Pipelines

tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
edited May 2005 in Hardware
I figured that this is the right place to post because its for video/audio stuff, but anyway sorry if it isn't.

I was wondering, in a videocard what exactly are pipelines, and what do they do? I know that generally more means better, so I'm assuming that the more pipelines in a card, the better.
For instance, if some card has 16 pipelines, what does that actually mean? thankyou

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited May 2005
    Each pipeline is a lane for information in the conversion process that takes the raw 3D image instructed by the code, to the image rasterized on your monitor. The more lanes the merrier.
  • MediaManMediaMan Powered by loose parts.
    edited May 2005
    I think the following link

    http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=261

    will provide a layman's definition for you. Look down that page for the title "Are two cores better than one? " Yes this is for a processor but it gives you an explanation of what a pipeline is. The two are similar.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited May 2005
    That helped me out alot, but do videocard pipelines do the same thing as a cpu's pipelines? I mean is there a big difference between the two?
  • dodododo Landisville, PA
    edited May 2005
    here's a quick link with a pic of the videocard's pixel pipelines:
    http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20020718/radeon9700-07.html

    Basically, each pixel has to be processed individually, with very similar steps (color, texture, shading, etc). Pipelining in video cards is much simpler than pipelining in cpus because a CPU has to keep the processes in order (think open door first, then walk through), while a graphics card is just rendering each pixel.

    ~dodo
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited May 2005
    Alright thanks. Im still a bit confused.


    Can someone explain it very simply.
    ex:A hard drive is used to save info.
    ex:A cd burner is used to make copies of cd's.

    A pipeline in a video card is used to.....(fill in the blank)


    Sorry, its weird for me. Once i learn the very basic definition/operation of something, then its much easier for me to understand the very technical details of it. thanks
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited May 2005
    tmh88 wrote:
    ...Can someone explain it very simply.
    ex:A hard drive is used to save info.
    ex:A cd burner is used to make copies of cd's.

    A pipeline in a video card is used to.....(fill in the blank)...
    ...Provide more avenues for data to flow.

    Imagine going to a ball game with 50,000 fans in attendance. If once the game ended you all had to leave through one gate it would take all night to get everyone out. If they opened two gates you could clear the stadium roughly twice as fast. If there were eight gates it would be even quicker.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited May 2005
    profdlp wrote:
    ...Provide more avenues for data to flow.

    Imagine going to a ball game with 50,000 fans in attendance. If once the game ended you all had to leave through one gate it would take all night to get everyone out. If they opened two gates you could clear the stadium roughly twice as fast. If there were eight gates it would be even quicker.

    Ok thankyou. I just read some articles and I understood them 100% better now that you helped to explain the general concept. thankyou
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