3d Video Games/Rendering.

[Slartybardfast]

This is simply a theory I'd like to put to you all and maybe the Anandtech team. Is there out there anywhere, a software 3d renderer?? What I'd like to see is what say Quake3..etc would look like on a dual cpu 1-1.13 gig processor when rendered in software. Obviously the better it used simd instructions etc the better it may function, my point is we are currently at a stage where adding a processor greater than around 700mhz doesn't have much effect, because the 3d card is becoming the bottle neck..at least in the higher resolutions when benchmarking.
What do the rest of you think?? Is there any such software and maybe we could get some benchmarks on it.....

Critisim Welcome.

 

[MrCoyote]

Unreal/Unreal Tournament has a software renderer. But even on a high-end CPU, it won't look as good, and will always be slower than hardware.

The application has to specifically be written for dual processors to access the 2nd CPU. Otherwise, the 2nd CPU just sits there doing nothing. I'm not sure if Quake supports dual processors. Anyone know?

 

[Auric]

I believe Q3 does.

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I meant Q3 has dual processor support, not a software renderer.

 

[IvoryGrail]

Q3 has no software renderer.

 

[BenSkywalker]

Quake2 however, does.

I push roughly 60FPS using software with an Athlon 550 and roughly 180FPS using hardware with a GF DDR(both at 320x240).

 

[IvoryGrail]

better option try Unreal in software at 512 res.