Vertex Operations

Posted By: Michael Thomas - 01:27:44 Sun, July 09, 2006

Short Version

This value reflects the cards ability to process geometry using vertex shaders (or fixed function operations in older cards).

How To Calculate It

Vertex Operations/sec = (# of Vertex Pipelines) x (Core Clock)

Does It Matter?

Not really. I honestly can't think of a single game in which vertex processing capability is a limiting factor.

Long Version

Vertex operations transform raw 3D geometry into the 2D plane of your monitor. Vertex pipelines also eliminate unneeded geometry by detecting parts of the scene that are hidden by other parts and simply discarding those parts.

5 Comments

Sunday, November 26, 2006 4:26:22 AM

FireKnight
guest

Isn't it # of Vertex Pipelines times Core Clock then divided by 4? In every example I've seen that's how it is.

Monday, November 27, 2006 11:28:31 AM

Mike
GPUReview Founder

@FireKnight Link?

Friday, December 08, 2006 4:58:44 PM

SuperSqueek
guest

But if all scenerey is fundamentally polygonally based with texturing, shading, etc, wouldn't this value set the limit for how fine of a mesh the card can render?

Tuesday, June 19, 2007 11:51:58 PM

matt.modica
guest

From what I have found on all the nVidia 7 series and ATI X1k series cards, what FireKnight has posted is correct. This is from the database on GPUReview.

Monday, May 17, 2010 5:00:18 PM

keibal
n00b

StarCraft2 beta is requiring Vertex Shader support.

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