ATI has refused to support Pixelshader 3.0 in their x800 line of cards and stick with 2.0. nVidia on the other hand has put in this new version of the Pixelshader in their GeForce 6 cards (games such as FarCry will support it). But how does it benefit us and the videos cards of today? This article explains it.
Preview:
"Fitted with this knowledge from the past you may easily come to the conclusion, that the same will happen to the new pixelshader 3.0 technology. The last attempt of ATi to take a leading position with pixelshader 1.4 was not necessarely a big success. Thus the decision of ATi is comprehensable to do without pixelshader 3.0 with regard to R420 chip. When a new technique is put to action in the long term, its definitly correct not to spend ones money unthoughtfully for every new feature.
But with every new technique its also a relevant problem of medium or short term advantages. This creates a unusual situation with pixelshader 3.0: The ability, which is needed by the hardware to gain pixelshader 3.0 compatibility, can be applied for the acceleration of techniques that go back to DirectX7. Naturally in this process the driver plays an important role, as he has to adapt these older techniques (respectively the game code, that was written with it) for the optimal use of new possibilities."
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Source:
3DCenter
May 9, 2004, 07:02 PM
