SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - View Single Post - Steam and nVidia go serious in their reaction to Windows 8

the_tyrant · 11-07-12, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by antikristuseke

Both API's have same features though their implementation is different, that said, OpenGL is more efficient even under Windows when properly implemented with proper drivers.
http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/

OpenGL can go "lower level" so to speak, and target individual cards. DirectX abstracts most of the hardware specific stuff away, but has a higher "average performance" so to speak.

This is why on the PC, DirectX was always the API of choice (even though OpenGL is also available). Also, the most popular implementation of OpenGL in gaming is probably the PS3's openGL wrapper.

Why is it highly popular on the PS3? This is precisely where OpenGL shines. the PS3 is one specific set of hardware, and openGL's hardware specific features allows developers to "push the hardware harder" so to speak.

Also, I don't know how true this is anymore, but when it comes to the hardware itself, the Quadro line was optimized for openGL, whereas the GTX line gets better performance with DirectX.