Paul M. Zagacki, Microprocessor Products Group, Intel Corp.
Deep Buch, Microprocessor Products Group, Intel Corp.
Emile Hsieh, Microprocessor Products Group, Intel Corp.
Daniel Melaku, Microprocessor Products Group, Intel Corp.
Vladimir Pentkovski, Microprocessor Products Group, Intel Corp.
Hsien-Hsin Lee, EECS-ACAL, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Index words: 3D, Graphics, Performance, Pentium® III, Driver

Abstract

In this paper, we analyze the benefits of key architectural modifications to a conventional 3D graphics software stack (application, library, and graphics driver). We do not propose a new 3D pipeline architecture; rather, we focus on improving the efficiency with which it is practically implemented. It is certainly possible to target specific layers of a 3D software stack for optimization and to realize significant performance gains with the Pentium® III processor and Internet Streaming SIMD Extensions. However, we will show that optimizing the kernel layers of the 3D software stack enables the user to take maximum advantage of the latent capabilities of the Pentium III processor. We use, as a case study, a geometry pipeline implementation, the Architecture Geometry Engine, developed by the Pentium III Architecture team (referred to as ArchGE) and a 3D scene manager. In this paper, we present performance data, based on our measurements, to demonstrate the benefit of the architectural enhancements.