***Modern Video Cards FAQ***

[Gamingphreek]

Good... that is the articles purpose and im glad it helped! I just got a break in AP HW (except AP Latin) so HOPEFULLY i will update it this weekend . Any questions or suggestions please post.

-Kevin

 

[Elcs]

Sorry if This has been mentioned but Im ill and just read the important post (the top one).

I feel VGA/DVI should be added in. Although most graphics cards these days seem to have DVI and VGA heads, perhaps a brief explanation of them and the benefits of one of the other making sure not to annoy anyone.

VGA Vs. DVI may be important for someone who doesnt know the difference and it wouldnt take 10 minutes to write something up as a neat guide.

Another point I would like to raise is 2D/3D quality of graphics cards. I remember there was all this hoohar about Nvidias IQ being worse than ATI's a while back.... GeForce4 generation I believe. If someone doesnt need the latest and greatest but needs specifically good quality 2D or 3D then perhaps a list or guide as to what cards provide what quality. Screenshots would be of a benefit here.

I know some of it may be moving away from the main point of your thread but if I had a small insight into some of those points, I may not need to ask a previously asked question or I may be able to word a question it better to gain the information and opinions I want.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Absolutely not... its not going off topic. I appreciate your suggestion and i will add it. I have finally gotten around to starting revising and organizing it.

HOPEFULLY i shuld have it up by sometime saturday. When that happens i will rename the the thread to make it stand out more, and i will also not that it is revision 2.

-Kevin

 

[Gamingphreek]

Well i finally got around to updating the guide. Whew it looks so much nicer now. Next task will hopefully get done this weekend or sometime next week which is update the information and add some new stuff. I will see if it is possible to hyperlink inside the page like a table of contents.

Hope you guys like it? Keep the suggestions and responses coming!

-Kevin

 

[Schadenfroh]

9550 is not a 8x1 archetecture, you might want to specify the differances in something besides 95xx, see this

http://www.neoseeker.com/Artic...Reviews/tul9550/2.html

9550 is basically an underclocked 9600 pro

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Absolutely not... its not going off topic. I appreciate your suggestion and i will add it. I have finally gotten around to starting revising and organizing it.

HOPEFULLY i shuld have it up by sometime saturday. When that happens i will rename the the thread to make it stand out more, and i will also not that it is revision 2.

-Kevin

Im sorry, what I meant didnt come across correctly.

I wasnt trying to imply that your thread was going off topic. I thought the suggestion I made, although Video related was going off-topic.

Sorry for any mis-understanding and Im glad I helped.

On a sidenote, in the Soft-Modding section, may I suggest a few warnings? Not all cards can handle a softmod, softmodding can be dangerous etc. and perhaps some form of guide for blind flashing if something goes badly wrong, allowing a chance to recover the card.

Keep up the good work. This thread seems to be pooling together some great information.

 

[PrayForDeath]

Softmoding isn't necessarliy dangerous, it depends on the type of the softmod, if you're softmoding (unlocking 4 remaining pixel pipelines) your 9500/9800SE to 9700Pro/9800 Pro respectively using special drivers or applications that wouldn't damage your card at all even if the softmod fails and you can go back to your normal card anytime by simply uninstalling the modified drivers/application. BUT, if you are flashing your X800 Pro ViVo for examle, to X800 XT PE then that's definately dangerous, flashing any card is dangerous and can damage your card permanently.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: Elcs

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Absolutely not... its not going off topic. I appreciate your suggestion and i will add it. I have finally gotten around to starting revising and organizing it.

HOPEFULLY i shuld have it up by sometime saturday. When that happens i will rename the the thread to make it stand out more, and i will also not that it is revision 2.

-Kevin

Im sorry, what I meant didnt come across correctly.

I wasnt trying to imply that your thread was going off topic. I thought the suggestion I made, although Video related was going off-topic.

Sorry for any mis-understanding and Im glad I helped.

On a sidenote, in the Soft-Modding section, may I suggest a few warnings? Not all cards can handle a softmod, softmodding can be dangerous etc. and perhaps some form of guide for blind flashing if something goes badly wrong, allowing a chance to recover the card.

Keep up the good work. This thread seems to be pooling together some great information.

You misunderstood me. I meant your question was right on topic and i would be happy to add it.

I will fix the 95xx pipelines etc.

Also i will mention about what can be dangerous and what isn't in softmodding. flashing.

THanks for the suggestions, the guide is really shaping up!

-Kevin

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek

Originally posted by: Elcs

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Absolutely not... its not going off topic. I appreciate your suggestion and i will add it. I have finally gotten around to starting revising and organizing it.

HOPEFULLY i shuld have it up by sometime saturday. When that happens i will rename the the thread to make it stand out more, and i will also not that it is revision 2.

-Kevin

Im sorry, what I meant didnt come across correctly.

I wasnt trying to imply that your thread was going off topic. I thought the suggestion I made, although Video related was going off-topic.

Sorry for any mis-understanding and Im glad I helped.

On a sidenote, in the Soft-Modding section, may I suggest a few warnings? Not all cards can handle a softmod, softmodding can be dangerous etc. and perhaps some form of guide for blind flashing if something goes badly wrong, allowing a chance to recover the card.

Keep up the good work. This thread seems to be pooling together some great information.

You misunderstood me. I meant your question was right on topic and i would be happy to add it.

I will fix the 95xx pipelines etc.

Also i will mention about what can be dangerous and what isn't in softmodding. flashing.

THanks for the suggestions, the guide is really shaping up!

-Kevin

Im ill!!! leave me alone

At least my suggestions are useful if my UK English is going down the plug hole.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Just a minor fix.. In your list you have the 91xx listed as a 4X1 card (You were probably thinking of the 90xx cards). The 9100 is just a rebadged 8500LE, which is a 4X2 card clocked at 250/250.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Oh ok... ill double check my reference but hell i probably misread... thx!!

-Kevin

 

[BFG10K]

16x1, 8x2*

Everywhere you've done this it's wrong. A 16x1 config can output 16 single textured texels per clock or 32 dual textured texels per two clocks. This is not the same as 8x2 which can output 16 dual textured texels per clock.

 

[Gamingphreek]

It can be used interchageably. They can choose to use single texturing with 16pipes or they can multi texture using 16 pipes.

Are you talking about when they are Z-Stenciling. I already have 32x0 on there?

Would you mind explaining.

-Kevin

 

[BFG10K]

It can be used interchageably.

No it can't because 16x1 is not the same as 8x2.

16x1 can do 16x1 but cannot do 8x2 in one clock. OTOH 8x2 can do either 8x1 or 8x2 per clock.

They can choose to use single texturing with 16pipes or they can multi texture using 16 pipes.

Uh... what?

 

[Gamingphreek]

Im saying they can use them interchangeably.

When they are singletexturing they use 16x1.

When Multi Texturing they use 8x2.

When Z-Stenciling they use 32x0.

IIRC It ccan switch between 16x1 and 8x2.

-Kevin

 

[calyco]

Thanks for the quick read and recommendations.

 

[BFG10K]

Im saying they can use them interchangeably.

No they can't.

When Multi Texturing they use 8x2.

And just how do they do that given one TMU per pipe?

When Z-Stenciling they use 32x0.

That's because there are two units on each pipe that can perform Z/stencil operations.

 

[Gamingphreek]

No they can't.

Well sorry to humiliate you but yes they can LINK

When moving to NV40 from the NV3x architecture, more of a focus was placed on single texturing while enhancing the internal performance of the vertex and pixel shaders. This was done by essentially quadrupling the number of pixel shader pipelines while only doubling the capacity of the GPU to handle textures (making it a 16x1 architecture). On NV40, maximum pixel and texture fill rates are the same leading to a more balanced use of hardware in real world conditions. When handling multitextureing, NV40 can also run in an 8x2 mode where half of the pipeline is dedicated to each texture. In this multitexture mode, NV40's texture fill rate is the same as its single texture mode while its pixel fill rate is halved.

-Kevin

 

[BFG10K]

The NV40 is an exception; that doesn't mean you can interchange it on every card.

 

[Gamingphreek]

I never said you could. The ATI cards can run like that multi texturing IIRC. If you think otherwise please give proof.

-Kevin

 

[BFG10K]

I never said you could.

Look on the first page to see where you did it.

If you think otherwise please give proof.

If you want to make things up the burden of proof is on you.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Im not making things up. All i said was that the NV40 can run in 32x0 16x1 and 8x2, The NV3x can run in 4x1 and 4x2, and the ATI cards IIRC can run 8x1 and 4x2 (for last gen this gen im not sure).

If you want me to change it on the guide then i want proof, WHere does it say anywhere that they cant do multitexturing in a 4x2 array?

-Kevin

 

[BFG10K]

Im not making things up.

Yes you are.

If you want me to change it on the guide then i want proof,

I'm not pariticularly concerned what your "guide" shows, I'm just pointing the correct information in case others pick up the wrong information.

WHere does it say anywhere that they cant do multitexturing in a 4x2 array?

Because it's a single-texturing configuration, that's why. Likewise you can't take a multitextured config and just double it for single texturing performance. It's just doesn't work like that and you're simply making things up.

 

[Gamingphreek]

Good god i told you IIRC THe Radeons are able to do that just the same as the NV40. WHy don't you find somewhere to prove what you are saying!?

-Kevin

 

[Gamingphreek]

Well i will be creating a second revision to this thread whenever i cool down from recent forums events, and i get 2 secs to myself (when im not being bothered by AP English and AP Latin and what not)

I sincerely hope this thread has helped in anyway possible and i would like to thank everyone who has giving information/support to the Faq.

-Kevin