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Microsoft WARP Boosts Graphics on Intel's CPUs

The CPUs would render better graphics than integrated solutions

Dec 1, 2008 11:08 GMT  ·  By
Intel's CPU could render graphics courtesy of Microsoft's new WARP
   Intel's CPU could render graphics courtesy of Microsoft's new WARP

Microsoft is reported to be working on the development of a software rasterizer that would allow x86 processors to render DirectX 10 graphics. The new Windows Advanced Rasterization Platform (WARP) will be included by the software giant in its upcoming Windows 7 operating system, while already having a beta version available in the November 2008 DirectX development toolkit. Moreover, it seems that early test results are rather promising.

 

According to Microsoft, WARP should prove quite useful in certain situations, including those when a user’s graphics card is broken or the graphics driver malfunctions. Furthermore, it seems that the giant is also targeting casual gamers who want prettier graphics than what their dedicated GPU (or integrated graphics hardware) might be able to offer.

 

Games feature simple rendering requirements, which go along with the usage of impressive visual effects that can be hardware accelerated. The best selling game titles for Windows are said to be simulations or casual games, rather than applications that require high performance graphics. On the other hand, both types of games benefit a lot from modern shader based graphics and the ability to scale on hardware, if present.

 

What sounds great is that DirectX 10 applications designed without the WARP in mind are expected to run well using the rasterizer. Moreover, Microsoft says that the performance of an Intel Core i7 965 processor while running Crysis raises to an average of 7.4 FPS at 800x600 with the detail level turned down. In comparison, Intel's DX10-capable integrated graphics hardware could only score 5.2 FPS. On the other hand, a GeForce 8400 GS card (which would cost only $30 these days) outpaces both solutions, while scoring 33.9 FPS.

 

The new Microsoft WARP solution could prove more than beneficial to Intel's future Larrabee graphics processor, which is based on x86-derived processing cores. Earlier this year, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney stated that, while Intel's integrated graphics were incapable of running modern games, a hypothetical resurgence of software rendering could counteract this.