Performance evaluation of the fixed function pipeline and the programmable pipeline

Abstract: When developing applications in Direct3D today, developers can choose between using the fixed function pipeline and the programmable pipeline. The programmable pipeline is more flexible than the fixed function pipeline, but what is the price for high flexibility? Is high flexibility desired at any cost? How is the choice of pipeline affecting performance? The purpose of this master thesis is to evaluate the performance of the two pipelines. This will be achieved by developing a benchmark program, which measures performance when various graphical effects are tested. The results of the evaluation will hopefully help developers to decide which pipeline to use, in terms of performance. In the end we will see that the fixed function pipeline is faster than the programmable pipeline in all our tests.