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Graphics Hardware

Graphics Hardware Monitor (CRT, LCD,…) Graphics accelerator Scan controller Video Memory (frame buffer) Display/Graphics Processor CPU/Memory/Disk … 2 4 3 6 1 5 Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) 1. Filament (generate heat) 2. Cathode (emit electrons) 3. Control grid (control intensity)

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Graphics Hardware

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  1. Graphics Hardware • Monitor (CRT, LCD,…) • Graphics accelerator • Scan controller • Video Memory (frame buffer) • Display/Graphics Processor • CPU/Memory/Disk …

  2. 2 4 3 6 1 5 Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) 1. Filament (generate heat) 2. Cathode (emit electrons) 3. Control grid (control intensity) 4. Focus 6. Phosphor coating 5. Deflector

  3. Color CRT 3 electron guns, 3 color phosphor dots at each pixel Color = (red, green, blue) Red = 0 – 100% Green = 0 – 100% Blue = 0 – 100% Black = (0,0,0) White = (1,1,1) Red = (1,0,0) Green = (0,1,0) Blue = (0,0,1) …

  4. Display graphics using CRT • Based on raster-scan TV technology • The screen (and a picture) consists of discrete pixels, and each pixel has one or multiple phosphor dots Raster Scan Display

  5. How to draw a picture? • We have only one electron gun but many pixels in a picture need to be lit simultaneously…

  6. Refresh • Refresh – the electron gun needs to come back to hit the pixel again before it goes out • A right fresh rate depends on the property of phosphor coating Phosphor persistence: the time it takes for the emitted light to decay to 1/10 of the original intensity • Typical refresh rate: 60 – 80 times per second (Hz) (What will happen if refreshing is too slow or too fast?)

  7. Random Scan Order • Old way: The electron gun will move only across the pixels that require being lit (vector graphics)

  8. Raster Scan Order • What we do now: the electron gun will scan through the pixels from left to right, top to bottom (scanline by scanline)

  9. Raster Scan Order • The electron gun will scan through the pixels from left to right, top to bottom (scanline by scanline) Horizontal retrace

  10. Raster Scan Order • The electron gun will scan through the pixels from left to right, top to bottom (scanline by scanline) Vertical retrace

  11. Progressive vs. Interlace • Progressive: Scan every scan line • Interlace: Scan only every other scan line (even -> odd -> even -> odd …) - so the refresh rate becomes twice as fast 0 1 2 3 4 5 Even scan Odd scan

  12. x y Raster Scan Control • Scan Controller (video adaptor) and frame buffer Scan controller DAC Frame buffer

  13. Frame Buffer • Frame buffer: the memory to hold the pixel intensity values • Properties of a frame buffer that affect the graphics performance: • Size: screen resolution • Depth: color level 1 bit/pixel: black and white 8 bits/pixel: 256 levels of gray 24 bits/pixel: 16 million colors • Speed:refresh speed

  14. Color is expensive … • At least used to be • The more color you want, the more bits you will need for each pixel • Exercise: 1024 x 1280 screen with 24 bits per pixel, how large is the frame buffer? 1024 x 1280 x 24 / 8 = 4M Byte

  15. R G B 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 You can still have 24 bits in each of the color table entries 24 bit wide 3 bits/pixel frame buffer Color Lookup Table • Say I am a poor man … I only have 3 bits per pixel • But I insist on having high quality pictures … • Use Color Look Up Table (LUT)

  16. A simple graphics system Frame buffer can be part of the main memory Scan Controller CPU Main Memory Frame buffer System bus Problem?

  17. Dedicated memory Video memory: On-board frame buffer: much faster to access Scan Controller Frame buffer CPU Main Memory System bus

  18. Graphics Accelerator Graphics Memory/ Frame buffer A dedicated processor for graphics processing Graphics Processor Scan Controller CPU Main Memory System bus

  19. Graphics Accelerator

  20. CPUs vs. GPUs

  21. The Graphics Pipeline

  22. Graphics Memory/ Frame buffer Graphics Processor Scan Controller Graphics Bus Interface PCI based technology Other Peripherals PCI Bus – 132 MB/s System Bus – 800MB/s CPU Main Memory

  23. Graphics Bus Interface (2) • PCI Bus becomes the bottleneck! • Many devices are using it • There is a lot of stuff needs to be transmitted from main memory to graphics memory (geometry, textures, etc) • Example: 2M triangle, 90 Bytes each – 180MB > 132 MB (PCI bandwidth)

  24. Graphics Memory/ Frame buffer Graphics Processor Scan Controller Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) A dedicated bus that allows direct access of main memory Other Peripherals PCI Bus – 132 MB/s AGP 1x: 518 MB/s Fast!!! CPU Main Memory

  25. AGP • AGP 1x is four times as fast compared to PCI! (now we have AGP 8x) • No more local bus congestion! • More geometry can be processed! • Direct execution of many graphics operations from main memory

  26. PCI Express • Bandwidth?

  27. Reading and Lab0 • Textbook Chapter 1, 2 • AGP info: http://developer.intel.com/technology/agp Lab 0: Compile and run the sample OpenGL program posted on the class web site

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