NVIDIA 4000 User Manual - Page 37

Technical Assistance Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Q1 Why do we need 3D graphics capability in our PC? Answer 3D technology is becoming increasingly important (and common) not only in games, but also in other applications such as VRML, which allows 3D scene descriptions in Web applications. 3D technology is used for image editing, modeling, and an increasing number of these are found in home and business applications. In games, as well as other applications, 3D acceleration not only allows better visual qualities and more realistic scenery attributes than software alone, but it also allows a higher frame rate, which translates into a more interactive experience for the end user. Q2 What does "Rendering Engine" mean? Answer "Rendering Engine" generically applies to the part of the graphics engine that draws 3D primitives, usually triangles. In most implementations, the rendering engine is responsible for interpolation of edges and "filling in" the triangle. Q3 What does the set-up engine do in a graphics controller? Answer A set-up engine allows drivers to pass triangles in the form of raw vertex information; whereas, most common designs force triangles to be pre-processed for the rendering engine in terms of delta values for edges, color, and texture. Q4 Why does a 3D graphics chip need to have both a rendering engine and a setup engine? Answer Any "3D application", a game, VRML, or modeling package, can benefit from 3D rendering. This is especially true of an application that uses texturing extensively, because texturing and texture filtering are very intensive operations at the pixel level in terms of CPU operations and demands for memory bandwidth. Without a set-up engine in a graphics controller, the CPU has to calculate the delta values for edges, color,