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View Full Version : Alternate uses for Pixel Shaders?

JGro
06-29-03, 04:24 PM
When not playing games, all the power of current graphics cards goes to waste. It seems like Pixel Shaders 2.0 could be used for things like video encoding and I've even heard that the FFT's used in Seti@Home could be adapted.

I know that getting the data back from the video card would be slow but are there any current or near future projects to harness all this unused power?
The Baron
06-29-03, 04:30 PM
Hardware accelerated 2D that uses pixel shaders, vertex shaders, antialiasing, etc. is coming in Longhorn. Will be improved even further in Blackcomb...

But as for transferring stuff across the AGP bus... haven't heard anything about that.
Hanners
06-29-03, 05:40 PM
ATi already do DVD decoding and FullStream through Pixel Shaders, so it's definitely possible.
GlowStick
06-29-03, 05:55 PM
Hm, do you mean doing something usefull like haveing it do SETI or folding while your not playing a game

i get the feeling that it wont work that well, they arent as programmable as a cpu etc.
JGro
06-29-03, 06:15 PM
Originally posted by Hanners
ATi already do DVD decoding and FullStream through Pixel Shaders, so it's definitely possible.

Next generation cards will use PS but for now I know that nVidia is still using dedicated logic and I think ATi is too.

Originally posted by GlowStick
i get the feeling that it wont work that well, they arent as programmable as a cpu etc.

Pixel shaders can't do everything but for things like video encoding, which is just a data transform, they are perfect, provided you can get the data back across the AGP bus at a reasonable speed.
Hanners
06-30-03, 03:57 AM
Originally posted by JGro
Next generation cards will use PS but for now I know that nVidia is still using dedicated logic and I think ATi is too.

Nope, it's already been done by ATi. Take a look here (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1656&p=14).
StealthHawk
06-30-03, 04:34 AM
What are more video players that support FullStream, anyway? I don't want to use Real Player.
goofer456
06-30-03, 04:53 AM
Originally posted by StealthHawk
What are more video players that support FullStream, anyway? I don't want to use Real Player.

DIVX Player (www.divx.com)

Does only support.... DIVX files :(

It refuses to play xvid encoded files:eek:
JGro
06-30-03, 05:55 AM
Originally posted by Hanners
Nope, it's already been done by ATi. Take a look here (http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1656&p=14).

My mistake. Cool that they are using the 3D pipeline for FullStream.