PC Graphics System Overview

Submitted by epreisz on Sun, 02/11/2007 - 07:49.

The foundation of graphics optimization is an understanding of the hardware. On a fixed platform, like the Xbox360 or the PS3, exploiting the hardware is the best way to optimize an application. On the PC however, there are so many configurations that trying to target any single configuration may lead to a slow game on the majority of systems.

There are many systems that we must consider when writing a video game. Of all our resources, we will mostly be observing the CPU, GPU, AGP/PCIe, Memory, and Video Memory. Hard drive and/or DVD and networking hardware also play key roles in certain game genres.

CPU

The CPU is a major focus in video game applications. I have been to many presentations by ATI and NVidia and a common theme of optimization discussions concern CPU bound video games. When your video game is CPU limited, it doesn’t matter how good your graphics card is, your game will only see an improvement in framerate if you buy a faster CPU. Hardcore gamers will likely be a target market of your video game, don’t waste their hard earned money.

When we discuss the CPU, we will often include a discussion of how memory operates. A CPU can be slow because we have too much math or because of too much loading and storing of system memory. A CPU can be slow because incorrect usage of an API or driver.

Your graphics drivers operate on your CPU, and without proper tools, you may never realize that they are causing a performance issue. It is very common issue to have large hotspots in your drivers if you are using the graphics API incorrectly. Since you didn’t write the API (I’m guessing you didn’t write OpenGL or DirectX) you must understand the rules of the API. Documentation does not always expose these rules well and merely seeing your results on the screen doesn’t mean you have an optimized scene.

Your CPU does calculations on integer and floating points. The key to reducing performance issues is to ensure that you are doing as much math as possible every clock tick. The architecture of the P4 cpu allows for parallel processing of floating point numbers, integer numbers, and memory read/write operations. Tricks, such as reducing data dependencies can help increase the performance of calculations.

Your CPU also does the work required to maintain your operating system while your game is running. Although the OS is rarely a bottleneck, it does happen, and understanding this concept will help you during the detection phase of optimization.

GPU

The GPU should be the heart of your vertex and pixel processing. There are some hoops to jump through to make sure that happens, but it’s your goal. The CPU will create the triangles, store them in system memory, and pass them to the graphics card when necessary.

The major stages of the GPU include vertex transfer, vertex fetching, vertex processing, rasterizing, pixel processing, texture processing and framebuffer operations. The GPU stages operate in parallel, meaning they can process more than one element at a time, but a triangle will pass from one end of the pipeline to the other with the final result being a pixel on the screen. Since the stages represent a parallelized pipeline, the speed of your graphics pipeline will run at the speed of the slowest single stage.

Bus

There are three bus types that are used for moving data from the CPU and Memory to the GPU. Originally, the PCI bus was the only way to move data. PCI cards are pretty much no longer in use. Because the PCI bus was such a bottleneck, motherboard and graphics card vendors added the AGP bus. AGP stands for accelerated graphics port, and since its only job was to move data to the graphics card, they could optimize it for that purpose. There are several versions of AGP, each with faster rates. They are: AGP 2x, AGP 4x and AGP 8x. When the computer uses the AGP, it blocks off a section of memory for exclusive use of the AGP bus. We can set the size of this memory by setting the AGP aperture within the bios. Although there are many systems using AGP 4x and 8X their days are limited. PCI express, or PCIe, offers a significant improvement over AGP. First off, PCIe is many times faster than AGP. Also, PCIe is fast in both uploading and downloading data, whereas AGP is only fast for uploading.

Sometimes you will notice a performance issue related to the bus when playing a game. If you position your camera in a single location and spin on one axis you may notice a hitch. That hitching is a result of the flood of vertex buffers and textures that are streaming across the bus. There are several techniques to reduce this limitation.

Memory

If your CPU limitation isn’t algorithmic computation, it’s possible that you are performance limited by memory. Everyone knows that ram memory is faster than hard drive memory, but when we start observing memory from the standpoint of optimization, memory is slow. Because reading and writing to memory is slow, computer architects created memory caches.

Caches are small, fast, expensive, pieces of memory. When used correctly, a cache can give you considerable performance boot. When used incorrectly, an application would probably run faster without a cache. Luckily, the rules for optimizing for maximum cache efficiency are simple. Writing your code to be cache friendly is not always so simple.

There are several layers of cache, starting with L1, L2, and an optional L3. When a CPU loads memory it looks in the L1. If the data exists, the load executes quickly. If the data isn’t located in L1, it will need to search L2 cache. If the address does not exist in L2 cache it will need to either search in the optional L3 cache or grab the data from system memory. However, to get the data back through to the CPU, it will need to travel back through the cache system.

The CPU accesses memory in cache lines, and when you grab one piece of memory you perform a cache line fill and load other nearby pieces of memory. Also, when you are using memory access in predictable pattern, the hardware can guess what memory you are about to use and have it waiting in cache before you attempt to read it. Therefore, keeping your memory access sequential can be much faster than grabbing it at random intervals across memory. When your CPU makes a guess about what cache to fill we call that an automatic hardware prefetch.

Sometimes the solution to increasing performance on a CPU is to introduce multi-threading. If you application is limited by memory access, you may cause more cache misses as two or more threads fight for the finite space of your caches. Multi-threading is unlikely to solve a performance problem caused by poor use of memory. In fact, multi-threading will be likely to make the problem worse.

Video Memory

Your graphics card has its own memory system. There is not much you can do to directly increase it’s performance, but improper use of the API can cause more transfers across the bus to occur. Graphics resources all share the same memory. Textures, vertex buffers, stencil buffer, depth buffers, color buffers, and render targets, all share this memory space. Increasing the amount of Full-Scene anti-aliasing directly reduces your available memory.

Add new comment

Arthur Smith received British Patent

Submitted by bingoov on Sun, 02/05/2012 - 13:13.

levitra Online DTJLK SDFG
levitra DTJLK SDFG
Buy viagra DTJLK SDFG

Arthur Smith received British Patent

Submitted by bingoov on Sun, 02/05/2012 - 12:55.

viagra DTJLK SDFG
cialis DTJLK SDFG
cialis Online DTJLK SDFG
Buy cialis DTJLK SDFG
Buy levitra DTJLK SDFG

Leo Hendrik Baekeland improved

Submitted by bingoov on Sun, 02/05/2012 - 12:37.

viagra Online DTJLK SDFG
cialis Online DTJLK SDFG
Buy levitra DTJLK SDFG
Buy cialis DTJLK SDFG
levitra Online DTJLK SDFG

use as an ebonite substitute

Submitted by bingoov on Sun, 02/05/2012 - 12:18.

levitra DTJLK SDFG
levitra DTJLK SDFG
viagra DTJLK SDFG

Arthur Smith received British Patent

Submitted by bingoov on Sun, 02/05/2012 - 12:01.

viagra Online DTJLK SDFG
cialis DTJLK SDFG
cialis DTJLK SDFG
Buy cialis DTJLK SDFG
levitra Online DTJLK SDFG

use as an ebonite substitute

Submitted by bingoov on Sun, 02/05/2012 - 11:44.

Buy cialis DTJLK SDFG
levitra Online DTJLK SDFG
levitra Online DTJLK SDFG
viagra Online DTJLK SDFG

Arthur Smith received British Patent

Submitted by bingoov on Sun, 02/05/2012 - 11:28.

viagra DTJLK SDFG
Order cialis DTJLK SDFG
Cialis online DTJLK SDFG
cialis Online DTJLK SDFG
Buy levitra DTJLK SDFG

Arthur Smith received British Patent

Submitted by bingoov on Sun, 02/05/2012 - 11:13.

Buy cialis DTJLK SDFG
viagra Online DTJLK SDFG
Buy viagra DTJLK SDFG
viagra Online DTJLK SDFG
cialis Online DTJLK SDFG

Cheap Soccer Shoes

Submitted by tank26677 on Sat, 02/04/2012 - 07:47.

PT'They're going to take you.Elizabeth's face went its bright red and white colour. Violet was irritated; she hated it when Cheap Soccer Shoes Elizabeth flushed in this vivid way over nothing at all.When am I to go?'Whenever we like. It will take time, of course. We have to pack, Nike Soccer Cleats and I have to write to Eileen about school books . . . what you need. She's full of welcomes but little practical advice about Adidas Soccer Cleats what to take with you and what you'll need. Oh, and there's this note for you. . . .Elizabeth took the single sheet of paper. Adidas World Cup It was the first letter she had ever got from anyone. She read it slowly to savour it.press and half the dressing table. Be sure to come for Eamonn's birthday, there will be a Mizuno Neogrado Wave III party. The Mahers's kittens are sweet they have their eyes open. Mammy is going to get one for you and me to share. Love, Aisling'A kitten to share,' said Elizabeth, her eyes shining.Mizuno Supersonic Wave II Auntie EileenAt the bottom of the page in a section where someone had ruled lines to keep the writing straight, there was another note.

vibram five fingers

Submitted by happyness on Sat, 02/04/2012 - 05:37.

world news blog
The amazing anatomy of the human foot consists of 26 bones, 20 muscles and 33 joints. With the amazing canada goose sale
your feet will be the closest to natures comfort. discount sunglasses If you recall being barefoot as a child as you walked about discovering what the world has to offer until your feet were suddenly straddled in tight fitting shoes that felt restricting and very uncomfortable. cheap bags Kind of put a damper on that natural walk about. not necessarily for that blind pursuit of high-end products,” vibram sale cozy and lightweight could be the key.

Cheap Louis Vuitton products

Submitted by chy on Fri, 02/03/2012 - 07:55.

Cheap Louis Vuitton products captures top quality and exquisite design are offered online. As a fact that our Louis Vuitton Outlet is a crediable outlet with strength. We provide various excellent products which are in discount. Such as, Louis Vuitton clothes, Louis Vuitton shoes and Louis Vuitton belts and so on. More information about our products are showed in Louis Vuitton Sale line. Our Louis Vuitton Outlet Store provides you the best service and best quality products. If you want to buy Louis Vuitton products, our Louis Vuitton outlet is your perfect choice. You can find various Louis Vuitton Handbags with fashionable design and exquisite craftsmanship. And Louis Vuitton Jeans all follow the fashion trend, which is easily match with your clothes. Welcome to our website and further your inquiry!

Cheap Louis Vuitton products

Submitted by chy on Fri, 02/03/2012 - 07:55.

It’s well known that our

Submitted by chy on Fri, 02/03/2012 - 07:51.

It’s well known that our louis vuitton outlet enjoys good reputation. and our louis vuitton replicas contains a variety of products. You can view many series products from our louis vuitton replica, such as exquisite louis vuitton jewelry and fashionable louis vuitton glasses. All customers want to purchase the products which have top quality and cheap price compared with similar products. In order to satisfy the needs of customers, we offer all kinds of promotion activities as discount louis vuitton promotion, replica Louis vuitton promotion. We committed to providing customers with the best products and services. If you have any questions, you can log in our online shop to contact us.

instant cash advance

Submitted by slfizD on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 14:25.

biiawo instant cash advance 9160 payday loans %-[[[ instant cash advance vqvyv

Chi Flat Iron

Submitted by happyness on Thu, 02/02/2012 - 08:16.

chi flat iron
is actually probably the most common as well as the best trusted hair straightening iron obtained in the market today thus defining it as unique.
chi hair straightener
your hair properly and whats more, it enables you to make variations; one example is: contributing waves, surf and flicks for chi flat iron official website. In brief; we can state that it is a wonderful as well as dual purpose merchandise. There are various various other standard items which can damage the glow and smoothness of the hair. On the other hand; that isnt the way it is with Chi Turbo Flat Iron Blue Guitar Collection because doing so can make your own CHI Hair Dryer
additional clean, sparkly and also right devoid of triggering every problems for the overall well being of your respective lovely head of hair. 2012 New Chi Flat Iron

cheap cialis

Submitted by slfizD on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 17:02.

skovxxi cheap cialis BEgkTR viagra SaITaJ viagra without prescription JhfOjo cialis 2052

where to buy sildenafil

Submitted by slfizD on Wed, 02/01/2012 - 14:45.

teahhwcs where to buy sildenafil DieLLr cheap cialis 8]]] viagra >:-[ order cialis online :-O

Arthur Smith received British Patent

Submitted by bingoov on Tue, 01/31/2012 - 11:16.

viagra online DTJLK SDFG
ambien DTJLK SDFG
viagra online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
Cheap viagra DTJLK SDFG
Viagra Online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
Viagra online DTJLK SDFG
-|-|-|-random-}

Leo Hendrik Baekeland improved

Submitted by bingoov on Tue, 01/31/2012 - 10:58.

Viagra Online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
levitra DTJLK SDFG
viagra online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
Viagra Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
Order viagra DTJLK SDFG

use as an ebonite substitute

Submitted by bingoov on Tue, 01/31/2012 - 10:41.

viagra alternative DTJLK SDFG
viagra online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
Viagra Online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
Viagra online DTJLK SDFG
Cheap viagra DTJLK SDFG

Leo Hendrik Baekeland improved

Submitted by bingoov on Tue, 01/31/2012 - 10:21.

viagra DTJLK SDFG
Viagra Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
generic viagra DTJLK SDFG
Viagra Online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
Cheap cialis DTJLK SDFG -|-|-|-random-}

use as an ebonite substitute

Submitted by bingoov on Tue, 01/31/2012 - 10:04.

viagra alternative DTJLK SDFG
viagra DTJLK SDFG
Viagra Online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
Viagra online DTJLK SDFG
Cheap viagra DTJLK SDFG

use as an ebonite substitute

Submitted by bingoov on Tue, 01/31/2012 - 09:45.

viagra DTJLK SDFG
Viagra Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
generic viagra DTJLK SDFG
Viagra Online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
Cheap cialis DTJLK SDFG -|-|-|-random-}

Arthur Smith received British Patent

Submitted by bingoov on Tue, 01/31/2012 - 09:28.

viagra alternative DTJLK SDFG
Cheap viagra DTJLK SDFG
viagra online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
viagra DTJLK SDFG
Viagra Online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG

use as an ebonite substitute

Submitted by bingoov on Tue, 01/31/2012 - 09:09.

viagra online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
Viagra Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
generic viagra DTJLK SDFG
Viagra Online Without Prescription DTJLK SDFG
Cheap cialis DTJLK SDFG -|-|-|-random-}

payday loan UK

Submitted by slfizD on Mon, 01/30/2012 - 15:50.

rdkkgdjv payday loan UK :-O payday loan TZrKpl cash advance SsyjL

cash advance

Submitted by slfizD on Mon, 01/30/2012 - 15:25.

uffzgpri cash advance 6403 payday loans online 2926 cash advance npGfVR

Cheap Louis Vuitton products

Submitted by chy on Mon, 01/30/2012 - 05:43.

Cheap Louis Vuitton products captures top quality and

exquisite design are offered online. As a fact that our Louis Vuitton

Outlet is a crediable outlet with strength. We provide various excellent products which are in discount. Such

as, Louis Vuitton clothes, Louis Vuitton shoes and Louis Vuitton belts and so on. More information about our products are

showed in Louis Vuitton Sale line. Our Louis Vuitton

Outlet Store provides you the best service and best quality products. If you want to buy Louis

Vuitton products, our Louis Vuitton outlet is your perfect choice. You can find various Louis Vuitton

Handbags with fashionable design and exquisite craftsmanship. And Louis Vuitton Jeans all follow

the fashion trend, which is easily match with your clothes. Welcome to our website and further your inquiry!

It’s well known that our

Submitted by chy on Mon, 01/30/2012 - 05:42.

It’s well known that our louis vuitton outlet enjoys

good reputation. and our louis vuitton replicas

contains a variety of products. You can view many series products from our

href="http://www.louisvuittonoutletusa2012.net">louis vuitton replica, such as exquisite louis vuitton

jewelry and fashionable louis vuitton glasses. All customers want to purchase the products which

have top quality and cheap price compared with similar products. In order to satisfy the needs of customers, we offer all

kinds of promotion activities as discount louis vuitton promotion,

href="http://www.louisvuittonoutletusa2012.net"> replica Louis vuitton promotion. We

committed to providing customers with the best products and services. If you have any questions, you can log in our online

shop to contact us.

Re: Min vision och tro

Submitted by sengnn163 on Sun, 01/29/2012 - 08:24.

Welcome to choose your unique Moncler Women Jackets. The Moncler women jackets Online provides a wonderful online-purchase platform for moncler mens vests, moncler boots, moncler down jackets women and other moncler products. Our moncler women jackets sale is the renowned high-end outerwear Moncler Outlet which created a quilted jacket trend in the fashion world. Moncler On Sale stand still in time,It has always kept abreast of the Moncler winter coats and stayed true to its origins without compromising its runway worthy style. downjackets2011.com supply the Moncler that keep warm and Moncler boots on the fashion line!

Re: Min vision och tro

Submitted by sengnn163 on Sun, 01/29/2012 - 08:16.

Moncler Down Jackets and moncler winter coats such as Moncler kids Jackets,moncler mens jackets, moncler women jackets, are hot sale with save up to 80%.All cheap monclers from our store are best jackets and fashion.Wholesale moncler down jackets women .Our Moncler Online offer you free shipping.High-top suede boots in dark brown. Moncler Women Coats. Tonal lace-up closure with signature red and white pattern throughout. Bronze tone moncler down jackets and d-rings. Off-white wool trim at cuff.

Re: Min vision och tro

Submitted by sengnn163 on Sun, 01/29/2012 - 08:16.

Re: Min vision och tro

Submitted by sengnn163 on Sun, 01/29/2012 - 08:13.

One of its most attractive features is that a unit trust will invest your money across a range of our Classic UGG onliner shop . Your profit making potential is not limited to one UGG kids boots investors find reassuring when they place their savings in UGG Australia trust.welcome to shop UGG Bailey Button .It is one of the famous brands on UGG Boots For Women and now UGG Classic Tall can make you convenience no matter from quality service the price it can give you with a good guaratee . UGG Roseberry Boots are top sale in 2011.

Re: Vårt brev till landstingsdirektör Åke Rosandher

Submitted by sengnn163 on Sun, 01/29/2012 - 08:04.

With their Timberlands For Men and dedication it became apparent that the Swartz family were creating a shoe brand with a difference, and the Cheap Shoes Timberland name in 1973 paved the Timberland 6-Inch Premium boot with the first ever guaranteed waterproof boot produced under the cheap timberlands in the same year.b later and the Swartz family change their Abington Shoe Company into The Timberland Casual Shoes and love today. In 1978 the first hand sewn casual shoe was created, closely followed by Timberland Mens Hiking Boots for cheap in 1979.There are Timberland Chukka Boots and Timberland Earthkeepers discount sale now.

-|-|-|-random-}

Navigation

Syndicate

PC Graphics System Overview

Comment viewing options

User login

Recent comments