引用自 [Microsoft DirectX 9.0] 关于图形资源模型部分说明:
Resource Properties
All resources share the following properties.
Usage. The way a resource is used, for example, as a texture or a render target.
Format. The format of the data, for example, the pixel format of a 2-D surface.
Pool. The type of memory where the resource is allocated.
Type. The type of resource, for example, a vertex buffer or render target.
Resource uses are enforced. An application that will use a resource in a certain operation must specify that operation at resource-creation time. For a list of the usage constants defined for resources, see D3DUSAGE.
The D3DUSAGE_RTPATCHES, D3DUSAGE_NPATCHES, and D3DUSAGE_POINTS constants indicate to the driver that the data in these buffers is likely to be used for triangular or grid patches, N-patches, or point sprites, respectively. These flags are provided in case the hardware cannot perform these operations without host processing. Therefore, the driver will want to allocate these surfaces in system memory so that the CPU can access them. If the driver can perform these operations entirely in hardware, it can allocate these surfaces in video or accelerated graphics port (AGP) memory to avoid a host copy and improve performance at least twofold. Note that the information provided by these flags is not absolutely required. A driver can detect that such operations are being performed on the data, and it will move the buffer back to system memory for subsequent frames.
For details about the usage flags and how they relate to specific resources, see the reference pages on the individual resource creation methods.
而且根据DX9.0中的字句:
the driver will want to allocate these surfaces in system memory so that the CPU can access them. If the driver can perform these operations entirely in hardware, it can allocate these surfaces in video or accelerated graphics port (AGP) memory to avoid a host copy and improve performance at least twofold
设备将试图在系统物理内存中分配一段内存用于给CPU访问. 但如果硬件能够完全的实现这些显示操作, 则设备将直接在显存中分配内存来显示图层, 这样可以避免物理内存到显存中的拷贝操作,来提高至少2倍的性能.