3D split SLI for compatibility?
Posted: Sat May 12, 2007 2:20 pm
Greetings all.
I'm a Stereo enthusiast... well, sort of, since I nearly gave up with stereo gaming, due to too many driver issues (and a slow pc).
Now, I could plan for an upgrade, but I think I'm not the only one wandering if it's still worth the effort and expenses involved.
There's one thing I keep asking myself, one that could make or break it, since I can't imagine the stereo driver development in its present form to improve significantly in the near future: too many configurations, new graphic techniques like HDR, Vista issues...
We can't accept buying cutting edge PCs just to be forced to wait a full year just to be able to play a game like it's still DX8 era, plus visual artifacts, erratic behaviors, plus low fps.
So, here is my question: is it possible to develop a stereo driver that uses 2 cards in SLI to essentially generate separate renderings for each eye, getting the same performance of a single card without stereoscopy?
This way, could we possibly get HDR + the desired amount of AA and TRAA (I know it's less important in 3d, but still...), aniso, motion blur, depth of field, any render to target effect...?
After all, if going stereo means deactivating any new fancy graphic technology... this is becoming less and less acceptable. On the other hand, imagine the jungle in Crysis with 3D shadows and light rays... 8)
I understand it's not that simple to get a default-to-SLEYES driver (I just made it up, it stands for SLI dedicated to separate eyes) because the programmers of the game assume that the perspective the game creates corresponds to your position and FOV, while adding a second card dedicated to a second view would shift you sideways in the virtual world, so you can't just create 2 views, but you should add a software layer that keeps the centered FOV for general purposes like targeting, and then lets the cards calculate 2 shifted views. I guess this could generate some trouble depending on what the programmers meant the graphic card to do...
But then I think (and hope) we'd still get a gazillion times more stable and compatible driver, making SLI stereo PCs (+projector or planar setup, + simple, effective in-driver game presets) a viable solution for anyone going for the ultimate experience, not just s novelty for a hardened minority.
So, is there anyone competent who's willing to enlight me?
Bear in mind that the answer to this question is of fundamental importance for anyone like me who's starting to plan his next pc buy: going for a SLI rig ready for ultimate stereo? Going for excess graphics and abandoning any stereoscopy dream? Going for an intermediate solution, nothing fancy, forgetting about HDR, still struggling to get some barely playable stereo games, playing so-so 2D games most of the time?
I'm a Stereo enthusiast... well, sort of, since I nearly gave up with stereo gaming, due to too many driver issues (and a slow pc).
Now, I could plan for an upgrade, but I think I'm not the only one wandering if it's still worth the effort and expenses involved.
There's one thing I keep asking myself, one that could make or break it, since I can't imagine the stereo driver development in its present form to improve significantly in the near future: too many configurations, new graphic techniques like HDR, Vista issues...
We can't accept buying cutting edge PCs just to be forced to wait a full year just to be able to play a game like it's still DX8 era, plus visual artifacts, erratic behaviors, plus low fps.
So, here is my question: is it possible to develop a stereo driver that uses 2 cards in SLI to essentially generate separate renderings for each eye, getting the same performance of a single card without stereoscopy?
This way, could we possibly get HDR + the desired amount of AA and TRAA (I know it's less important in 3d, but still...), aniso, motion blur, depth of field, any render to target effect...?
After all, if going stereo means deactivating any new fancy graphic technology... this is becoming less and less acceptable. On the other hand, imagine the jungle in Crysis with 3D shadows and light rays... 8)
I understand it's not that simple to get a default-to-SLEYES driver (I just made it up, it stands for SLI dedicated to separate eyes) because the programmers of the game assume that the perspective the game creates corresponds to your position and FOV, while adding a second card dedicated to a second view would shift you sideways in the virtual world, so you can't just create 2 views, but you should add a software layer that keeps the centered FOV for general purposes like targeting, and then lets the cards calculate 2 shifted views. I guess this could generate some trouble depending on what the programmers meant the graphic card to do...
But then I think (and hope) we'd still get a gazillion times more stable and compatible driver, making SLI stereo PCs (+projector or planar setup, + simple, effective in-driver game presets) a viable solution for anyone going for the ultimate experience, not just s novelty for a hardened minority.
So, is there anyone competent who's willing to enlight me?
Bear in mind that the answer to this question is of fundamental importance for anyone like me who's starting to plan his next pc buy: going for a SLI rig ready for ultimate stereo? Going for excess graphics and abandoning any stereoscopy dream? Going for an intermediate solution, nothing fancy, forgetting about HDR, still struggling to get some barely playable stereo games, playing so-so 2D games most of the time?