Warp2Search.net » News » November 2003 » PowerVR Series 5 Is A PixelShader 3.0 VPU

If still another proof was required that the in-development PowerVR Series 5 (Series 3 = KYRO I/II/SE, Series 4 = finished, but never hit store shelves because of STMicro's omission as a chip manufacturer) VPU actually equals a Pixel and Vertex Shader 3.0 capable hardware piece then PowerVR Technologies - a division of Imagination Technologies Ltd. - has revealed that fact alone by some new developer relations 3D demo examples. This puts PowerVR technically on the same level with the upcoming next-gen accelerators ATI R420 and Nvidia's NV40. We can (safely) assume that the new techdemos are pinpointing in which direction PowerVR has tuned their VPU development process. The company also seems to have extended the "deferred rendering" (deferred rendering technology dramatically increases the efficiency of the 3D engine for maximum performance beyond standard z-culling technology. By maximizing effective bandwidth, deferred rendering does not leave extreme gamers short during peak 3D performance levels) concept to "deferred shading" and this to an extent where they are able to present a working demo of it. Now where do you run PS 3.0 demos on? PS 3.0 capable hardware...



Cloth - Cloth Animation with VS_3_0 and PS_3_0 Voxels - Voxel Rendering with PS_3_0 Deferred Shading Deferred Shading with Multiple Render Targets

neo-n Junior Member Posts: 1 Joined: 2003-10-28

#49094 Posted on: 11/01/2003 02:22 PM Not surprisingly the PS3 demos wont run on my 9800XT but the deferred shading one will, although the output is very messed up. There are a few other interesting demos on the site.

Devourer Unregistered

#49095 Posted on: 11/01/2003 03:56 PM If the 5 series is as good in this time period as my 2 was in its time period. Then I will most likely be getting 1.

Hanners Junior Member Posts: 1 Joined: 2004-06-04

#49096 Posted on: 11/01/2003 04:00 PM Didn't think I'd be seeing voxels making a comeback again... P Interesting stuff though.. I wonder if PowerVR can steal a lead on ATi and nVidia if they can get a PS/VS 3.0 part out the door first?

digitalwanderer Junior Member Posts: 3 Joined: 2004-02-22

#49098 Posted on: 11/01/2003 04:24 PM "Ha-ha!" (Sorry, couldn't resist...it's been too long since I beat you to posting a story on the front-page of EB. )

digitalwanderer Junior Member Posts: 3 Joined: 2004-02-22

#49099 Posted on: 11/01/2003 04:25 PM Interesting! You've gotten a lot of me TBDR buddies all hot & bothered, this is a great time to be a viddy geek!

El_Coyote Senior Member Posts: 555 Joined: 2002-12-18

#49100 Posted on: 11/01/2003 04:34 PM we still need DX9.1 to use it ;P

Chernobyl Member Posts: 65 Joined: 2003-05-03

#49101 Posted on: 11/01/2003 04:37 PM I will NEVER buy another PowerVR card after the experiences I went through... I got the very first PowerVR card which was claimed (a lot) to be better than the Voodoo. I ended up buying a voodoo cos the powerVR was a lot slower. Then the second gen of the card was sent to me after I complained heavily and they wanted me to pay for it. Fat chance, it wasnt very good either. Since then I have been given a Kyro II which has been sat fairly useless in my spare PC for nearly a year now, as there are so many games it will not run due to lack of driver support. You thought ATI's drivers used to be bad, these people dont support their own products. Only today has an updated driver been released, a year after my last driver download!! Have yet to try it, cant really be bothered now as I'm about to upgrade and give my 2nd PC a much better card. Simple advice, these people are cowboys, stay well clear.

BetrayerX Unregistered

#49102 Posted on: 11/01/2003 04:53 PM I have to agree with you on that.

BetrayerX Unregistered

#49106 Posted on: 11/01/2003 05:00 PM Most of the issues with this card in games were corrected with the profiles options (still the best one iMHO). You just had to look for some good websites with people with some knowledge with those drivers (Paraknowya of old comes into mind), and there were so many settings on those drivers, some registry edits could have fixed all. I had one...most of my issues where with EA games (and bash me if you want but NV had a lot to do with that and TWIMTBP), usually the first game patch or some registry edits fixed stuff on many of their games...the rest ran nice here. Of course, game with T&L were the crappier ones, yet by that time, only a handful were out (Giants and Sacrifice were the most known)

digitalwanderer Junior Member Posts: 3 Joined: 2004-02-22

#49108 Posted on: 11/01/2003 05:26 PM Dang it, I am getting SO tired of having this BS bandied about like it's real! :roll: C'mon Coyote, you know better.

hinkle Unregistered

#49111 Posted on: 11/01/2003 06:22 PM em, DX9.1 is actually already pretty much defined (PS & VS 3.0) and almost ready to ship. Expect it to be released around X-mas... if DX9.1 gives any boost to the nv3x familly is still unknown...

neo-n Junior Member Posts: 1 Joined: 2003-10-28

#49112 Posted on: 11/01/2003 06:28 PM Not according to microsoft...

El_Coyote Senior Member Posts: 555 Joined: 2002-12-18

#49113 Posted on: 11/01/2003 06:30 PM "I will NEVER buy another PowerVR card after the experiences I went through..." thats what 90% of people said about ATi 1½ year ago :P

hinkle Unregistered

#49114 Posted on: 11/01/2003 06:37 PM show me the please the link where MS denies DX9.1 You won't find any. The fact that it just hasn' been announced officially doesn't mean that it doesn't exist... much like Intel 64-bit extensions on the Prescott CPU

neo-n Junior Member Posts: 1 Joined: 2003-10-28

#49115 Posted on: 11/01/2003 06:40 PM show me a link that shows it is due out soon...

hinkle Unregistered

#49116 Posted on: 11/01/2003 06:43 PM even the best hardware is worthless without mature drivers... because of that I really can't agree with both of you and won't buy a card from then until this issue has been addressed... read: not before 2005

hinkle Unregistered

#49117 Posted on: 11/01/2003 06:48 PM as I said, DX9.1 hasn't been announced yet so you won't find any official link from MS. Anyway, I was the first to asked But if you just happen to have the slightest idea about the current graphiccard market you will know that the nv40 and R420 will have PS/VS 3.0 support. But how can you enable this when the the current DX version (9.0b) doesn't expose version 3? Right, you need an update to support this shaders --> DX9.1 See, it's not really difficult to understand why MS will release DX9.1 in just a few little months...

neo-n Junior Member Posts: 1 Joined: 2003-10-28

#49118 Posted on: 11/01/2003 07:06 PM from what ive seen its DX9.0c

hinkle Unregistered

#49119 Posted on: 11/01/2003 07:15 PM you've seen wrong, I can tell you that right away... It wouldn't make any sense to call the new DX version 9.0c because current DX9 compatible hardware can not process VS/PS 3.0 shaders. That's why there will be a .1 increment. I'm just wondering why I have to explain all this, DX9.1 hasn't been a secret anymore for many months... not saying that there will never be a DX9.0c version, maybe MS needs to fix just another few security issues, who knows... again, nv40 and R420 will be advertised as being DX9.1 hardware!

El_Coyote Senior Member Posts: 555 Joined: 2002-12-18

#49120 Posted on: 11/01/2003 07:35 PM that may be well.. but that doesnt help us NOW does it? :P

scyphe Unregistered

#49121 Posted on: 11/01/2003 07:44 PM ok, I think I'll make this clear. There won't be a DX9.1 out by christmas. How do I know? We've discussed it with the DX-team in the private beta newsgroups in the DX9 SDK beta. Yes, I'm a technical betatester. This is all MS DX-team know at this point: "we expect to release the next version of Direct3D with the next major Microsoft operating system. The first chance to release any runtime support will probably be in the first beta release, which is far enough out that we haven't yet started up a formal beta group." Thus, we MIGHT see some updates for DX9 like DX9.0c etc. OR some add-in for support for new technologies that needs to be made before Longhorn enters beta1 by summer.

scyphe Unregistered

#49122 Posted on: 11/01/2003 07:52 PM I had a KyroII for over a year and it was the perfect follower to the Voodoo3 3000 AGP I had. During that year it worked wonders with cards that really only wanted GF2 GTS/GF3's and Radeon 8500's, managing to keep the performance within acceptable range. Keep in mind that the KyroII wasn't planned to be a performance contender to the mid-range class during it's construction, yet it got a chunk of that, and for the price it was awesome. Also remember that it was DX7 hardware, not DX8-DX9, YET it can still play a lot of DX8+ games with some simple tweaks. THAT is a feat. Cards from the same period (Voodoo5, GF2's, ATI pre-radeon 8500's) died 2-3 years ago, yet the KyroII is still among us in small numbers with new drivers to support more modern games, even though the game developers dropped any support for the Kyro's years ago. I have all confidence in the PVR-technology, so if they get Series 5 out the door, I'll definitely be among those queueing up for a card.

neo-n Junior Member Posts: 1 Joined: 2003-10-28

#49123 Posted on: 11/01/2003 07:54 PM Exactly what i had heard. I understand the situation here is very different to the DX8 to 8.1 situation thats why it wont be DX9.1. At least not yet.

hinkle Unregistered

#49124 Posted on: 11/01/2003 08:04 PM First of all it's "Team DX ©" and not DX-Team and second this team doesn't exist at all ok, let's just wait for the release of DX9.1 and then you can start believing me if you please

digitalwanderer Junior Member Posts: 3 Joined: 2004-02-22

#49125 Posted on: 11/01/2003 08:27 PM There IS no "Team DX ©" either, M$ calls their dx team their "DX Team". I also heard what scyphe and neo-n are saying in regards to dx9. The SDK will be updated, but not the run-time.

Warp2Search.net » News » November 2003 » PowerVR Series 5 Is A PixelShader 3.0 VPU