When do you know you should move to deferred rendering? (render pass question)

[ThreeDee]

Just curious, what everyone's thoughts are, and when you "know" you should switch to deferred rendering.

Now given your average triangle count in current games (to keep the art competitive), when do you know you should go to a deferred renderer?

Is 3 too many, is 5, is 6, etc? When does the amount of render passes do detriment to the rest of the game?

Thank you for your time.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

It's more about the number of dynamic lights, as deferred rendering allows you to use up to hundreds of them. So it's mostly suited for artificial environments and night time, and less ideal for outdoor, daytime settings.