Vertex Count

Description

The metric Vertex Count represents the number of vertices sent to 3D hardware pipeline during the D3D Input Assembler (IA) stage. The number of vertices depends on the primitive type and the number of primitives. The following formulas are used:

Primitive type

Vertex Count

Point list

Number of Primitives

Triangle list

Number of Primitives *3

Triangle strip

Number of Primitives +2

Line list

Number of Primitives *2

Line strip

Number of Primitives +1

NOTE

For Microsoft* DirectX* 9: When rendering indexed primitives the metric does not match the NumVertices parameter in ::DrawIndexedPrimitive, Intel Graphics Performance Analyzers icon biggrin Vertex Count rawIndexedPrimitiveUP functions because the Input Assembler counts shared vertices multiple times.

NOTE

For Microsoft* DirectX* 10 and later: The Vertex Count metric does not include vertices created during the geometry shader stage.

Examples

  • If you render 100 points, the IA stage assembles 100 point primitives with 100 vertices total, and the Vertex Count is 100.
  • If you render two triangles as a triangle list, the IA stage assembles two triangles with six vertices total, and the Vertex Count is six.
  • If you render two triangles as a triangle strip, the IA stage assembles two triangles with four vertices total, and the Vertex Count is four.

Improving Performance

To minimize the number of vertices sent to pipeline and therefore improve vertex processing performance, use graphics primitives that minimize the amount of data being sent to and processed by the GPU, such as using single triangle strips.

See Also

Primitive Count
VS Invocations

Vertex Count