INTEL 915/945G and G31/33 compatible games

Updates

2010-02-02T20:10:00.002+05:30

FEB 02, 2010:

Well, I m not getting enough time to update on this blog. However, whenever I get time I will update it.

Newly added: Unique PC games

Well, I will need some help from visitors on this page. I can;t keep playing all the games in the world .. right!? However those which I know have been listed there. If u have played any unique game please post comments and let us know ..... you are the only ones who can help us update this page.

I m yet to write any reviews on these games. I will be adding it as soon as I get some time ;)

ENJOY gaming :P

Dec 23, 2009:

We are posting gaming details as well as the technical details. We are trying to provide knowledge on all the computer based stuff. Obviously, the main theme of the blog will remain as gaming. Games demand technology and so we think it is improtant to keep you updated with the computer technology. We also added an index to our blog so that you can easily surf through our articles. Check our content list/Index HERE.

Nov 28, 2009:

So as we said earlier, we have started updating the blog. We will soon post info on unique games.
More to come: Info on graphics cards/chipsets/motherboards. We will try to relate the game with graphic card/chipsets. Just stay in touch with us and we will try to provide you with the best info.

If you find our blog useful, plzz rate it ... we would also like to know what you think about the blog. Plzz post comments and let us know. And if you feel that that this blog is poorly written plzz tell us about the negetive points. We will work hard and improve our blog.

regards,
Sanc - The gamer :) [working with a group of gamers to provide you with the best ;)]

Nov 19, 2009:

We are soon gonna post about latest INTEL motherboards and the game compatibility list. You will also find info on latest and best graphic cards and their comparisons over here.

Tired of playing those same type of games? FPS, strategy, racing!!! Need something new and unique? We will provide you with complete info on unique games!! ... yes, we said 'unique'. We will be splitting games according to the category/genre so that you don't have to search hard for games of your choice. So, gamers get ready for ultimate info on gaming.

Keep checking the blog for updates.Please post comments. Your comments are valuable. It will help us improve our blog. If you have any doubts and queries you can mail me: coolest_wolf@yahoo.com

Unique PC games

2010-02-02T14:47:00.003+05:30

Are you tired playing the same typical first person/3rd person shooters, racing or strategy games? If your answer is yes!, you are at right page.

When we add a game here to this list, it implies that no other game has come even closer to these games. I m sure all of u know what unique means. Rather than making it a boring theory I would put up a list of these games.

Note: This is not just a list, click the links and read reviews on these games.

Also note: These games may contain first person/3rd person shooters/ racing or strategy games if and only if they have some uniqueness.

Indigo prophecy
Dreamfall - The longest journey
The void
Broken sword 3 - The sleeping dragon
World in conflict
PSI OPS
Black and white 2

If u have played any unique games, please post comments and let us know.

INTEL graphic chipsets and their comparisons:

2009-12-23T19:26:00.002+05:30

1. GMA 900: This chipset is incorporated in INTEL 910GL, 915G, 915GL, 915GV, 910GML, 915GM, 915GME motherboards.

Features:

Clock speed: 166/200/333 MHz
Pixel shader: 2.0
Vertex shader: 2.0
Hardware vertex shader: No
Pixel pipelines: 4
Unified shader processors: Not applicable
Peak memory bandwidth: 8.5 GB/s
Max video memory: 128 MB
Open GL support: 1.4
Direct 3D support: 9.0

2. GMA 950: This chipset is incorporated in INTEL 945G/GU/GC/GZ/GM motherboards.

Features:

Clock speed: 133/250/400 MHz
Pixel shader: 2.0
Vertex shader: 3.0
Hardware vertex shader: No
Pixel pipelines: 4
Unified shader processors: Not applicable
Peak memory bandwidth: 10.7 GB/s
Max video memory: 224 MB
Open GL support: 1.4
Direct 3D support: 9.0c

3. GMA 3000: This chipset is incorporated in INTEL 946GZ, Q963, Q965 motherboards.

Features:

Clock speed: 400/667 MHz
Pixel shader: 2.0
Vertex shader: 3.0
Hardware vertex shader: No
Pixel pipelines: Not applicable
Unified shader processors: 8
Peak memory bandwidth: 10.7/12.8 GB/s
Max video memory: 256MB
Open GL support: 1.4
Direct 3D support: 9.0c

4. GMA 3100: This chipset is incorporated in INTEL Q33, Q35, G31, G33 motherboards.

Features:

Clock speed: 400 MHz
Pixel shader: 2.0
Vertex shader: 3.0
Hardware vertex shader: No
Pixel pipelines: 4
Unified shader processors: Not applicable
Peak memory bandwidth: 17.1 GB/s
Max video memory: 384MB
Open GL support: 1.5
Direct 3D support: 9.0c

5. GMA X3000: This chipset is incorporated in INTEL G965 motherboards.

Features:

Clock speed: 667 MHz
Pixel shader: 3.0
Vertex shader: 3.0
Hardware vertex shader: Yes
Pixel pipelines: Not applicable
Unified shader processors: 8
Peak memory bandwidth: 12.8 GB/s
Max video memory: 384MB
Open GL support: 1.5
Direct 3D support: 9.0c

6. GMA X3100: This chipset is incorporated in INTEL GL960, GM965 motherboards.

Features:

Clock speed: 400/500 MHz
Pixel shader: 4.0
Vertex shader: 4.0
Hardware vertex shader: Yes
Pixel pipelines: Not applicable
Unified shader processors: 8
Peak memory bandwidth: 10.7 GB/s
Max video memory: 384MB
Open GL support: 2.0
Direct 3D support: 10

7. GMA X3500: This chipset is incorporated in INTEL G35 motherboards.

Features:

Clock speed: 667 Mhz
Pixel shader: 4.0
Vertex shader: 4.0
Hardware vertex shader: Yes
Pixel pipelines: Not applicable
Unified shader processors: 8
Peak memory bandwidth: 12.8 GB/s
Max video memory: 384MB
Open GL support: 2.0
Direct 3D support: 10

8. GMA 4500MHD: This chipset is incorporated in INTEL GL40, GS45, GM45, GM47 motherboards.

Features:

Clock speed: 320/400/533/640 Mhz
Pixel shader: 4.0
Vertex shader: 4.0
Hardware vertex shader: Yes
Pixel pipelines: Not applicable
Unified shader processors: 10
Peak memory bandwidth: 10.7/12.8/17.1 GB/s
Max video memory: >512MB
Open GL support: 2.0
Direct 3D support: 10

9. GMA 4500: This chipset is incorporated in INTEL Q43, Q45 motherboards.

Features:

Clock speed: 667 MHz
Pixel shader: 4.0
Vertex shader: 4.0
Hardware vertex shader: Yes
Pixel pipelines: Not applicable
Unified shader processors: 10
Peak memory bandwidth: 12.8/17.1 GB/s
Max video memory: >512MB
Open GL support: 2.0
Direct 3D support: 10

10. GMA X4500: This chipset is incorporated in INTEL G41, G43 motherboards.

Features:

Clock speed: 800MHz
Pixel shader: 4.0
Vertex shader: 4.0
Hardware vertex shader: Yes
Pixel pipelines: Not applicable
Unified shader processors: 10
Peak memory bandwidth: 12.8/17.1 GB/s
Max video memory: >512MB
Open GL support: 2.0
Direct 3D support: 10

11. GMA X4500HD: This chipset is incorporated in INTEL G45 motherboards.

Features:

Clock speed: 800MHz
Pixel shader: 4.0
Vertex shader: 4.0
Hardware vertex shader: Yes
Pixel pipelines: Not applicable
Unified shader processors: 10
Peak memory bandwidth: 12.8/17.1 GB/s
Max video memory: >512MB
Open GL support: 2.0
Direct 3D support: 10

Intel v/s AMD processor

2009-12-15T14:34:00.002+05:30

Well, Its very difficult to compare them... [Ya, really :-( ]

So i'll just mention their Advantages .. and decision is left to you :-)
As far as benefits of AMD or Intel CPUs, here is a (basic) rundown:
Intel:
1) Brand name
2) Faster core speeds
3) Hyperthreading (most models) [tricks Windows into seeing "two" processors,improves performance some (5%-15%) in multi-tasking situations; on rare occasion can DECREASE performance slightly in some applications]
4)Newest chips support LGA 775 (new socket type) and the matching motherboards have PCI express (new add-on interface) and DDR2 memory

AMD:
1) Price
2) Get more done per clock cycle (that is why slower chips can tie or outperform Intel chips)
3) 64-bit processing (on Athlon 64s only; not yet supported by Windows, but a 64-bit version is in the works, so in the future performance of these chips will increase)
4) On-chip memory controller (again, only Athlon 64s; this allows faster, more direct access to the system's RAM and increases performance in memory-latency intensive applications)
5) Generally easier to overclock (be carefull with ANY OCing, though)

So.. Who is the winner ?
Well I would say "AMD is a winner,but Intel is not a loser" :D

Which Graphics Card you should buy ?

2009-12-09T22:50:00.006+05:30

Someone might suggest Radeon 4650or 9500 GT.Please don't try. Even for running 6600 GT card you need a local PSU with 450W rated PSU. If you try running 9600GT DDR3 or 4670 in a local 350W rated one, then there is a high chance that either ur Card or SMPS will get damaged. Other parts may also be damaged.

Why go for a Radeon 4650 or 9500 GT. They are under performer card and just buying a 1 GB card won't let u play all the games in good details. You need a good GPU also.
So opt for Nvidia 9600GSO/GT or ATI 4670 GDDR3 based cards. All of them are available under 5k.
My suggestion is XFX 9600 GSO 768 MB. Remember the brand. This is a special edition card from XFX which is a better performer than other 9600 GT cards. Go for it. Price is around 4.2k. don't go for GSO from other brands.
ATI based best solution will be PowerColor AX4670 1GB. Price is around 5k.

But remember 9600 is a better performer than 4670. But 4670 consumes less power and hence u don't need a very good SMPS to run it.

Hope This Helps :-)

Why latest games don't work on INTEL 915/945 motherboards

2009-11-30T13:39:00.006+05:30

(Read this article carefully. I hope this article helps you. You can ask me any questions regarding this article. This applies for G31/G33 motherboards too)

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1] What do the games mainly require?

- Games mainly require:

* CPU
* RAM
* VIDEO CARD
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2] What do the latest games require?
- Well, speaking in terms of games that were released between 2006-2007, their minimum requirements are:
* CPU: P3, CELERON or P4 (however 90% games require P4)
* Minimum CPU speed for P4 required was 2.2 GHz
* RAM: minimum 256 MB or 512 MB (90% games require 512 MB)
* VIDEO MEMORY: minimum 64 MB or 128 MB (60% games require 64 MB)
But however even if u have:

* CPU: P4 3.2 GHz
* RAM: 1 GB
* VIDEO (GRAPHICS) MEMORY: 192 MB OR 256 MB (assuming that you have INTEL 915 or 945 motherboard INTEL 900 GMA or 950 GMA onboard graphics)
You will find that recent games wont run on your PC.

Example:

OBLIVION requires minimum of,
* CPU: P4 2.0 GHz or equivalent processor
* RAM: 512 MB
* VIDEO MEMORY: 128 MB
But still it does not run on system having,
* CPU (PROCESSOR): 3.2 GHz
* RAM: 1 GB
* VIDEO (GRAPHICS) MEMORY: 192 MB OR 256 MB (assuming that you have INTEL 915 or 945 motherboard with INTEL 900 GMA or 950 GMA onboard graphics)
---

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3] Why do these games dont run even if u have such a nice system?
- Well, the only aspect where your PC fails is GRAPHICS.

Even if you have intel 900 GMA graphics with 192 MB of memory or 950 GMA graphics with 256 MB of memory, there are few more things that your graphic chip or graphic card must have.

Features of a GRAPHIC CARD:
* 3D ACCELARATION
* VIDEO MEMORY
* PIXEL SHADER
* VERTEX SHADER (There are two types: SOFTWARE VERTEX SHADERS and HARDWARE VERTEX SHADERS)
* HW TRANSFORM AND LIGHTING
* HW RASTERIZING
---

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4) What are the features of 900 and 950 GMA graphics ?
- Features of 900 GMA (INTEL 915 motherboard) and 950 GMA (INTEL 945 motherboard):
* 3D ACCERALATION: YES
* VIDEO MEMORY: 192 MB (for 900 GMA) and 256 MB (for 950 GMA)
* PIXEL SHADER: 2.0
* VERTEX SHADER: 3.0 (it has SOFTWARE VERTEX SHADER which uses DIRECTX)
* HW RASTERISING: YES
* HW TRANSFORM n LIGHTING: NO (usually PROVIDED BY CPU or you can use 3D ANALYZE)
So all features are satisfied for the GAMES OF 2006-2007 ERA, except one where 915 or 945 fails. These games require HARDWARE VERTEX SHADERS and what 915 or 945 chipset has is SOFTWARE VERTEX SHADERS.
---

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5) So what can be done to run these or later games?
- Practically speaking nothing can be done as such to run these games except buying a new motherboard or getting a nice graphic card . However there are few softwares which may prove helpful.

EXAMPLE:
* OBLIVION RUNS WITH OLDBLIVION
* PRINCE OF PERSIA: SANDS OF TIME RUNS WITH 3D ANALYZER
But softwares are not sufficient to run all games.
---

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6) Which motherboard do you suggest will be able to run all latest as well as upcoming games?
- Speaking in terms of latest games like BIOSHOCK or SPIDERMAN 3,
what you require minimum is:
SPIDERMAN 3 minimum system rquirements:
CPU: P4 3.0 GHz
RAM: 1GB for XP and 1.5 GB for VISTA
VIDEO MEMORY: 256 MB
Video memory features required by SPIDERMAN 3:
* PIXEL SHADER: 3.0
* VERTEX SHADER: 3.0 (HARDWARE VERTEX SHADER required)
* HW TnL: YES (it is always better to have it on the graphic chipset)
So taking into account these features I suggest that INTEL G45 motherboard would be the best. But at the same time I would say that Graphic cards are more reliable than the onboard graphic chipsets.

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7) Why Intel G45 motherboard?
- Features of G45 motherboard (INTEL GMA X4500 graphics):-
* VIDEO MEMORY: 384 MB
* PIXEL SHADER: 4.0
* VERTEX SHADER: 4.0 (features HARDWARE VERTEX SHADER)
* HW TnL: YES
So i guarantee that almost any game upto this date would run on this motherboard, but few of the latest games might be laggy.
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8) Why do you say that latest games might be laggy on G45 motherboard?

- The graphic chipset features mentioned above like vertex shader, HW TnL are just sufficient to run the game. There are many other features in the graphic cards other than those mentioned above which decide the look and performance of the game.

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9) I need more information on Intel Motherboards and related Graphic chipsets?

- Click Here and read more about it. However this would require you to have some technical knowledge about the features of those motherboards. Anyways we would make sure that we explain everything in a systematic manner, but this would take time.

List of games that run on my PC successfully

2009-11-30T13:38:00.002+05:30

Hi, I have INTEL 915GV motherboard, P4 3.0 ghz processor and 512 MB RAM. Games that I have recently added (i.e within this month) are marked with " * ".

New ones:- (Games that require more than or equal to 32MB video memory)

1) Age of empires 3

2) Alpha prime (slightly laggy)

3) Area 51 (with v1.2 patch)(slightly laggy)

4) Battlefield 1942 (slightly laggy)

5) Black and White 2 (slightly laggy)

6) Blood rayne (runs using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL)

7) Broken Sword: The sleeping dragon

8) Brothers in arms: Earned in blood (runs better using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL) (laggy)

9) C&C Generals

10) Call of duty 1

11) CivCity Rome

12) Close combat: First to fight (runs using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL)

13) Commandos 3: Destination Berlin

14) Conan: The dark axe (runs using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL) (crashes while opening weapons inventory)

15) CSI: 3 dimensions of murder

16) Doom 3 (slightly laggy)

17) Dungeon Lords (runs using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL)(slightly laggy)

18) Dungeon Siege 2

19) Earth 2160 (runs using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL)

20) Empire earth 2

21) Evil dead: Regeneration

22) Fable: The lost chapters (slightly laggy)

23) Far cry (graphics are corrupted if u start normally)(runs with proper graphics using 3D ANALYZE, VendorID - 4098, DeviceID - 20040)(slightly laggy)

24) F.E.A.R (all patches/updates required v1.01 to v1.08)

25) Fifa 08

26) Flatout

27) Gangland

28) Godfather

29) GTA: Liberty city

30) GTA: Vice city

31) GTA: Sanandreas

32) Gun

33) Half life 2: Episode 1

34) Halo 1

35) Harry potter 4: The goblet of fire

36) Hitman 2: Silent assasin

37) Hitman 3: Contracts

38) Homeworld 2

39) Hulk

40) Indigo prophecy (Gets stuck at some places) [best game I ever played]

41) Iron man (slightly laggy)

42) Land of the dead: Road to fiddlers green

43) LEGO: Star wars (runs using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL)

44) LEGO: Star wars 2

45) Lord of the rings: Battle for middle earth 2

46) Lord of the rings: Return of the king (runs using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL)(laggy)

47) Lord of the rings: War of the ring

48) Madagascar

49) Mafia

50) Max payne 2

51) Melbourne cup challenge

52) Midnight club 2 (slightly laggy)

53) Morrowind

54) Moto GP 3: Ultimate racing technology

55) Myst V: End of Ages

56) Nancy Drew: The white wolf of icicle creek

57) Nascar: SimRacing

58) NiBiRu: The age of secrets

59) Night watch

60) NFS: Underground 1

61) NFS: Underground 2

62) NFS: Most wanted

63) Oblivion (runs with oldblivion)(slightly laggy)

64) Onimusha 3: Demon siege

65) Overspeed: High performance street Racing

66) Painkiller (runs using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL)

67) Port royale 2

68) Prince of persia: Sands of time (runs using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL)(Wont work with setup file, try Sands of time dopeman rip from torrents)

69) Prince of persia: Warrior within

70) Prince of persia: The two thrones

71) Project IGI 2: Covert strike

72) Psi Ops:The mindgate conspiracy

73) Rise of Nations 1

74) Rise of nations 2: rise of legends

75) Rogue Trooper

76) Serious sam 2

77) Silent hill 4: The room (runs using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL)

78) Sims 2 (slightly laggy)

79) Sins of a solar empire

80) Soul reaver 2

81) Sniper Elite

82) Star Wars: Empire at War

83) Street Racing syndicate

84) SWAT 4

85) The Egyptian Prophecy

86) The great escape

87) The Suffering: Ties that Bind (Graphics look lot better with 3D ANALYZE, with pixel shader effects enabled, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL)

88) Thief: Deadly shadows

89) Tom clancy's Splinter Cell (Experiencing problems with thermal vision)

90) Tom clancy's Rainbow six: Raven Shield

91) Tom clancy's Rainbow six: Lockdown (runs using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL)

92) Tomb raider: Anniversary

93) Tomb raider: Legend

94) Total Overdose

95) Transformers

96) Warhammer 40000 Dawn of war: Soulstorm

97) X-Men 3: The official game (runs using 3D ANALYZE, Emulate HW TnL caps, Force SW TnL)

Oldies:- (Games that require less than or equal to 16MB video memory)

1) Alien vs Predator 2

2) Age of Empires 1

3) Age of Empires 2

4) Age of Mythology

5) Black and White 1

6) C&C Red Alert 1

7) C&C Red Alert 2

8) C&C Tiberian sun

9) Castles and Catapults

10) Commandos 2 - Men of courage

11) Condition Zero

12) Claw

13) Crazy Taxi 1

14) Delta Force: Black Hawk Down

15) Drakan

16) Emperor: Battle for Dune

17) Empire Earth 1

18) Fate of the Dragon (Sanguo)

19) Half Life 1

20) Hotrod: American Street Drag

21) Max Payne 1

22) Medal of honor: Allied Assault

23) Midtown Madness 1

24) Midtown Madness 2

25) Mortal Kombat 4

26) Motocross Madness

27) Moto GP 1

28) Moto GP 2

29) Need for speed 2

30) Need for speed 5: Porche

31) Need for speed 6: Hot Pursuit 2

32) Novalogic Commanche 4

33) Patriots: A nation under fire

34) Pharaoh and Cleopatra

35) Project IGI 1

36) Quake 3

37) Red Faction 2

38) Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

39) Return to the castle: Wolfenstien

40) Revolt

41) Roadrash

42) School Tycoon

43) Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds

44) The mummy

45) Tom clancy's: Ghost Recon

46) Virtua Cop 2

47) Warcraft 1

48) Warcraft 2

49) Warcraft 3

50) WWE RAW

51) XIII (Thirteen)

Recommendations and references

2009-11-30T00:05:00.001+05:30

The best site that that provide a list of games for 915 and 945 >>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/intel9x-gaming/web/games-that-work-intel-gma-950

If u want to check whether the game would run on your PC , just visit this website (however results are approximate) >>>>> http://www.srtest.com/referrer/srtest

Here's the link for 3D ANALYZE >>>>> http://www.3dfxzone.it/dir/tools/3d_analyze/download/{3D-Analyze is a tool for transform and lightning hardware emulation. So it is very useful for running TnL games on video cards that have not on board dedicated circuits for TnL calculations (like all Voodoo, Kyro, some Radeon and older). It uses power of central processing unit to do emulation.}

How to use 3D ANALYZE >>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/intel9x-gaming/web/tutorial-how-to-use-3danalyze

What are shaders?

2009-11-28T23:46:00.005+05:30

Origin of 'shaders':
In 1989, a program known as renderman was introduced which would take the entire description of the scene through different camera angles. In 1995, it was used in the movie toy story and it was the first time that the public was introduced to the power of renderman. At the same time there was huge evolution in compuer graphics and chipsets. The concept of renderman was used in these graphics and chipsets as well.
And this is how the concept of shaders was introduced.

Definition:

Basically, shaders are programs that describe the traits of a pixel or a vertex. In technical words, shaders are a set of instructions used to calculate rendering effects on graphics hardware with a high degree of flexibility.

Types of shaders:

The unified shader model unifies these three a shaders in OpenGL and Direct3D 10.

About us

2009-11-28T23:18:00.002+05:30

We are the ones who post information on unique games, graphic cards and compatibility of the games. While doing some research we found that it is very difficult to find out reasons why games won't run on your PC. Sometimes even though you have a good config you may find it difficult to run a game on your PC. So, we would be posting more info on game compatibility, graphics relatted stuff, best graphic cards available and much more.

If you noticed, we said that we would be posting info on 'Unique games'....... yes!! 'unique', the type of games you never played before. There are very few games that would actually go in this list. I m sure many of you would have been tired playing those first person shooter, racing or strategy. Everyone needs a change..... right?

Feel free to post comments and ask us anything regarding games, graphic cards or motherboards(plzz only graphics related stuff).

Geometry shaders

2009-11-28T19:41:00.001+05:30

Definition:
Geometry shaders add and remove vertices from a mesh. Geometry shaders can be used to generate geometry procedurally or to add volumetric detail to existing meshes that would be too costly to process on the CPU.

Software support:
Microsoft's Direct 3D 10 and Silicon Graphic's OpenGL 3.2 supports geometry shaders.

Description:
Geometry shader programs are executed after vertex shaders. They take as input a whole primitive, possibly with adjacency information. For example, when operating on rectangles, the four vertices are the geometry shader's input.

Uses in graphic system:
Typical uses of a geometry shader include point sprite generation, geometry tessellation, shadow volume extrusion, and single pass rendering to a cube map.
A geometry shader can generate new graphics primitives, such as points, lines, and triangles, from those primitives that were sent to the beginning of the graphics pipeline.

Vertex shaders

2009-11-28T19:29:00.001+05:30

Definition:
A vertex shader is a graphics processing function used to add special effects to objects in a 3D environment.

Software support:
Microsoft's Direct 3D and Silicon Graphic's OpenGL supports shaders.

Description:
The purpose of vertex shaders is to transform each vertex's 3D position in virtual space to the 2D co-ordinate at which it appears on the screen. Vertex shaders can manipulate properties such as position, color, and texture coordinate, but cannot create new vertices. In simlple language, vertex shaders are used to smoothen up the sharp regions.

Pixel shaders

2009-11-28T18:26:00.002+05:30

Definition:
A pixel shader is a type of shader program, often executed on a graphics processing unit. These programs are typically used to perform complex per-pixel effects.

Software support:
Microsoft's Direct 3D and Silicon Graphic's OpenGL supports shaders.

Description:
In OpenGL a pixel is called a fragment and hence pixel shaders are also known as fragment shaders. Pixel shaders calculate the colour of individual pixels.Pixel shaders are typically used for scene lighting and related effects such as bump mapping and color toning.

Evolution of shaders

2009-11-28T18:11:00.005+05:30

It took years to get the realistic gaming expirience. It was the evolution of games from pacman to doom3 to F.E.A.R2. The games got more and more realistic. Shaders were the key feature for the graphics.

At first the concept of pixel shaders was introduced. Pixel shaders the first shaders which improved the gaming expirience. A few years later vertex shaders were introduced which took the gaming expirience from 2D to 3D. The last shader (as of now) was introduced lately in 2007 known as geometry shaders which took the gaming expirience to a new level. nVIDIA GeForce 8800 GPUs were the first providing hardware support for Geometry Shaders.

Shaders were categorised by versions. The combination of these shaders is also known as shader model. The first one was shader model 1.0 and from there it has evolved to shader model 5.0 which is featured by nVIDIA GTX 300 series cards.

So, what can we expect in future?
nVIDIA has been working on shader model 5.1/6.0 for some time and we are expecting that they will introduce it till the end of 2010.

[Note: We have tried our best to write this article in simple words. But the concept of shaders is so complicated that even if we try our best, its not possible to make it clear to everyone. Atleast not within two short paragraphs. Whatever you think about this article, whatever your opinion is, plzz let us know. Correct us if we are wrong.]

Content List

2009-11-14T17:17:00.008+05:30

To make it easier for you to surf through the blog we made an Index for our blog. Just click the links to read the topics of your interest.

1. Games:

Unique PC games

2. Games compatibility:

3. Motherboards/Chipsets:

INTEL motherboards and thier features

4. Processors:

INTEL vs AMD

5. Shaders:

6. Recommended sites:

Recomended sites for gamers