Patent ID: 8228337

Claim:
A method for pre-computing a variable number of Z-values for load balancing across multiple graphics processing units (GPUs), the method comprising: receiving one or more clip rectangles at a first GPU, wherein each clip rectangle encompasses a plurality of pixels in a frame; Z-rendering a portion of the frame via the first GPU, wherein the boundaries of the portion of the frame are defined by the one or more clip rectangles, and a minimum Z-value is written to a Z-buffer for each pixel in the portion of the frame; and writing data to a feedback array in a system memory based on an amount of time needed to Z-render the portion of the frame by the first GPU, wherein a second GPU is configured to render the frame based on the minimum Z-values written to the Z-buffer by the first GPU and write additional data to the feedback array based on the amount of time needed to render the frame by the second GPU, and wherein the size of the portion of the frame is based on the ratio between the amount of time needed to Z-render portions of one or more previous frames by the first GPU and the amount of time needed to render the one or more previous frames by the second GPU.