The future of graphics

claptonman

claptonman

New Member
I was just thinking about this yesterday night while trying to fall asleep. With the release of the AMD 7xxx series and the Nvidia 6xx series, graphics cards are getting really powerful. (Of course, this happens every couple of years) But will there be a point in time where graphics and graphic cards are just so good, they will make games that look exactly like real life. Where is there to go from there? You can't make "better" graphics than real life, since that's the top of what graphics should look like.

Back in the day, a 8800GTS or similar could max any game out there. (Back then) Now you can buy them really cheap used online. Will there be a time where graphics have gone everywhere they can and prices get so low on the new technology that there will be an end point where you can't go any further?

I know there are other factors, like what resolutions you can play at and everything, but theoretically there is a point in time where graphics look exactly like real life and there would be no market for more powerful cards, since the "older" generation will be able to play games with life-like graphics.

Obviously CPUs and RAM will always get better, reducing the time for rendering and supporting new technologies, but I'm talking about just graphic cards.

That's my ramble for the day.
 
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I was going through a box in my basement and found my old Radeon x800XL,

Man that card was awesome when I got it...
 
When my brother gave me his build, I thought my x1950 pro was the greatest thing ever... could run CoD at medium!
 
well i found my old nvidia geforce 5200fx which was still good in the time.

but i think sometime maybe not in the near future, game developers will be able to make graphics 99% accurate to real life things. which i hope ofcourse that they will have that in a few years so i can be all nerdy about it. we are getting there, but games just bug out alot so graphics that we call realistic now still have major differences between the game and real life. but i really hope that its possible soon
 
claptonman said:
but theoretically there is a point in time where graphics look exactly like real life and there would be no market for more powerful cards
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I've often thought this as well. Yesterday I downloaded the NVIDIA Tech Demo called "Human Head". It was originally designed to run on the GeForce 8800 Ultra back in 2007/8 when those 8800 Ultras were pretty much the best thing money could buy in terms of GPU. The demo is very realistic, in fact I'd say it's pretty close to real-life - and that was in 2007. You can see it on YouTube if you haven't seen it before. So, we are getting closer and closer to real-life, I think the problem is that the graphics cards can render amazing graphics, as we saw on the 8800 Ultra years ago with the human head demo, it's just the games and software do not take advantage of what the cards can really do.

claptonman said:
Will there be a time where graphics have gone everywhere they can and prices get so low on the new technology that there will be an end point where you can't go any further?
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With graphics cards I suspect there will be a point where you just can't get any more realistic, otherwise it becomes *too* realistic which would make it unrealistic surely? I know you're focusing on GPUs here, but I don't think the same about CPUs though, they'll always be getting faster and more powerful.

It's a very interesting topic you've brought up here. As I said before, the cards can do the rendering, even cards that were good 5 years ago such as the 8800 can render pretty amazing graphics, but the games and software at the moment just can't take advantage of what the cards have to offer. That's a bit sad really.
 
Nice thoughts before you go to sleep Claptonman, I used to have similar thoughts about weather maps on TV , from felt stickers on maps , to what we get nowadays almost D maps , I think with the release of DX11 and water effects was quite amazing and still is in games , i think we have allot more still to look forward too yet ,
 
If you take a screenshot from let's say Crysis 2 game,print it on a paper and then show it to someone in Africa for example who never saw a computer,that person WOULD say that that picture is REAL.
On the other hand we would KNOW it's NOT REAL because we PLAYED that game :P

So REAL LIFE graphics will always depend on what person knows lol.
Unless if you show a picture of Half-life 1 for example lol...in that case EVERYONE will know it's not real xD
 
S.T.A.R.S. said:
If you take a screenshot from let's say Crysis 2 game,print it on a paper and then show it to someone in Africa for example who never saw a computer,that person WOULD say that that picture is REAL.
On the other hand we would KNOW it's NOT REAL because we PLAYED that game :P

So REAL LIFE graphics will always depend on what person knows lol.
Unless if you show a picture of Half-life 1 for example lol...in that case EVERYONE will know it's not real xD
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Hell i'm not sure some people could get this right

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CrysisvsRealLife.jpg
 
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Its a little different from a screenshot to actually playing the game. I know, of course, it looks amazing, but playing it might not look like real life, with full settings, mods, etc.

And to play it fluidly will still cost ya.
 
Basically we will continue to have the graphics card race for more power, with graphics designers actually lagging behind as technology expands exponentialy, so most gains will be hardware, not software. but around 2020-2025 when moore's law collapses (once transistors get to be atom sized, the electrons will jump, (heisenbergs uncertinity) shorting out the circuit, this becomes the limitation) the emphesis will not be on raw power anymore, but instead new software innovations, this is where all the really cool stuff happens.
 
like you put on the helmet, then go to a dream like state that it somehow creates and you just sit there on the outside, but in your head you're kickin' ass and takin' names, doubtful it's at all possible, but you know it's be the best thing since sliced bread :cool:
 
I would trust the holodeck idea over that. As you could physically program it to do what you want it to, and no relying on a induced coma or whatever it is.
 
wolfeking said:
I would trust the holodeck idea over that. As you could physically program it to do what you want it to, and no relying on a induced coma or whatever it is.
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And that's why you're no fun, everyone knows the fun things are the ones that could kill you :P JK
 
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