DirectX 9 (DX9) is a set of APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) developed by Microsoft that helps applications and games to interact with hardware like graphics cards, sound cards, CPUs, etc. It was first released on December 19, 2002, for Windows 98. It improved on a lot of features of DirectX 8 which was its predecessor.
DirectX 9 download is available as a standalone offline installer and as a web installer (End-User Runtime Web Installer) for Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 11. It received its last update on June 7, 2010, and its active version was DirectX9.0c.
DirectX 9 Download for Windows 10 & Windows 11 PCs
The latest version of DX9 for Windows 10 and Windows 11 can be downloaded for free from our website. To do so simply scroll to the top of this page and click the Download button.
How to Install or Update DirectX 9 Latest Version
Step 1: Extract the zip archive and launch “dxsetup.exe“.
Step 2: Select “I accept the agreement” and click Next.
Step 3: Click on Next again to start the installation process.
Updating DirectX 9
DX9 can be updated by downloading the latest offline installer from our website, Alternatively, you can also update it manually via the web installer which will automatically download the latest version and install it for you.
How to Uninstall DirectX 9
DX 9 is a built-in feature of Microsoft Windows 98, XP SP2, Vista, 7, 8.1, 10, & 11 and cannot be uninstalled. There are methods to uninstall it unofficially by deleting its files but we don’t recommend doing that as it can be risky and you might end up deleting your Windows files by accident.
How to Reinstall DirectX 9
Reinstalling DX 9 is simple, just launch the downloaded offline installer or web installer and follow steps 2 & 3 from the installation section.
How to Update Drivers
You can update the graphic card drivers using DriverEasy, this software will simplify the entire process. It’ll find out the installed graphic card, then find the latest drivers available for the card, and finally install them. We highly recommend this method.
Alternatively, you can visit Nvidia or AMD‘s respective websites directly to find and download the drivers for your GPU. If you don’t know which graphics card is installed on your PC and would like to find out, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Press Windows + R to open Run and type in dxdiag.
Step 2: Navigate to the Display tab and the name of the installed Graphic card will be written under the Device section.
What is DirectX 9?
It is a collection of technologies that help Windows-based tasks and applications like 3D animations & graphics, gaming, and video interact better and more efficiently with PC hardware like the graphics card. This update to DX 9 includes many new features along with security upgrades for Windows PCs that the DirectX APIs can access.
Features
- Shader Model 2.0: Introduces more advanced shader capabilities that allow devs to create complex and better visual graphical effects.
- High-Level Shader Language (HLSL): HLSL support for further improvement that allows devs to create and manage shaders more efficiently.
- Direct3D: Improved & updated Direct3D, the component of DirectX responsible for 3D graphics rendering.
- DirectSound & DirectMusic: Brought enhancements to DirectSound & DirectMusic which deal with audio playback & music composition.
- DirectInput: Improved DirectInput, the feature of DirectX which handles input from devices like keyboard, mouse, & game controllers.
- Performance Optimization: Allows devs lower level access to hardware which allows them to fine-tune apps, This results in apps being more optimized performance-wise and able to wield the full potential of the PC hardware.
DX 9 Supported Graphic Cards
Nvidia: Every Nvidia GPU released after GeForce FX 5200 is supported. A detailed list is given below:
- GeForce FX 5000 series
- GeForce FX 6000 series
- GeForce FX 7000 & every Nvidia GPU released since then.
AMD: AMD’s supported GPU series are:
- Radeon 9000 series
- Radeon X series & above.
DirectX 9 Games
Here’s a list of some games that make use of the features DX 9 offers
FAQs
To check the installed version of DirectX, press Windows + R to open Run and type in dxdiag. DirectX’s installed version will be mentioned in the System tab under the System Information section.
Windows 10/11 comes with pre-installed DirectX 11 or 12. Older versions such as DX 9, 10, etc. are automatically included in DX 11 or 12.
Yes, there are standalone packages for it in Windows 10/11. You can either download the web installer or the offline installer, whichever you think is best.
If you’re running a DX 9-supported graphics card and the game you’re playing is optimized for DirectX 9, yes, it will improve FPS in-game. The majority of the FPS improvement still depends on your PC hardware.
