Hey guys i have a x850xt and i was researching some stuff on SM3.0, i never really saw any textrue difference and in far cry 1.3 and 1.1 i didnt notice any difference from this card and my 6600 gt other than the much higher framerates, my question is in some of the magazines im reading like maximum pc it says lost coast will only be using sm3.0 hence only Nvidia so far, but on Bit-Tech and on alot of other forums i noticed everyone saying because Half life 2 is a ATI sponsored game, they will implement it using shader model 2.0b as will alot of other cards that can handle it. Is this true? here is a excerpt from Bit-Tech :
http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2005/06/14/hl2_hdr_overview/1.html
"HDR is the latest feature in the quest for greater rendering fidelity: Crytek have already added it to Far Cry as part of their 1.3 Patch and it is integral to Epic's Unreal Engine 3.0. Valve recently revealed that they are working on a special HDR showcase for Half Life 2 titled Lost Coast. Whilst Far Cry only implemented HDR via Shader Model 3.0, hence only working on Nvidia's latest-generation cards, Lost Coast will implement it via Shader Model 2.0, allowing for it to work on ATI's current generation.
then they talked to someone from valve its self, seems pretty reliable. which is pretty sweet! any thoughts?
http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/2005/06/14/hl2_hdr_overview/1.html
"HDR is the latest feature in the quest for greater rendering fidelity: Crytek have already added it to Far Cry as part of their 1.3 Patch and it is integral to Epic's Unreal Engine 3.0. Valve recently revealed that they are working on a special HDR showcase for Half Life 2 titled Lost Coast. Whilst Far Cry only implemented HDR via Shader Model 3.0, hence only working on Nvidia's latest-generation cards, Lost Coast will implement it via Shader Model 2.0, allowing for it to work on ATI's current generation.
then they talked to someone from valve its self, seems pretty reliable. which is pretty sweet! any thoughts?
