Virtual Texturing versus UMA

Pros and Cons

• UMA can enable very low cost systems
  • But adding graphics bandwidth load into main system memory can be a heavy burden
• Bandwidth load of graphics sub-system approaching 8 GB/s
  • Vertex stream - 1GB/s
  • Texture read - 4 GB/s
  • Framebuffer/Z buffer - 2 GB/s
  • Screen refresh - 1 GB/s (1920x1080x32x85Hz)
• A graphics card - the cost effective way of adding 8GB/s bandwidth?
  • Main system memory is the most expensive place to add more bandwidth
  • Absorbs framebuffer/z buffer and screen refresh bandwidth
  • Virtual texturing further reduces system loading

Previous slide

Next slide

Back to first slide

View graphic version