Open GL 2.0 vs 1.5

[xxsk8er101xx]

what's the difference here? is a card with opengl 2.0 better than one that has 1.5? the leadtek 6800gt agp looks like it only has opengl 1.5.

does it even matter?

 

[VIAN]

I think it's driver related, but they all support OpenGL2.0 because that's what's out at moment.

OpenGL2.0 has what DX likes to call shaders. That's all.

 

[Munky]

Most of the differences between OpenGL 1.5 and 2.0 are from a programmer's perspective. To the end user there's not much difference, most modern DX9 cards will support all the features of OGL 2.0 with an updated driver.

 

[xxsk8er101xx]

ok thanks!

what do you think of the leadtek 6800gt agp ? if you don't mind me asking

Originally posted by: munky
Most of the differences between OpenGL 1.5 and 2.0 are from a programmer's perspective. To the end user there's not much difference, most modern DX9 cards will support all the features of OGL 2.0 with an updated driver.

 

[VIAN]

Good card.

 

[dunno99]

As of Detonator 78.01, all series 6 and 7 cards (GeForce 6xxx or 7xxx) support OpenGL 2.0 (the support for 1.5 is a very old specification...I think at the time of the release for the 6800, nVidia were just starting to implement the OpenGL 2.0 features into their drivers). And just for clarification, the high-level shading language has been present in OpenGL 1.5. The shader "extension" is aptly named GLSL. OpenGL 2.0 officially incorporates GLSL as a core part of OpenGL, instead of just an "extension" (which means a card supporting OpenGL 1.5 doesn't necessarily need to support GLSL). So, now, if a card officially supports OpenGL 2.0, it means that it has to support GLSL also. Of course, there are other additional enhancements to features like point sprites and some such in 2.0, but I don't think most of you guys will be concerned with that. 🙂

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: dunno99
As of Detonator 78.01, all series 6 and 7 cards (GeForce 6xxx or 7xxx) support OpenGL 2.0 (the support for 1.5 is a very old specification...I think at the time of the release for the 6800, nVidia were just starting to implement the OpenGL 2.0 features into their drivers). And just for clarification, the high-level shading language has been present in OpenGL 1.5. The shader "extension" is aptly named GLSL. OpenGL 2.0 officially incorporates GLSL as a core part of OpenGL, instead of just an "extension" (which means a card supporting OpenGL 1.5 doesn't necessarily need to support GLSL). So, now, if a card officially supports OpenGL 2.0, it means that it has to support GLSL also. Of course, there are other additional enhancements to features like point sprites and some such in 2.0, but I don't think most of you guys will be concerned with that. 🙂

Good info (maybe I should upgrade my drivers then 😉). I don't imagine any current games are using OpenGL 2.0 features yet though..?

 

[dunno99]

Actually, any game that uses custom shaders and can run those custom shaders (such as HDR, Ward materials, anisotropic materials, subsurface scattering approximations, spherical harmonics) in OpenGL means they're using GLSL. But as for OpengGL 2.0 itself...well, since Detonator 78.01 and Catalyst 5.6 only came out at most half a year ago, that means these features weren't available throughout a major chunk of a game production cycle. Therefore, no games should be using actual 2.0 (although they're probably using 1.5 with GSLS). But in a year, they most likely will be using OpenGL 2.0. (especially games that are derived from Unreal Engine 3 and some such)

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: dunno99
Actually, any game that uses custom shaders and can run those custom shaders (such as HDR, Ward materials, anisotropic materials, subsurface scattering approximations, spherical harmonics) in OpenGL means they're using GLSL. But as for OpengGL 2.0 itself...well, since Detonator 78.01 and Catalyst 5.6 only came out at most half a year ago, that means these features weren't available throughout a major chunk of a game production cycle. Therefore, no games should be using actual 2.0 (although they're probably using 1.5 with GSLS). But in a year, they most likely will be using OpenGL 2.0. (especially games that are derived from Unreal Engine 3 and some such)

Ah, thanks for the clarification.

 

[bersl2]

To actually answer the question: OpenGL 2.0 makes features like programmable shading a core (and thus required) part of the API, whereas before it was accessable through an extension.

Or read this.