Nvidia accused of cheating over graphics tech

ATI IS MAKING hay while the sun shines after an article at Driverheaven more or less accused Nvidia of cheating. We referenced the web site article earlier today in our hardware roundup.

It's also worth looking here for background on this matter.

We said that what we saw when we were in Geneva with Nvidia was a clear difference between the code that was running PS 3.0 path and a referred system that was running PS 2.0 code.

ATI says that CryTek's representative told it that what Nvidia showed us in Geneva was a 2.0/3.0 path versus 1.1 path.

The key message is that Shader model 3.0 and 2.0 look exactly the same, the ATI representative added.

In a developers' mail that we also received, it added that there is a possibility that the 3.0 path might be slightly faster in same cases on some hardware - an obvious reference to Nvidia.

ATI also claims that its hardware will run faster then Nvidia's anyway and he added: "It's pretty much impossible to make a sm3.0 game look noticeably different to a sm2.0 game, which is why Nvidia was comparing the 2.0/3.0 path with a 1.1 path."

A CryTek representative responded on this matter with this answer: "Was Nvidia showing SM3.0 vs. SM2.0 or SM1.1?" He replied to his own question by saying that Nvidia was showing 3.0/2.0 vs. 1.1.

So the ball is now in Nvidia's half of the court, and I am the Bosnian net over which the balls are flying. µ