DirectX 11 is a feature of Windows 7 and the cards might actually come a few months before this OS ships. Nvidia and ATI are working on their DirectX 11 cards and some smaller players such as S3 should also be ready in late 2009.

The launch of DirectX 11 hardware will have to depend of the Windows 7 launch, but we hear that Nvidia’s second generation 40nm card and chip that some call GT300, which again is a 40nm chip, will come with DirectX 11 support.

The games, as we said before, are expected in 2010, and we expect at least some Xmas 2010 games worth buying to be DirectX 11 titles. The recession is going to hit computer graphics guys massively, but in such times innovation might drive more sales, so the new chip breakthrough will continue and DirectX 11 is the next major one.