Originally posted by: stnicralisk
Bar you say you want to inform people of the facts but you dont seem to understand the facts themselves anyways.
SM3.0 does not have a visual impact on games.
Let me say it again
SM3.0 does not have a visual impact on games.
Is it true that HDR in FC requires an Nvidia card? Yes, but it has nothing to do with SM3.0.
SM3.0 allows for improved programmability of shaders - NOT more shaders.
Eventually SM3.0 is going to be running certain effects at a much greater speed than that of 2.0. At this time has a game significantly taken advantage of it? No, but theyre starting to. The 3.0 features in FC at the moment can also be done by 2.0b. However this will not always be the case because 2.0b does not handle as many instructions as 3.0.
It is ridiculus to start a thread when you obviously dont have the information you need. All of your talk about 2.0++ and HDR is useless because it doesnt even involve SM3.0. Next time you should name the thread according to what you really want to talk about "Hey buying Nvidia is pointless right now!" because most of the things you are talking about have nothing to do with SM3.0.
And in splinter cell i think you must be talking about HDR. SM3.0 is simply supposed to make shaders faster in certain circumstances.
ATi makes great cards and I am not trying to get involved in your little camp fire flaming. I am only trying to help you understand SM3.0. There are plenty of reads on it Anandtech has had them posted several SEVERAL times I would suggest reading them.
Nvidia is trying a new technology. ATi can bash it all they want, come this time next year they will be preaching about how good it is (bc theyll have that feature also.)
I understand *exactly* what SM3.0 does over SM2.0b. Since people are lumping HDR in FarCry in with SM3.0, and because it *requires* SM3.0 to use in FarCry it's a legitimate feature worth noting.
In regards to SM3.0, to be a valid feature to consider it's got to give you something besides what the SM2.0b cards can do whether it be increased speed or the ability to utilize enhanced effects due to its increased efficiency over SM2.0 So, we go to the body of evidence we have in determining whether SM3.0 does this or even will do this in the near future.
I'd like to know how you make the wildly illogical conclusion that because I'm stating the facts about SM3.0 current implementation in games I somehow don't want people to buy nvidia cards. That's an illogical and ignorant statement showing a complete lack of comprehension of basic english. I don't care which you card you buy, what I do care about is that I want people to make informed decisions. In fact, I *don't* want everyone to buy cards from only one company as we need competition to maintain the pace of innovation and keep prices reasonable. You're a fool if you advocate a return of the old Intel like monopoly days.
Again, nobody is "bashing" SM3.0 as it WILL be a useful feature to have IN THE FUTURE. But the question that non-fanboys have to pose is whether when purchasing TODAY, SM3.0 is a valid feature to consider when buying a new graphics card. To make that decision you have to look at the entire body of evidence before you (i.e. the first post in this thread) and make a call.
I just don't understand why everyone is so averse to facts versus their opinion. This is a thread about facts, if you don't have any facts that contribute please flame away someplace else.