Just as the soon to launch 40nm mobile chips from Nvidia are DirectX 10.1 compatible, the upcoming desktop parts including GT218 and GT216 will also support DirectX 10.1 API.

ATI has been preaching that DirectX 10.1 is a good thing for years now and Nvidia jumping on the DirectX 10.1 bandwagon just months before Microsoft is set to reveal DirectX 11 is quite strange. Nvidia was a very opponent of DirectX 10.1 since all of its currently shipping generation doesn’t have support for DirectX 10.1 and all the sudden, they are announcing a new generation that will completely support DirectX 10.1

Since mobile and desktop chips from both Nvidia and ATI are usually the same thing, Nvidia wanted to offer DirectX 10.1 check box technology to its potential users and with Calpella, Intel’s Nehalem – Clarksfield quad core for notebooks platform. Nvidia expects many Calpella design wins for its 40nm DirectX 10.1 GPUs and most probably Nvidia customers simply wanted to have DirectX 10.1 and not DirectX 10, something that Nvidia offers for years. 

Naturally, in late 2009 or early 2010 Nvidia will have a DirectX 11 chip, something that we currently call GT300, but before that, you can expect dozen of DirectX 10.1 capable, all 40nm chips in both desktop and mobile flavours.