Patent ID: 8189007

Claim:
A 3-dimensional (3D) graphics engine comprising: a special function register (SFR) configured to provide a control signal indicating a presence or an absence of one or more rendering features; a geometry processing unit receiving the control signal and configured to generate polygon information in response to the control signal; and a rasterization unit, comprising: a rasterizer receiving the polygon information and configured to generate pixel data indicative of the polygon information; a plurality of pixel shaders; and a pixel distributor receiving the pixel data from the rasterizer and the control signal from the SFR, and configured to distribute the pixel data across the plurality of pixel shaders using a first approach when the control signal indicates the presence of the one or more rendering features and distribute the pixel data across the plurality of pixel shaders using a second approach different from the first approach when the control signal indicates the absence of the one or more rendering features.