Part 2: 2D, Acceleration, And Windows: Aren't All Graphics Cards Equal?

Tom2D Splines/Bézier Curves

Next, we test rendering of Bézier curves. Here again, we uncovered dramatic differences between cards in Part 1 of this story. As with our preceding discussion of the line test, please read this section's summary, because we were once again able to reproduce these results on 40+ test systems here.

Test Content:

We draw a total of 100,000 curves and splines of random length, bend radius, and color in randomly chosen positions in the display area on-screen. Yet again, the seed value for the random number generator remains constant so that all test runs should produce identical output. Also, all values stay inside the display area, which makes any clipping unnecessary.

GDI Functions Called

For direct drawing of curves and splines:

CreatePenPolyBezierSelectObjectDeleteObject

For drawing curves and splines from the DIB buffer:

CreateCompatibleDC
CreateDIBSection
CreateSolidBrushRectangleBitBlt

Summary

This test presents the same sort of scores seen in the line drawing test, including the same paradoxical result where performance jumped after opening another window on the display. The Intel integrated chipsets generally trail behind the average, though the Atom and GMA 950 combination once again proves quite potent.