Pixel Pipelines?

[Irish_PXzyan]

hey guys/ladies

Now I have the PowerColor Radeon X800GT 256mb PCi-E and of course it has 8 pixel pipelines.
The question is..I am going to buy a new video card soon..I plan in getting the following:

MSI GeForce 7900GTO 512mb..Its got great cores running at 650 Core Clock and 24 pixelpipelines..which I like

Also:

Sapphire Radeon X1950PRO 256mb...Its got good cores running at 580 Core clock and 1.4Mhz memory..and also 36 pixel pipelines.

Now...what does Pixel Pipelines actualy do when playing games?? What do they actualy do?
going from 8 pixel pipelines to 24-36..how much of a difference would that make to a video game?

Thanks in advance

 

[Deleted member 24505]

lots of differance.i think the pixel pipes render the graphics(correct me if i'm wrong).more pipes=faster fps.

welcome to the tpu forum.

 

[Tatty_Two]

hey guys/ladies

Now I have the PowerColor Radeon X800GT 256mb PCi-E and of course it has 8 pixel pipelines.
The question is..I am going to buy a new video card soon..I plan in getting the following:

MSI GeForce 7900GTO 512mb..Its got great cores running at 650 Core Clock and 24 pixelpipelines..which I like

Also:

Sapphire Radeon X1950PRO 256mb...Its got good cores running at 580 Core clock and 1.4Mhz memory..and also 36 pixel pipelines.

Now...what does Pixel Pipelines actualy do when playing games?? What do they actualy do?
going from 8 pixel pipelines to 24-36..how much of a difference would that make to a video game?

Thanks in advance

The 1950pro does not have 36 Pixel pipelines it has 36 pixel shaders, ATi and NVidia go down different pathways, currently NVidia cards are using pixel engines (piplines) and have 24 in their higher end cards, each with a pixel shader in, the ATi cards 1900xt/xtx/1950 pro have only 16 pixel pipelines but each has 3 pixel shaders in the case of the pro making 36, the xt/xtx have 16 pipelines each with 4 pixel shaders in giving them 48. Its just differnt rendering processes, ATi and many others beleive most future games will be heavily shader dependant and therefore have gone for the shader option, currently, dependant on the game you are playing, ATi play some better, NVidia others.

If you really want to "Geek" the subject, have a read of this muvvaa:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaders

Sorry.....and welcome to TPU also! Ohhh and to answer the other part of your question, basically the difference between your 800Gt with 8 pixel piplines and it's core and memory speed to say the 7900GTO with its speeds and 24 pipelines would be something like the difference in you driving to work in a tractor or a ferrari in speed terms.

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

heh thanks for the comments.

Ok now I see the difference with ATI and Nvidias approuch to pixel shaders/pipelines.

heh and the MSI GeForce sounds great! just like a ferrari!! I shall look forward to buying a new video card

 

[Tatty_Two]

Always a pleasure to help!

 

[Zubasa]

The 1950pro does not have 36 Pixel pipelines it has 36 pixel shaders, ATi and NVidia go down different pathways, currently NVidia cards are using pixel engines (piplines) and have 24 in their higher end cards, each with a pixel shader in, the ATi cards 1900xt/xtx/1950 pro have only 16 pixel pipelines but each has 3 pixel shaders in the case of the pro making 36, the xt/xtx have 16 pipelines each with 4 pixel shaders in giving them 48. Its just differnt rendering processes, ATi and many others beleive most future games will be heavily shader dependant and therefore have gone for the shader option, currently, dependant on the game you are playing, ATi play some better, NVidia others.

If you really want to "Geek" the subject, have a read of this muvvaa:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaders

Sorry.....and welcome to TPU also! Ohhh and to answer the other part of your question, basically the difference between your 800Gt with 8 pixel piplines and it's core and memory speed to say the 7900GTO with its speeds and 24 pipelines would be something like the difference in you driving to work in a tractor or a ferrari in speed terms.

Well.... 16*3 = 48... and 16*4 = 64...

Edit:
So X1950 Pro is 12 pipelines each with 3 pixel shaders making it 32.
And XT/XTX is 16 pipelines each with 3 pixel shaders making it 48.

ATi never put 4 shaders on 1 pipeline in their X1000 series.

 

[i_am_mustang_man]

Well.... 16*3 = 48... and 16*4 = 64...

to follow up on this rather incomplete correction...


the x1950 pro has 12 pixel pipelines, and 3 per those, making 36, whereas the 7900gto has 24 pipelines, with each pipeline being dedicated.

the 7900gto will be faster than the x1950pro, but is more expensive and is very hard to find. also, the 7900gto cooler is top notch, but ati IQ is better for speed runs, although i think (but dont' hold me to it) the HQ images the 7900gto can produce, it produces them faster than the x1950pro.

i don't think you could go wrong getting either card, as long as the x1950pro is ~200$, and the 7900gto at ~255$ or so. don't spend more than that, because it will oscillate in a matter of days, esp once the 8800gtx comes out on the 7th of nov.

 

[Zubasa]

A big OOPs.
Corrected.

 

[i_am_mustang_man]

A big OOPs.
Corrected.

oh, lol! i didn't even see the 2nd part!

 

[AgonXOC]

to follow up on this rather incomplete correction...


the x1950 pro has 12 pixel pipelines, and 3 per those, making 36, whereas the 7900gto has 24 pipelines, with each pipeline being dedicated.

the 7900gto will be faster than the x1950pro, but is more expensive and is very hard to find. also, the 7900gto cooler is top notch, but ati IQ is better for speed runs, although i think (but dont' hold me to it) the HQ images the 7900gto can produce, it produces them faster than the x1950pro.

i don't think you could go wrong getting either card, as long as the x1950pro is ~200$, and the 7900gto at ~255$ or so. don't spend more than that, because it will oscillate in a matter of days, esp once the 8800gtx comes out on the 7th of nov.

Once I get the X1950 PRO I would let you know how fast its compared to a 7900 GTO.....
GPUs in my system seem to run faster than in other systems with single cores....


Alex

 

[Tatty_Two]

OK ,it was late at night and my maths went up the creek, the answer is the same tho, the pro/ATi cards talk in Pixel shaders as opposed to pixel pipelines. I just read my first review on the 1950Pro and it seems that it can almost or equal the 7950GT from Nvidia so not far off the GTO which tends to be a little faster than the 7950Gt but no doubt it will beat both of those NVidia cards in some games so thats gotta be good "Bang for Buck" I am just so glad I paid so little for my 7900GTO (£152) otherwise I would be a bit :shadedshu

 

[AgonXOC]

To be Honest. The 7900GTO is the best bang for the buck IMO. I was about to get one for my new Conroe set-up for only 245 USD. I decided not to get a new PC yet until DX10 if fully developed etc and cards are mainstream. So that leaves me with only one choise, the X1950 PRO AGP..... I cannot wait to hit 10K + Marks in 05 and 5K + Marks in 06.... That is just an estimate as it might go higher than that....


Alex

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

Agon that would be great

Thanks for the other posts..Iam starting to understand the differences now "phew"

Here in Ireland..the X1950PRO is worth 204 Euros..the 7900GTO is worth 278 Euros.

I would like to get either one...the 7900GTO seems to make me look twice..ive owned the 5700OC 2 years ago and that card was god for me..then since I got plenty of ATI cards since then...they have been great/..but I think I want to return to GeForce.

I hope that since the 8800 Series comes very soon..that all the other cards will get a bit cheaper so I can look at a better video card.
Iam tired of buying mid-ranged video cards now..so I want a higher end one..but not an ultra high-end card....something thats worth 300 Euros or a bit more.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Agon that would be great

Thanks for the other posts..Iam starting to understand the differences now "phew"

Here in Ireland..the X1950PRO is worth 204 Euros..the 7900GTO is worth 278 Euros.

I would like to get either one...the 7900GTO seems to make me look twice..ive owned the 5700OC 2 years ago and that card was god for me..then since I got plenty of ATI cards since then...they have been great/..but I think I want to return to GeForce.

I hope that since the 8800 Series comes very soon..that all the other cards will get a bit cheaper so I can look at a better video card.
Iam tired of buying mid-ranged video cards now..so I want a higher end one..but not an ultra high-end card....something thats worth 300 Euros or a bit more.

Will UK on line sellers deliver to the Republic? I only ask cause I might be able to find you one for about 230 ish euro's.

 

[Irish_PXzyan]

iam not sure if the UK stores would sell it to Irish...dang if you can find somewhere that will sell it to me for 230ish....gimmie the site!!!!

 

[Zubasa]

To be Honest. The 7900GTO is the best bang for the buck IMO. I was about to get one for my new Conroe set-up for only 245 USD. I decided not to get a new PC yet until DX10 if fully developed etc and cards are mainstream. So that leaves me with only one choise, the X1950 PRO AGP..... I cannot wait to hit 10K + Marks in 05 and 5K + Marks in 06.... That is just an estimate as it might go higher than that....


Alex

Enjoy your games with HDR+AA