Vista and OpenGL...D3D too!

[markt435]

Interesting article I caught over at TweakGuides that I'm not sure ppl noticed.

http://www.opengl.org/pipeline/article/vol003_9/

It tries to get across 3 points:

1. Windows Vista fully supports hardware accelerated OpenGL;
2. OpenGL applications can benefit from Window Vista•s improved graphics resource management;
3. OpenGL performance on Windows Vista is extremely competitive with the performance on Windows XP.

These figures show that Windows Vista performance for full-screen Direct3D games is comparable to the performance delivered on Windows XP • just as for OpenGL. As these applications are full screen, DWM is not active and there is no performance drop in Windows Aero.

These results confirm that both Direct3D and OpenGL are excellent 3D APIs for Windows Vista

The enhanced Windows Aero user interface can decrease graphics intensive application performance by about 10% but this performance drop can be eliminated by selecting Windows Classic or Windows Basic user interface style or using full-screen applications.

^^^ In reference to apps that don't go full screen (i.e. Photoshop CS2). That can be rectified by just disabling visual themes in the Compatibility options instead of just disabling Aero completely.

Other highlights for those who don't feel like reading it lol:

WDDM affords some implicit benefits for OpenGL applications. For example, graphics resources previously managed by the OpenGL ICD, such as video memory, are now virtualized by the operating system. When multiple applications are running, the OpenGL ICD exposes maximum texture storage capacity to each application and Windows Vista takes care of resource allocation and scheduling, resulting in more efficient use of resources across applications.

OpenGL is fully integrated into the Windows Vista display architecture just like Direct3D -both interfaces are first-class graphics API citizens. OpenGL hardware acceleration is available on Windows Vista through highly optimized drivers provided by the graphics hardware vendor just as on Windows XP. OpenGL applications can benefit from the improved resource management provided by Windows Vista. OpenGL performance on Windows Vista is extremely competitive compared to Windows XP and will rapidly improve as support for this new operating system matures.

i seriously hope nvidia and ati hurry up with the good drivers. nvidia's last release was a lot better...least for me. but i still have to deal with COD2 multiplayer not playing because of....A SOUND DRIVER...thats right. yay for realtek

 

[dot_Zen]

Good find! So, if I read that article correctly, the support and performance is there, the driver engineer's just need to..

squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzzzeeeeeeeee!

 

[markt435]

lol and in this article in the screenshot at the bottom...Doom3 in windowed mode...in Flip3D.

http://www.opengl.org/pipeline/article/vol003_7/

good stuff

for those who don't wanna go look

 

[KevinO]

i seriously hope nvidia and ati hurry up with the good drivers. nvidia's last release was a lot better...least for me. but i still have to deal with COD2 not playing because of....A SOUND DRIVER...thats right. yay for realtek

Nice find, now if the driver manufacturers catchup. The quote above is the reason I have not moved yet. I have an Nvidia card and a realtek sound board .

 

[markt435]

i should clarify...not COD2 entirely. SP works. MP does not...apparently from sound drivers. and I don't feel like going and picking up an audigy just to play one game, so i'm gonna wait lol

EDIT: just confimed this. disabled my sound drivers and MP loaded up perfectly

 

[dot_Zen]

lol and in this article in the screenshot at the bottom...Doom3 in windowed mode...in Flip3D.[Snip..]

I've done that. ..with many things, Full screen video playback and video games, with many windows open..

think I have a screenie on imageshack. Lemme look real quick..

Grr.. Never uploaded.. I'll try to when I get back to my main rig.. I had like PS, Songbird Music Video playback, Borwsers, GAIM, Textpad4, the Matrix Online and a few more windows open in flip 3d. Looks crazy, especially cause it's still in real-time. Btw, I believe there's a gadget that lets you mouseover the gadget and it will switch to flip3d in case you don't feel lot using the keyboard, though it's very sensitive.

http://on10.net/Blogs/jesse/sweet-sidebar-gadget-vista-hot-corners/

 

[markt435]

bump

needs moar discussion!

 

[devman]

I've done that. ..with many things, Full screen video playback and video games, with many windows open..

think I have a screenie on imageshack. Lemme look real quick..

Grr.. Never uploaded.. I'll try to when I get back to my main rig.. I had like PS, Songbird Music Video playback, Borwsers, GAIM, Textpad4, the Matrix Online and a few more windows open in flip 3d. Looks crazy, especially cause it's still in real-time. Btw, I believe there's a gadget that lets you mouseover the gadget and it will switch to flip3d in case you don't feel lot using the keyboard, though it's very sensitive.

http://on10.net/Blogs/jesse/sweet-sidebar-gadget-vista-hot-corners/

That gadget will also let you lay out flip3d in a grid instead of a stack pretty much exactly like expose for the mac. Which is how I use it. You can also get the executable the gadget uses and bind to a keyboard combination or macro key if your using a G17. Its pretty sweet actually.