2004-07-26 DirectX 9.0c Update of DirectX adding Vertex and Pixel Shader 3.0 support previously known as DirectX 9.1. Increases the programmability by adding support for larger shader programs and color resolution to 128 bits. Much simplified shader overview:
Vertex Shaders
- 1.1: Max 128 instructions
- 2.0: Max 256 instructions
- 2.0 Ext: Max 256 instructions, loops included
- 3.0: Min 512 instructions
Pixel Shaders
- 1.1: 8 instructions
- 1.2/1.3: 12 instructions
- 1.4: 14 instructions
- 2.0: 64 arithmetic, 32 texture
- 2.0 Ext: 96-512 instructions
- 3.0: 512-32768 instructions
See EliteBastards.com's article below for more info.
2005-11-22 Xbox 360 Xbox 2 is also known as Xenon and said to be named Xbox 360. Said to use ATI R500 derivative graphics and a IBM 64-bit PowerPC 976 processor with three cores on one chip. Both processor and graphics chip work in big-endian mode. Xbox Next and Xbox Next HD shows up in second half of 2005 while Xbox Next PC (a fully fledged PC) shows in autumn 2006. Launched in a special MTV-show in May -05 and shipped in November this year. Previously known as Xbox 2.
2006-H1 ATI R500 High end ATI graphics chip for XBox2 built in a 90 nm process. Part of a new generation, comparable to R600 for the PC.
Early on reported to "have 10 times higher geometry and 4 times higher pixel performance compared to the RADEON X800 XT" (believe it if you want to).
May support WGF and Pixel and Vertex shaders 3.0 with 128 bit precision. Also known as Xenos.