How many render targets do low end Pixel Shader 2.0 supporting video cards support?
Question
MRT allows for rendering to multiple texture targets in the pixel shader, but I'm not sure how many targets that is.
I'm currently using 3 render targets but I may need as much as 5 (though probably just 4). I think the Radeon 9500s are pretty much entry level ps/vs 2.0 cards but I'm really not sure how many render targets it actually supports besides the fact it supports them?
Thanks for any help!
Solution
Non definitive answer:
ATI R600 and above have up to 8 (Earlier cards, 9x00 and up also have MRT, but I'm not sure how many)
NVidia 6x00 and above have up to 4 (I thought G80+ was supposed to do 8, but mine says only 4)
The number for your current card is in the DX Caps member "NumSimultaneousRTs"
I's say 4 is probably the safe bet. If you need more you may want to consider rejigging/encoding the data till it fits in 4, since bandwidth is still always a worry :-)