Yesterday, NVIDIA unveiled both new hardware (the GTX 1080 & GTX 1070) and software (Ansel, Simultaneous Multi-Projection) during their event.
Simultaneous Multi-Projection got specifically a lot of attention and its applications for surround gaming and Virtual Reality were detailed. However, it looks like there can be benefits even when running higher resolutions, such as 4K, during normal gaming.
PC Gamer mentioned this in their article. Apparently, the technology has been used by Cyan Inc., the developers of Obduction (a crowdfunded mystery/adventure game from the creators of Myst & Riven), in an effort similar to foveated rendering to increase performance at 4K.
The game was running at 4K but only hitting about 50 fps, just a bit below the desired 60 fps for a 60Hz display. By flipping a switch, the game renders the outer portions of the display at a lower resolution and stretches these, leaving the main section of the display—where you're most likely focused during gaming—at full quality. Frame rates jumped from 45-50 fps without multi-projection to over 60 fps, and while there was a slight loss in quality, it was only really visible if you were stationary and carefully looking for the change. I was able to talk with the developers a bit, and they indicated that their game is one of the first to use multi-res shading in this fashion, and it will work on both Maxwell 2.0 as well as Pascal cards.
Since very few GPU configurations, if any, are capable to deliver constant 4K@60FPS even in performance intensive games this application of Simultaneous Multi-Projection could be very useful for certain titles.
It will be interesting to see if such a use of this NVIDIA technology becomes widespread or not among game developers. Stay tuned on Wccftech for any and all developments.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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