AMD's Radeon HD 5870: Bringing About the Next Generation Of GPUs
by Ryan Smith on September 23, 2009 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
DirectX11 Redux
With the launch of the 5800 series, AMD is quite proud of the position they’re in. They have a DX11 card launching a month before DX11 is dropped on to consumers in the form of Win7, and the slower timing of NVIDIA means that AMD has had silicon ready far sooner. This puts AMD in the position of Cypress being the de facto hardware implementation of DX11, a situation that is helpful for the company in the long term as game development will need to begin on solely their hardware (and programmed against AMD’s advantages and quirks) until such a time that NVIDIA’s hardware is ready. This is not a position that AMD has enjoyed since 2002 with the Radeon 9700 and DirectX 9.0, as DirectX 10 was anchored by NVIDIA due in large part to AMD’s late hardware.
As we have already covered DirectX 11 in-depth with our first look at the standard nearly a year ago, this is going to be a recap of what DX11 is bringing to the table. If you’d like to get the entire inside story, please see our in-depth DirectX 11 article.
DirectX 11, as we have previously mentioned, is a pure superset of DirectX 10. Rather than being the massive overhaul of DirectX that DX10 was compared to DX9, DX11 builds off of DX10 without throwing away the old ways. The result of this is easy to see in the hardware of the 5870, where as features were added to the Direct3D pipeline, they were added to the RV770 pipeline in its transformation into Cypress.
New to the Direct3D pipeline for DirectX 11 is the tessellation system, which is divided up into 3 parts, and the Computer Shader. Starting at the very top of the tessellation stack, we have the Hull Shader. The Hull Shader is responsible for taking in patches and control points (tessellation directions), to prepare a piece of geometry to be tessellated.
Next up is the tesselator proper, which is a rather significant piece of fixed function hardware. The tesselator’s sole job is to take geometry and to break it up into more complex portions, in effect creating additional geometric detail from where there was none. As setting up geometry at the start of the graphics pipeline is comparatively expensive, this is a very cool hack to get more geometric detail out of an object without the need to fully deal with what amounts to “eye candy” polygons.
As the tesselator is not programmable, it simply tessellates whatever it is fed. This is what makes the Hull Shader so important, as it’s serves as the programmable input side of the tesselator.
Once the tesselator is done, it hands its work off to the Domain Shader, along with the Hull Shader handing off its original inputs to the Domain Shader too. The Domain Shader is responsible for any further manipulations of the tessellated data that need to be made such as applying displacement maps, before passing it along to other parts of the GPU.
The tesselator is very much AMD’s baby in DX11. They’ve been playing with tesselators as early as 2001, only for them to never gain traction on the PC. The tesselator has seen use in the Xbox 360 where the AMD-designed Xenos GPU has one (albeit much simpler than DX11’s), but when that same tesselator was brought over and put in the R600 and successive hardware, it was never used since it was not a part of the DirectX standard. Now that tessellation is finally part of that standard, we should expect to see it picked up and used by a large number of developers. For AMD, it’s vindication for all the work they’ve put into tessellation over the years.
The other big addition to the Direct3D pipeline is the Compute Shader, which allows for programs to access the hardware of a GPU and treat it like a regular data processor rather than a graphical rendering processor. The Compute Shader is open for use by games and non-games alike, although when it’s used outside of the Direct3D pipeline it’s usually referred to as DirectCompute rather than the Compute Shader.
For its use in games, the big thing AMD is pushing right now is Order Independent Transparency, which uses the Compute Shader to sort transparent textures in a single pass so that they are rendered in the correct order. This isn’t something that was previously impossible using other methods (e.g. pixel shaders), but using the Compute Shader is much faster.
Other features finding their way into Direct3D include some significant changes for textures, in the name of improving image quality. Texture sizes are being bumped up to 16K x 16K (that’s a 256MP texture) which for all practical purposes means that textures can be of an unlimited size given that you’ll run out of video memory before being able to utilize such a large texture.
The other change to textures is the addition of two new texture compression schemes, BC6H and BC7. These new texture compression schemes are another one of AMD’s pet projects, as they are the ones to develop them and push for their inclusion in DX11. BC6H is the first texture compression method dedicated for use in compressing HDR textures, which previously compressed very poorly using even less-lossy schemes like BC3/DXT5. It can compress textures at a lossy 6:1 ratio. Meanwhile BC7 is for use with regular textures, and is billed as a replacement for BC3/DXT5. It has the same 3:1 compression ratio for RGB textures.
We’re actually rather excited about these new texture compression schemes, as better ways to compress textures directly leads to better texture quality. Compressing HDR textures allows for larger/better textures due to the space saved, and using BC7 in place of BC3 is an outright quality improvement in the same amount of space, given an appropriate texture. Better compression and tessellation stand to be the biggest benefactors towards improving the base image quality of games by leading to better textures and better geometry.
We had been hoping to supply some examples of these new texture compression methods in action with real textures, but we have not been able to secure the necessary samples in time. In the meantime we have Microsoft’s examples from GameFest 2008, which drive the point home well enough in spite of being synthetic.
Moving beyond the Direct3D pipeline, the next big feature coming in DirectX 11 is better support for multithreading. By allowing multiple threads to simultaneously create resources, manage states, and issue draw commands, it will no longer be necessary to have a single thread do all of this heavy lifting. As this is an optimization focused on better utilizing the CPU, it stands that graphics performance in GPU-limited situations stands to gain little. Rather this is going to help the CPU in CPU-limited situations better utilize the graphics hardware. Technically this feature does not require DX11 hardware support (it’s a high-level construct available for use with DX10/10.1 cards too) but it’s still a significant technology being introduced with DX11.
Last but not least, DX11 is bringing with it High Level Shader Language 5.0, which in turn is bringing several new instructions that are primarily focused on speeding up common tasks, and some new features that make it more C-like. Classes and interfaces will make an appearance here, which will make shader code development easier by allowing for easier segmentation of code. This will go hand-in-hand with dynamic shader linkage, which helps to clean up code by only linking in shader code suitable for the target device, taking the management of that task out of the hands of the coder.
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JarredWalton - Thursday, September 24, 2009 - link
And what was the 8800 GTX Ultimate other than a pathetic clock-speed bump? After that we waited for the GT200 series which launched at $600. It took ATI to bring the price down, just like it took NVIDIA to bring the ATI prices down.NVIDIA stagnated while they were on top, just like ATI with the 9700/9800. NVIDIA made a huge misstep with the FX 5800 series, and ATI did the same thing with the X1800 series (and to a lesser extent the X800 parts). All companies have good and bad times. (Pentium 4 ring a bell? What about the Phenom?)
Your posts on this article have contributed nothing whatsoever other than ranting. Paper or hard launch? Paper is when *nothing* is out for a few weeks (or longer). If NVIDIA "launched" GT300 today, that would be paper. ATI has 5870 parts, albeit in limited quantities. GTX 275 certainly wasn't any better than this, but long term it all evens out.
And who cares about how long a company produced the better product? What matters is what they have now. Pentium 4 stunk in comparison to Athlon 64; does that mean no one should even consider Core 2 or Core i7? According to your "logic" that's exactly what we should do. Give it a rest; when NVIDIA launches GT300, we'll see what it can do. We'll also see if it can compete on pricing. Being fastest is only part of the battle, and anything over $300 is going to be a lower selling part.
SiliconDoc - Thursday, September 24, 2009 - link
Well you are ABSOLUTELY LYING about the GTX275 availability, PERIOD.Next, you didn't refute a single thing I said, but more or less came closer to agreement in many ways, but were WRONG, too.
Now you've decided you can half heartedly claim both sides do the same thing, and even throw in AMD and Intel, let's get to your continuing bias.
You couldn't resist "pathetic clock increase" for the GT8800 Ultimate (would love to see where you said that about the 4890, or the HD2900XTX) , failed to note the OVERPRICED ati card I pointed out, and in your absolute ignorance and CYA, think "stagnation" is something that occurs when "on top" instead of just the natural time it takes to move forward with new technology, after having just completed a round of it.
Once a company makes it "on top" they HAVE SPENT their latest and greatest new tech, and IT TAKES TIME TO GET TO THE NEXT LEVEL.
However, in YOUR MINDS, that is "stagnation". You offer ABSOLUTELY NO TIMETABLE TO EVEN REMOTELY "PROVE" your insane assertion.
You simply want it "ACCEPTED", which is about the DUMBEST theory one can imagine anyway, and I already pointed out EXACTLY why it is SO STUPID.
Let me tell you again, so IT CAN SINK IN FELLA!
When a company "makes it on top" they have just spent their latest greatest newest wad of technology" - AND IT TAKES TIME TO IMPROVE ON THEIR OWN ACHIEVEMENT !
In fact, they, having just OUTDONE the competition, are to be expected to "NOT COME UP WITH SOME MASSIVE NEW WIN" for the second time, in a row, and "quickly" - the SECOND time, as you fools expect, and even SAY SO, without direct words, because of course, you are FOOLISH and have BOUGHT THE SPIN, like 3rd graders who cannot think for themselves.
You basically "expect the impossible" - another leap forward right after the one just accomplished, before anyone else can even catch up.
YES, IT IS IMMENSLY IDIOTIC! Now you know!
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You finally come to your senses a bit with: " All companies have good and bad times."
YES THEY DO. But not in your paranoid, conspiractorial, world of "stagnation" - once the top is reached. No, you expect a second miracle, in short order, and say so.
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You also excuse ATI's bad times I pointed - by kicking yourself in the face doing it, negating your OTHER conspiracy rant " And who cares about how long a company produced the better product? "
Well, if that were actually the case for you, you wouldn't have screamed about stagnation once a company is on top, because obviously YOU DEEPLY CARE ABOUT WHO HAS THE BETTER PRODUCT, AND FOR HOW LONG.
Not only that, you claim, once they are there, they turn flaccid and lazy.... and boy it burns you up !
ROFL, you CONTRADICT YOURSELF, and haven't got a clue you're doing it. That of course, means, that I have just made a major contribution TO YOU, straightening out your wacked conspiracy thinking, that no doubt was induced and locked in by the constant red fan hatred for nvidia, here at this site, over several years, and on the net widely, as well. Not like here is unique.
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Now, if you had sense, you'd be more likely to wonder why when some company is on top, that their competition cannot pass them up, or equal them, not "why they sit there stagnating" - meaning, in another sense, one we all relate to, it just drives you nuts the next thing isn't here already - because you, we, everyone wants the next greatest, and so, you BLAME the top dog for not fufilling your wish immediately, when, they just had, in fact, done so....
Yeah, there is NO END to how insane that rant of yours is, that the reds, widely repeat against Nvidia, and there is absolutely NO BASIS FOR IT AT ALL in reality.
Voo - Thursday, September 24, 2009 - link
Come on Jarred arguing with someone who actually believes"If either company dies, the other can move on, and there's very little chance that the company will remain stagnant, since then they won't sell anything, and will die, too."
won't do any good. I mean even my 13 year old nephew understands the basics of economy better than this guy.
I think every one in their right mind agrees that competition always leads to lower prices and more innovation.
Also I can't see where there should be any bias - things like the temp of the 2 ati cards are clearly stated in the article and everyone who can read graphs and the text should be able to get a clear picture of the new card.
Just because some people just read every other sentence doesn't mean the review is biased..
SiliconDoc - Thursday, September 24, 2009 - link
Here, let me point out another problem with your "basic understanding", which is the point you start at, remain at, and finish at:" won't do any good. I mean even my 13 year old nephew understands the basics of economy better than this guy.
I think every one in their right mind agrees that competition always leads to lower prices and more innovation. "
LET'S TAKE A CURRENT EXAMPLE: PhysX vs Havok vs Bullet Physics vs Pix - all various forms of in game "physics".
Well, what competition done with this ?
You might call it "innovation", but in this case, it should be called FRAGMENTATION, and STAGNATION - due to your "basic understanding" in economy, you can't fathom such a thing, because it doesn't apply to your pat cleche, which you can ATTACK unfairly with.
Now, if there was a MONOPOLY, ( which is what the red fans have been screaming for, a SINGLE STANDARD, thrust down the throats of all the card makers and game makers, they claim, "open standard" is the very best!), a real monopoly, not an EDICT from a "standards board", why we'd already havce advancement far beyond what we currently do with the fragmented players and implementations.
So, NO competition does not always lead to BETTER END USER expereince or FASTER technological implementation.
So much for you and your 13 year old's "understanding".
In this case, competition has led to fragmentation, and lack of implementation in games, and slower advancement, due to the competing players.
JarredWalton - Friday, September 25, 2009 - link
That was the worst "counter" to an argument I've ever read. Standards are not the same thing as a monopoly, and I don't even need to use all caps to get that point across. Standards are what we have with memory types, interfaces, and yes even graphics. A "monopoly" on graphics that has everyone move to one standard can be beneficial; certainly having four competing "standards" doesn't really help.Eventually, the market will select what works best. There used to be a question of OpenGL vs. Direct3D, and that discussion has all but ended. MS put the money and time into DirectX and actually improved it to the point where most programmers stopped caring about using the alternative.
That's why PhysX isn't gaining traction: it has to compete with Havok, which the vast majority of content creators appear to prefer. So NVIDIA can pay companies to use PhysX in games like Batman, but until they actually get people to willingly use their stuff instead of Havok (by improving PhysX), it's not going to "win". And what the companies really want is a standard that works on all hardware, so we're more likely to see OpenCL or Direct Compute take over instead of a proprietary PhysX API. Hence, our discussion in this article about how OpenCL and Direct Compute are promising APIs.
It's not fragmentation, any more than a choice between Chevron, Philips, BP, Texon, etc. is "fragmentation" of the oil industry. Just because one implementation isn't dominant doesn't mean the problem is because of competition. Eventually, some implementation will actually get it right and companies will go that route. Clearly that hasn't happened yet, and your beloved PhysX (two titles where it actually matters so far: Mirror's Edge and Batman) is losing based on merit and nothing else. If it was better, people would use it. End of discussion. I guess all the hyper intelligent programmers making amazing games are too stupid to realize how awesome PhysX is without getting help from NVIDIA. It's so great that they'll pay money to Havok to license that API rather than use PhysX for free.
A monopoly on hardware is a different matter, and again no one is screaming for a monopoly except perhaps for you. Nice job trying to add weight to your position by being a rabid fanboy and accusing the opposition of doing exactly what you're doing. If there is only one hardware vendor, what drives them to improve? Nothing but themselves, which leads to stagnation. It really is basic economics that's apparently too much for a fanboy to grasp. I'd like to see more CPU and GPU vendors (well, *good* vendors), but it's difficult to do properly and thus we remain with the current status quo.
Tell me this: how would it hurt anyone for Company X to enter the graphics market and make something that is clearly superior to ATI and NVIDIA offerings and is 100% compatible with current standards like DirectX and OpenGL? The only people that would potentially hurt would be ATI and NVIDIA employees and shareholders. Similarly, how would it hurt for Company Y to come out with a new API for physics that is clearly superior in every way to PhysX, Havok, etc? If it's better, it would become the new de facto standard. Having competition isn't the problem; the problem is competition between lousy options (i.e. GMC, Chrysler, Ford, and Chevy) when what we want is something better.
Now go ahead and use half-coherent ranting and capitals while you ignore everything meaningful in this post and put up another tirade about how stupid and horrible I am with no clear comprehension of reality. I'm done.
SiliconDoc - Friday, September 25, 2009 - link
What brought this on, dummy ?" A "monopoly" on graphics that has everyone move to one standard can be beneficial; certainly having four competing "standards" doesn't really help. "
Your sainted competition brought it on, you fool. You go on to claim "eventually one standard will be adopted", but by then the MONOPOLY POWER will have won in it's forcing it's choice DOWN EVERYONE ELSE'S THROAT.
The problem YOU HAVE, is you want YOUR MONOPOLY choice, and you want to claim, as you did, the "competition" isn't innovation, it's just plain bad, and for you, that is of course, being the reg rager you are, PhysX, which is clearly superior to any of the others.
BUT, you want YOUR CHOICE FORCED on EVERYONE ( like MSFT and it's xbox pushing that has driven the console implementations with a giant was of cash! LOL ), then you can blandly call it "a standard", and claim it's "the best choice", because "the market decided" in your brainwashed moron manner (because you don't like NVidia pushing but pretend when another player does so "it's innocent and natural" and "happened without such preszure".
ROFLMAO - boy you are sure a tool.
The funniest part of your current STUPIDITY, is that MICROSOFT THE MONOPOLY, has decided to push HAVOK for it's 360 and as competitive lockout against Larrabee competition, hence you LIE as a MONOPOLY uses power to force more crap into the developer channels. roflmao
But of course, the mind controlled by the standard lies is all you've shown in all your commentary.
Here are the 2 games, BTW.
Game Title Developer Platform
2 Days to Vegas Steel Monkeys PC
10 Balls 7 Cups Graveck iPod
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand Swordfish Studios PC
Adrenalin 2: Rush Hour Gaijin Entertainment PS3, X360
Age of Empires III Distineer Studios PC, Mac
Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties Distineer Studios Mac
Age of Empires III: The WarChiefs Distineer Studios Mac
Age of Pirates: Captain Blood 1C: Sea Dog PC, X360
Aliens: Colonial Marines Gearbox Software PC, PS3, X360
Alliance of Valiant Arms Redduck PC
Alpha Prime Black Element Software PC
American McGee's Grimm Spicy Horse PC
APB Realtime Worlds PC, PS3, X360
Army of Two Electronic Arts PS3, X360
Auto Assault Net Devil PC
AutoFans AP-Games PC
B.A.S.E. Jumping Digital Dimentions PC
Backbreaker Natural Motion PC, PS3, X360
Beowolf Ubisoft X360
Bet on Soldier: Blackout Saigon Kylotonn Entertainment PC
Bet on Soldier: Blood of Sahara Kylotonn Entertainment PC
Bet on Soldier: Blood Sport Kylotonn Entertainment PC
Big Fun Racing Decane iPod
Bionic Commando GRIN PC, PS3, X360
Bionic Commando: Rearmed GRIN PC, X360
Bladestorm: The Hundred Years' War Koei PS3, X360
Borderlands Gearbox Software PC, PS3, X360
Bourne Conspiracy High Moon Studios PS3, X360
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway Gearbox Software PC, PS3, X360
Buble Bang Decane iPod
Caribbean Legends Seaward.Ru Team PC
Cellfactor: Combat Training Artifical Studios, Immersion Games PC
Cellfactor: Revolution Artifical Studios, Immersion Games PC
Champions Online Cryptic Studios PC
City of Villains Cryptic Studios PC
Clive Barker's Jericho MercurySteam Entertainment PC, X360
Cluth Targem Games PC
Cosmosis Midnight Status iPod
Crazy Machines II FAKT Software PC
Crusaders: Thy Kingdom Come Neocore PC
Cryostasis Action Forms PC
Dark Sector Digital Extremes PC, PS3, X360
Dark Void Airtight Games PC, PS3, X360
Darkest of Days Phantom EFX PC, X360
Debris Midnight Status iPod
Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon Sandblast Games X360
Divinity 2: Ego Draconis Larian Studios PC, X360
Dracula Origin Frogwares PC
Dragon Age: Origins EA PC
Dragonshard Atari PC
Driver :: Test Squad Interactive Media PC
Drop Point: Alaska Bongfish Interactive Mac
Dungeon Hero Firefly Studios PC, X360
Dusk 12 Orion PC
Empire Above All IceHill PC
Empire Earth III Mad Dog Software PC
Empire Total War The Creative Assembly PC
Entropia Universe MindArk PC
Evil Resistance: Morning of the Dead Openoko Entertainment PC
Fahr Simulator 2009 Astragon Software PC
Fairy Tales: Three Heroes Cats Who Play
Fallen Earth Icarus Studios PC
Fatal Inertia KOEI PS3, X360
Frontlines: Fuel of War Kaos Studios PC, PS3, X360
Fury Auran Games PC
G.B.R. The Fast Response Group OPenoko Entertainment PC
Gears Of War Epic Games PC, X360
Gears of War 2 Epic Games X360
Gluk'Oza: Action GFI Russia PC
GooBall Ambrosia software Mac
Gothic 3 Piranha Bytes PC
Grind WebGames3D.com iPod
GTown Interactive Community 2.0 9you.com PC
Gunship Apocalypse FAKT Software PC
HAZE Free Radical Design X360
Heavy Rain Quantic Dream PC
Helldorado: Conspiracy Spellbound Entertainment PC, PS3
Hero's Journey Simutronics PC
Hour of Victory nFusion Interactive X360
Hunt, The Orion PC
Huxley Webzen, Inc PC, X360
I-Fluid Exkee PC
Infernal Metropolis Software PC
Inhabited Island: Prisoner of Power Orion PC
Joint Task Force Most Wanted Entertainment PC
Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom Blueside Inc. X360
Kran Simulator 2009 Astragon Software PC
Kuma\WAR Kuma Reality Games PC
Landwirtschafts Simulator 2008 Astragon Software PC
Landwirtschafts Simulator 2009 Astragon Software PC
The Last Remnant Squre Enix PC, X360
Legend: Hand of God Anaconda Games PC
Legendary Spark Unlimited PC, PS3, X360
Lost Odyssey Mistwalker X360
Lost: Via Domus Ubisoft PC, PS3, X360
Mafia 2 Illusion Softworks PC, PS3, X360
Magic ball 3 Alawar Entertaiment PC
Magic ball 4 Alawar Entertaiment PC
Mass Effect BioWare PC, X360
Medal of Honor: Airborne EA Los Angeles PC, X360
Metal Knight Zero Online ObjectSoftware Limited PC
Metro 2033 4A Games PC
Minotaur China Shop Flashbang Studios PC
Mirror's Edge DICE PC, PS3, X360
Mobile Suit Gundam: Crossfire BEC PS3
Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia Artificial Studios PC, X360
Monster Madness: Gravedigger Artificial Studios PS3
Monster Truck Maniax Legendo Entertainment PC
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe Midway PS3, X360
Mascow Racer IRS Games PC
Myst Online: URU Live Cyan Worlds PC
Need for Speed: Shift Electronic Arts PC
Nights: Journey of Dreams SEGA Wii
Night of a Million Billion Zombies PowerUP Studios PC
Nurien Nurien Software PC
Open Fire BlueTorch Studios PC
Parabellum ACONY PC, PS3, X360
Paragraph 78 Gaijin Entertainment PC
Physix Michael Wuhrer iPod
Pirate Hunter DIOsoft PC, X360
Pirates of the Burning Sea Flying Lab Software PC
Point Blank Barunson Interactive PC
Prey 2 Human Head PC, X360
PT Boats: Knights of the Sea Akella PC
Pyroblazer Eipix PC, Wii
QQ Speed Tencent Inc. PC
Rail Simulator Kuju Entertainment Ltd PC
Red Steel Ubisoft Paris Wii
Rise Of Nations: Rise Of Legends Big Huge Games PC
Rise of the Argonauts Liquid Entertainment PC, PS3, X360
Roboblitz Naked Sky Entertainment PC, X360
Rocket Bowl 21-6 Productions X360
Rock'n'Roll Dice 3DA Interactive iPod
Rush Hour: Streets of Moscow Gaijin Entertainment PC
Sacred 2 ASCARON Entertainment PC
Shadow Harvest Black Lion Studios PC, X360
Shadowgrounds Survivor Frozenbyte PC
Shattered Horizon Futuremark Games Studio PC
Sherlock Holmes vs. Arsene Lupin Frogware Games PC
Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened Frogwares Game Development Studio PC
Showdown: Scorpion B-COOL Interactive PC
Silverfall Monte Cristo PC
Silverfall: Earth Awakening Monte Cristo PC
SkylineBlade Midnight Status iPod
Sledgehammer Targem Games PC
Sovereign Symphony Ceidot Game Studios PC
Sonic and the Black Knight SEGA Wii
Sonic and the Secret Rings SEGA Wii
Space Race SARGE Games iPod
Space Siege Gas Powered Games PC
Spectraball Flashcube Studios PC
Speedball 2 Kylotonn Entertainment PC
Squashem Jelly Biscuits iPod
Stalin Subway, The Orion PC
Star Tales QWD1 PC
Stoked Bongfish Interactive Entertainment X360
Stoked Rider: Alaska Alien Bongfish Interactive Entertainment PC
Streets of Moscow Gaijin Entertainment PC
Strike Ball 3 Alaware Entertainment PC
Stuntmanbob potatocows.com iPod
Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle Psyonix Studios PS3
The Swarm Targem Games PC
Switchball Atomic Elbow PC
Tank Universal Dialogue Design PC
Tension Ice-pick Lodge PC
Terminator Salvation GRIN PC
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter GRIN PC, X360
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 GRIN, Ubisoft Paris PC, X360
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas Ubisoft Montreal PC, PS3, X360
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Ubisoft Montreal PC, PS3, X360
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Double Agent (multiplayer) Ubisoft Shanghai PC, X360
Tortuga: Two Treasures Ascaron Entertainment PC
Trine Frozenbyte PC, PS3
Tunnel Rats Replay Studios PC
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty Spark Unlimited PC, PS3, X360
Turok Propaganda Games PC, PS3, X360
Two Worlds Reality Pump PC, X360
Two Worlds: The Temptation Reality Pump PC, X360, PS3
Underwater Wars Biart Studio PC, X360
Ultra Tubes Eipix PC
Unreal Tournament 3 Epic Games PC, PS3, X360
Unreal Tournament 3: Extreme Physics Mod Epic Games PC
Urban Empires Radioactive Software PC
U-WARS Biart Studio PC, X360
Valkyria Chronicles SEGA PS3
Virtual Tennis 3 SEGA PS3, X360
Viva Pinata: Party Animals Krome Studios X360
W.E.L.L. Online Sibilant Interactive PC
Wanted: Weapons of Fate GRIN PC, PS3, X360
Warfare GFI Russia PC
Warmonger: Operation Downtown Destruction Net Devil PC
Watchmen: The End is Nigh Deadline Games PC, PS3, X360
Way of the Samurai 3 Aquire X360
Welkin 4591 Outpop Digital PC
Winterheart's Guild Zelian Games PC, X360
WorldShift Black Sea Studios PC
X-Razer Rayd GmbH iPod
X-men Origins: Wolverine Raven Software PC
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ROFLMAO 2 games...
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Larrabee will use the x86 instruction set with Larrabee-specific extensions
Larrabee will include very little specialized graphics hardware, .... using a tile-based rendering approach
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Larrabee's early presentation has drawn some criticism from GPU competitors. At NVISION 08, several NVIDIA employees called Intel's SIGGRAPH paper about Larrabee "marketing puff" and told the press that the Larrabee architecture was "like a GPU from 2006".[8] As of June 2009, prototypes of Larrabee have been claimed to be on par with the nVidia GeForce GTX 285.[9]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larrabee_(GPU)">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larrabee_(GPU)
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So in this case we have 3 warring parties (your beloved "beneficial" competition), and endless delays, lack of game developement and content because of that, and the score won't be settled till the MONOPOLY POWER sets "the standard" (opencl you hope it seems/ aka JAVA for physx, or anything so long as it isn't PhysX, right?) as you call it, and even then, with the nature of game coding, it is highly likely that more than one type and implementation will widely survive. The "market competition" picked VHS over BETA, and nearly everyone calls that a mistake to this day (psst, their were powerful players behind the scene just like in the physics game wars).
What really happpens in what we're talking about is POWER picks what is brought forth for all, and you should well know instead of pretending the lie that you have, that OFTEN in this computing world something worse is shoved down everyone's throats because of that.
Your infantile "pure minded rhetoric" is just that, a big pile of BS, as usual.
SiliconDoc - Friday, September 25, 2009 - link
PS - I quite understand in your "only framerates matter" deranged high end video red rager gaming card mindset, THE ONLY GAMES THAT MATTER FOR YOU IN YOUR BS ARGUMENT are PC games that wind up on ANANDTECH PC videocard reviews. ROFLMAOYES IT'S TRUE!
Hence "two games!", only for PC, nothing else, is "your standard".
And IT'S DERANGED, given the facts.
JarredWalton - Friday, September 25, 2009 - link
Unlike you, obviously, I've tried NVIDIA and ATI, and both are fine. I've never suggested I want ATI to win, and I don't know why you continue to think that. PhysX is "used" in tons of games... where does it actually matter? How many of the games you list sold more than 100K copies? How many are actually good games? How often does it make a discernible and positive difference? (More trash flying around isn't really better.)Let's also not count chickens before they hatch and remove games that haven't even shipped. You know, sort of like removing GT300 from benchmark comparisons until it's actually available.
That list includes games that had super lame PhysX (all the Tom Clancy titles for sure), games that are completely trivial (skeeball anyone?), games where it degrades performance relative to not enabling it (umm, that's most of the titles). Unreal Tournament 3 has PhysX support... but only on the released-after-the-patch levels, and even then only the Tornado level is actually impressive visually. Almost no one played/plays these levels.
Since you've got so much time to promote NVIDIA, tell us all which games on this list are "Must Haves" and make good use of PhysX. I said there were "two games where it has mattered: Batman and Mirror's Edge". Now put your fanboy hat on and tell us which games in that list. I'm sure that 50 Cent, 10 Balls 7 Cups, Jericho, Cellfactor, Rock'n'Roll Dice, and Untra Tubes are at the top of the sales/preorder charts!
SiliconDoc - Friday, September 25, 2009 - link
The other SEVERE PROBLEM your massive bias holds is this:-
Just a few months ago, HERE, PhysX was given a run in Mirror's Edge, and NEVER BEFORE SEEN or IMPLEMENTED effects were present.
Anand loved it, couldn't get away...from the computer, as he said.
The Master declared it.
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But, when EMERGING TECHNOLOGY from the card company you must absolutely HATE comes forth, for you as a gamer, an advantage even, you have nothing but a big pile of dung for it.
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Get over there to the other fellow in the discussion and point out how competition brings innovation, right, and that PhysX IS INNOVATION !
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( Oh, that's right, after your tagteam preached it, you already breached it, and blew cookies all over your economic lessons.)
LOL -= hahahha -
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I guess this is another case of "NVidia stagnating" in BOTH your minds. (Yes, of course it is)
I do hope your conditions clear up.
JarredWalton - Friday, September 25, 2009 - link
Actually, Anand said Mirror's Edge with PhysX was the first (and at the time only) title where it made a palpable difference to the point where turning it off made him miss it somewhat. Actually, http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3539..." target="_blank">here are his exact words. He also goes on to discuss such things as Havok porting to OpenCL and how that won't happen for PhysX. Thanks master of hyperbole; taking things out of context is the sure sign of a weak argument. But yes, NVIDIA was highly "innovative" when they bought out a competitor because they couldn't do any better -- a competitor that to date had released hardware no one wanted and a few titles that didn't matter.You're so set on making me an ATI fanatic and throwing about words like hate and sadness and whatever. It's pathetic and funny that you're so delusional that you could even pretend to think that way. I mean, obviously you don't really think that and you're just some troll trying to stir up crap, but it boggles the mind that you have this much energy to put into spewing vitriol.
Love ATI? Hardly. I've ripped on their mobile components quite thoroughly for the past two years. After all, I review laptops so that's my area of expertise, and up until HD 46xx they had nothing compelling on laptops for years. Even the 4000 series on laptops is marred by their lack of mobile reference drivers, something I've praised NVIDIA for releasing (after saying it was absolutely necessary for the year or two before it happened).
So yes, put your blinders on and act as though you have any idea whatsoever about what people think. Someone disagrees with you and they become spawn of satan, worshiping all that is ATI. It's a reflection of your own insecurities that you can't accept the good of the competitor while at the same time pointing out flaws. Go check into a mental institute, or head back over to nZone and be secure with others that can't be objective when it comes to graphics cards.