NVIDIA recently launched its SDK 10 (Software Development Kit) and inside of this you can find some clues to the graphics circuit manufacturer’s view on the future. SDK 10 namely has CG profiles for Fragment50, Vertex50 and Geometry50, which means that game developers now have tools for making games for Shader Model 5.0. This should mean that game developers will be able to study SM5.0 and experiment with the compiler and code for new games, which in turn should mean that Shader Model 5.0-capable hardware is on the horizon. According to VR-Zone this new hardware could be G90, which according to rumors will appear before the end of the year.
“We heard faintly that G90 will come quickly so it seems NVIDIA is gearing up for that and it should support SM 5.0 and DX 10.1. NVIDIA has revealed in their CUDA release note that there will be a new NVIDIA GPU by late 2007 that supports double precision arithmetic so that could be G90. From our sources, we came to know that ATi is pushing for 55nm and DX10.1 by early 2008 and that could be R700.”
When Shader Model 5.0 will be used with graphics circuits and how big the update will be from the still fresh Shader Model 4.0 specification will be interesting to see.
