cleeve

Illustrious
I think one of the factors is that alot of that bandwidth is being used internally and is taking place on the graphics card itself, so it's transfer rate to the rest of the system is not being used.

i.e. when you're using full screen antialiassing. These calculations are applied by the graphics card itself to the scene information. It's calculated internally.

The information the card has to send out through the AGP bus is limited to what you see on screen, which would be constant at any given resolution at the same frames per second.

i.e:

one 1024*768 pixel frame @ 3MB
* 60 Frames per second
= a mere 180 MB/second output bandwidth

This example is oversimplification, but it demonstrates the theory.

Remember also, the CPU and GPU have different jobs, they don't duplicate the same work... they just hand each other the work they need to. The CPU is calculating AI and other program functions, and is handing the GPU tons of work to do graphically. The raw mathematics that represent a 3d scene can be very small as far as storage space and bandwidth go (i.e. co-ordinates of the vertices, which are simply numbers) but after the GPU has processed that information along with the textures it adds levels of complexity that the CPU never sees.

To be honest, I'm not exactly sure if this is the case as I've never seen it verbated plainly like this, but this is the impression I've got from paying attention to the video card industry over the past 10 years. But if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will correct me. ;)
 

Willamette_sucks

Distinguished
Feb 24, 2002
1,940
0
19,780
You idiot X, all the data the vid card needs is stored in video ram from the beginning. Everything is internal, unless u gotta load something new.

"Every Day is the Right Day." -Pink Floyd
 

phsstpok

Splendid
Dec 31, 2007
5,600
1
25,780
In games like FPSs at the start of each scene the model data and textures are sent to the video card. During the action the CPU only has to send the updates.

I'm not sure what data comprise these updates. Probably includes location and orientation vectors for character models, for other moving objects, and for the camera, basically for anything that moves. I expect there would be vertex data for any new models that enter the scene. Don't know what else.

What doesn't get passed over the AGP port is all the data for rendered pixels. The video card handles this in local video memory, unless local memory is exhausted.

<b>56K, slow and steady does not win the race on internet!</b>
 

simwiz2

Distinguished
May 16, 2003
145
0
18,680
The bandwidth of a graphics card is bandwidth of the actual memory on the card. If a card has 128 MB on it, there will be a large bandwidth (the one advertised) when working with up to 128 MB of data, and after that data has to start transferring over the slower AGP bus.
 

GeneticWeapon

Splendid
Jan 13, 2003
5,795
0
25,780
When I go Pee, it burns a little....

3DMark 03 = 4,140
<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=897633" target="_new">http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=897633</A>
<font color=red>AthlonXP 2100+/Radeon 9500Pro</font color=red>
<font color=red>Folding for Beyond 3D</font color=red>
 

GeneticWeapon

Splendid
Jan 13, 2003
5,795
0
25,780
ummm LOL
see a doctor?
No, I'm going to the store to get some Monistat 7.
I might have an aggrevated phelopial.


3DMark 03 = 4,140
<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=897633" target="_new">http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=897633</A>
<font color=red>AthlonXP 2100+/Radeon 9500Pro</font color=red>
<font color=red>Folding for Beyond 3D</font color=red>
 

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