Plumbing?

joeswm8

New Member
What do the extra pipelines do for a card, like the 7900GS vs 7900GT?

Can PCIe x16 handle both pipelines?
 
No. Not directly atleast. A high-end card will have a higher pipeline count AS WELL AS higher clock speeds.
 
Imagine this: (slightly wrong, but will help you get the picture)
The amount of pipelines is like a "multiplier" for the core speed (it doesn't affect the memory speed, the "multiplier" for memory speed is rated in bits, ie, 256bit or 128bit) so, if you have a two cards with a 500mhz core clock, and one has 20 pixelpipelines and the other 24, then this is the difference:

20pp:
20x500=10,000

24pp:
24x500=12,000
 
Actually, not really. The pipelines are the path the data takes. Each pipeline can carry one bit of information. The more pipelines, the more data can reach the processing unit simultaneously.
 
^^
There ya go, I think of it more like a fuel pump in a car. More pipelines is like a bigger fuel pump allowing more fuel (data) to get to the engine (processor) at once. Or maybe like more cylinders... Anyways, the more pipelines available the more textures and data that the graphics card can process at once.
 
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