How many people have shader based video cards?
by Ray Gebhardt · 06/27/2006 (8:57 am) · 44 comments
I have been wondering how many people have shader based cards for a while. I know that at some point, all computers will be able to run shaders. It might take a bit longer than usual to hit that mark, because there is no company that is making the killer app for shaders. For example Id Software really got people buying video cards when they released Quake 3, which is the first game I remember, that required a video card in order to play it.
So now I started to wonder, is there enough people with shader based cards at this point, that you could get away with making a shader only game? Whether you have a shader based card or not, could you reply to this thread? You can just state that your card will or will not run shaders, or you can state the hardware you have too. I am just a little curious, and if you don't ask, you shall never know.
So now I started to wonder, is there enough people with shader based cards at this point, that you could get away with making a shader only game? Whether you have a shader based card or not, could you reply to this thread? You can just state that your card will or will not run shaders, or you can state the hardware you have too. I am just a little curious, and if you don't ask, you shall never know.
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#42
If you look at several successful casual games (like popcap's puzzle games), a lot of them actually even have some kind of software rendering support. I don't know exactly why... maybe a lot of casual players have some really crappy computers, that may even require software rendering to be able to run correctly...
And if you look at several less-casual games, such as Battlefield 2, it actually requires a pretty high level pixel shaders. Even GF4Ti cards, which do have pixel shaders, are not supported by BF2 as it requires better ps version. Then again, a lot of BF2 players probably are hardcore gamers, not casual gamers.
So, it all depends... Which is your market. Casual or hardcore gamers... Or something in between. (Personally, I wouldn't go make a clearly casual game that requires pixel shaders on the PC market at this very moment, maybe a year or two later. But this is just my view.)
My compu specs / other computers I've occasionally used lately (roughly in order of use frequency):
windows, X800XL
windows, 6600GT
linux, voodoo banshee
windows, FX5700U
windows, FX5200
windows laptop, some (useless) intel integrated. :P
windows, GF4Ti
(other cards I happen to have unused include R9000 and ati rage 3D)
07/18/2006 (5:01 pm)
I'd say that: yes, it is possible to make a shader only game these days. There are a lot of retail games already that require vertex and pixel shaders. However, does this mean that you could create a commercially successful casual game, which requires something like pixel shaders... I don't know... It's a different market.If you look at several successful casual games (like popcap's puzzle games), a lot of them actually even have some kind of software rendering support. I don't know exactly why... maybe a lot of casual players have some really crappy computers, that may even require software rendering to be able to run correctly...
And if you look at several less-casual games, such as Battlefield 2, it actually requires a pretty high level pixel shaders. Even GF4Ti cards, which do have pixel shaders, are not supported by BF2 as it requires better ps version. Then again, a lot of BF2 players probably are hardcore gamers, not casual gamers.
So, it all depends... Which is your market. Casual or hardcore gamers... Or something in between. (Personally, I wouldn't go make a clearly casual game that requires pixel shaders on the PC market at this very moment, maybe a year or two later. But this is just my view.)
My compu specs / other computers I've occasionally used lately (roughly in order of use frequency):
windows, X800XL
windows, 6600GT
linux, voodoo banshee
windows, FX5700U
windows, FX5200
windows laptop, some (useless) intel integrated. :P
windows, GF4Ti
(other cards I happen to have unused include R9000 and ati rage 3D)
#44
i have bought series cards which support at least 1.1 version of shader. one is GeforceTi500 which bought 4 years ago, others are Geforce5200 and Geforce7300GT, oh, suddenly i found that i m a fan of nVidia, aha.
then, i v a question,
dose the application powered by TGEA have to run at the shader-supporting cards?
09/19/2007 (9:27 pm)
first, your topic is very interesting and valuable,i have bought series cards which support at least 1.1 version of shader. one is GeforceTi500 which bought 4 years ago, others are Geforce5200 and Geforce7300GT, oh, suddenly i found that i m a fan of nVidia, aha.
then, i v a question,
dose the application powered by TGEA have to run at the shader-supporting cards?
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