An approach to the optimum design of computer graphics systems

Abstract

Display system designers are faced with the difficult task of selecting major subsystems in an intelligent way. Each subsystem is chosen from large numbers of alternatives; the selection is based on considerations such as system response time, system cost, and the distribution of data storage and processing between the graphics processor and its supporting data processing system. The work reported here develops an objective, quantitative design procedure and helps give a better understanding of how to configure display systems. This is accomplished by means of a mathematical model of a computer driven graphics system. The parameters of the model are functions of the capabilities of the graphics hardware and of the computational requirements of the graphics application. The model can be analyzed using numerical queueing analysis or simulation to obtain an average response time prediction. By combining the model with an optimization, the best graphics system configuration, subject to a cost constraint, is found for several applications. The optimum configurations are in turn used to find general display system design guidelines.