OpenGL2.0 vs 1.5

[StealthElephant]

The cheaper of the 6800 GT's have OpenGL 1.5, and the ones with 2.0 are about 30-50$ more. Does it matter?

 

[JBT]

All of them can for OGL 2.0, But no it doesn't matter. I don't belive OGL2.0 is even a standard yet.

 

[VIAN]

It depends on the driver, not the hardware. And currently, the drivers don't support 2.0.

 

[housecat]

well, it aint going to hurt anything.

does everything 1.5 does, and more.. does it matter is a question i couldnt answer..

but i'd rather have it than not.

all GF6 will likely support OGL 2.0 in the next official driver. 75.90s do support it but are not the best drivers to use currently.

 

[pakigang]

Theres is a graphic plugin for the psx emulator 'epxse' by pete which uses OGL 2.0 & it works perfectly on my 5950u(5900mod) at 1600*1200 res.

 

[rgreen83]

OpenGL 2.0 is definately a final spec.

Most cards, even earlier generation cards support facets of 2.0 as the coincide with DX9 specs, but the 6 series is the only current with hardware and software support for 2.0.

I dont know of any games that use 2.0, yet alone require it in the near future so you will likely get along without it. As others have mentioned though, all 6800 gts support it, not just some.

 

[Jeff7181]

I wonder if the Doom 3 engine could be modified in future games to make use of OpenGL 2.0.

 

[ScrewFace]

OpenGL 2.0 will become important when Id Software decides it's important. When John Carmack decides that his next 3D engine can't be done with OpenGL 1.5 and uses OpenGL 2.0 then it will become the standard.

 

[Munky]

As a person who actually works with OpenGL, let me tell you that there's less difference between the two versions than you think. The biggest features of 2.0 are making many of the ARB extensions into standard feature, 2-sided stencil buffer and point-sprites. Well, those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head anyway.

I've yet to see games use 2.0, but cards as old as the radeon 9800 claim to support OpenGL 2.0. IMO, all they need is a driver that supports the newest version, as the cards seem to already have that functionality present in the hardware, and currently accessible either through OpenGL ARB extensions or DX.

Edit: fixed a typo

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: munky
As a person who actually works with OpenGL, let me tell you that there's less difference between the two versions than you think. The biggest features of 2.0 are making many of the ARB extensions into standard feature, 2-sided stencil buffer and point-sprites. Well, those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head anyway.

I've yet to see games use 2.0, but cards as old as the radeon 9800 claim to support OpenGL 2.0. IMO, all they need is a driver that supports the newest version, as the cards seem to already have that functionality present in the hardware, and currently accessible either through OpenGL ARB extensions or DX.

Edit: fixed a typo

So nothing like the difference between DX8.x and DX9.x?

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

Originally posted by: munky
As a person who actually works with OpenGL, let me tell you that there's less difference between the two versions than you think. The biggest features of 2.0 are making many of the ARB extensions into standard feature, 2-sided stencil buffer and point-sprites. Well, those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head anyway.

I've yet to see games use 2.0, but cards as old as the radeon 9800 claim to support OpenGL 2.0. IMO, all they need is a driver that supports the newest version, as the cards seem to already have that functionality present in the hardware, and currently accessible either through OpenGL ARB extensions or DX.

Edit: fixed a typo

So nothing like the difference between DX8.x and DX9.x?

No, not for the end user anyways. For developers, though, it should make things significantly easier.

 

[Duvie]

I saw the largest jump I have ever seen in specviewperf and my modded 6800NU to quadro FX4000...is this a result of anything?? I have treid 4 driver sets before that and barely a movement yet I saw 5-6% gains in a few of the test....Is this a product of opengl 2.0 being used???

 

[EightySix Four]

No it's a product of specialised drivers and marketing

 

[StealthElephant]

Hmm....thanks for all the replies.

So if there is nothing wrong with 1.5 then why do all the 2.0 6800 GTs cost on average 40$ more. I checked its not like the extra 30-50$ is for extra software of DVI etc etc, it just seems like the ones with OpenGL 2.0 cost more.

 

[Munky]

Just look at this as an opportunity to save some money.

 

[gobucks]

forceware 75.90 betas have openGL 2.0 support. Unfortunately, current games using openGL (like Riddick) often don't recognize openGL 2.0, and as such, they won't run with the new drivers. There is nothing wrong with the drivers, and openGL 2.0 can run 1.5 code just fine, it's just a matter of the detection hardware getting confused when it reads 2.x rather than 1.x for the openGL version. Minor driver updates should fix the problem. Till then, it's hard to say how much it will effect performance, but I highly doubt it's any worse than 1.5, and is more than likely at least a little bit better.