvidia for streaming capability using Nvidia cards.

Lets hope I am wrong.

[GlacieredPyro]

I am not a fan of where this is going...

Nvidia dropped or shall we say walked away from the console space due to lack of profits and joined the Steam camp, even gone so far as to give Valve access to Shield tech for streaming. All this in order to promote the Steam Bo^b^b Machines.

So we looking at a serious split in the next gen Games. Mantle for performance on ATI vs OpenGL + Nvidia for streaming capability using Nvidia cards.

Lets hope I am wrong.

I think we should let this play out.
With where Microsoft is taking DX lock downs to their new kernels this was inevitable.
What we dont want to see is NVidia come with a competitor. We want to see mantle becoming an open standard which is wishfull thinking.
Either way we are not going to be rid of it anytime soon so time to buckle down.

[Glordit]

That's exactly what I was thinking.

i really dont want a glide situation again !

The Horrors... THE HORRORS!