ATI stakes claims on physics, GPGPU ground

Vikingod · Oct 11, 2005, 06:27 PM

One of the more surprising aspects of ATI's Radeon X1000 series launch is something we didn't get a chance to talk about in our initial review of the graphics cards: ATI's eagerness to talk about using its GPUs for non-graphics applications.

ATI practically kicked off its press event for the Radeon X1000 series with a physics demo running on a Radeon graphics card. Rich Heye, VP and GM of ATI's Desktop Business Unit, showed off a simulation of rolling ocean waves comparing physics performance on a CPU versus a GPU. The CPU-based version of the demo was slow and choppy, while the Radeon churned through the simulation well enough to make the waves flow, er, fluidly. The GPU, he proclaimed, is very good for physics work, and he threw out some impressive FLOPS numbers to accentuate the point. A Pentium 4 at 3GHz, he said, peaks out at 12 GFLOPS and has 5.96GB/s of memory bandwidth. By contrast, a Radeon X1800 XT can reach 83 GFLOPS and has 42GB/s of memory bandwidth.
__________
Read More / Source: Tech Report

pr0digal jenius · Oct 11, 2005, 06:59 PM

somehow i see a physics/graphics mode coming to crossfire......

Falstaff · Oct 11, 2005, 07:05 PM

I saw it in the cards....
will wait till next year...then things will start to happen in the industry..

klevo · Oct 11, 2005, 07:25 PM

If we can use it, than great, else it`s only a PR talk.

Vikingod · Oct 11, 2005, 09:37 PM

I have a feeling its PR talk. To me, I would rather have my GPU to be a great GPU (spend all its efforts making my games run well) than a GPU with a medeocre physics processor (time spent doing both). I don't think any of the modern cards (or games) need this sort of feature, they should just practice being good GPU's.

SFOSOK · Oct 12, 2005, 12:05 AM

I also think that GPU's are meant for graphics, CPU's for physics and the like.

**dj_stick** · Oct 12, 2005, 01:31 AM

if the GPU has the power to calculate the physics AS WELL as the graphics side of things with no adverse affects then i don't see hte problem. And htere is no way we'd be able to use it today even if it were proplery implemented in the drivers as no games support it as yet

ReDGuiTaR · Oct 13, 2005, 12:08 AM

It's an interesting feature but we have to wait to see it ... may be they will compete against AGEIA wich will release a physic pci & pci-e card in the next few months .

Oct 11, 2005, 06:27 PM	#1
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,197 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	ATI stakes claims on physics, GPGPU ground One of the more surprising aspects of ATI's Radeon X1000 series launch is something we didn't get a chance to talk about in our initial review of the graphics cards: ATI's eagerness to talk about using its GPUs for non-graphics applications. ATI practically kicked off its press event for the Radeon X1000 series with a physics demo running on a Radeon graphics card. Rich Heye, VP and GM of ATI's Desktop Business Unit, showed off a simulation of rolling ocean waves comparing physics performance on a CPU versus a GPU. The CPU-based version of the demo was slow and choppy, while the Radeon churned through the simulation well enough to make the waves flow, er, fluidly. The GPU, he proclaimed, is very good for physics work, and he threw out some impressive FLOPS numbers to accentuate the point. A Pentium 4 at 3GHz, he said, peaks out at 12 GFLOPS and has 5.96GB/s of memory bandwidth. By contrast, a Radeon X1800 XT can reach 83 GFLOPS and has 42GB/s of memory bandwidth. __________ Read More / Source: Tech Report

Oct 11, 2005, 07:05 PM	#3
Falstaff Old Codger Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: USAFA Posts: 19,048 Rep Power: 207	I saw it in the cards.... will wait till next year...then things will start to happen in the industry.. __________________ "Inspiration is always a surprising visitor."

Oct 11, 2005, 07:25 PM	#4
klevo 2 l33t Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Slovakia Posts: 587 Rep Power: 0	If we can use it, than great, else it`s only a PR talk. __________________ My blog

Oct 12, 2005, 12:05 AM	#6
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	I also think that GPU's are meant for graphics, CPU's for physics and the like. __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Oct 13, 2005, 12:08 AM	#8
ReDGuiTaR DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Quebec , Canada Posts: 746 Rep Power: 0	It's an interesting feature but we have to wait to see it ... may be they will compete against AGEIA wich will release a physic pci & pci-e card in the next few months . __________________ Zing a ling... zing a ling a ling ... A8N-E - A64x2 4600, 2048 Mb Kingston ram 400mhz cas 2.5 ( 2 x 1024 DualChannel ), Seagate 320 Gig 7200 16Mb cache S-ata 2, GeForce 7900GT 512MB, Enermax 460watt power supply, WindowsXP SP2.

Oct 11, 2005, 06:59 PM	#2
pr0digal jenius Delete Me Join Date: Mar 2004 Posts: 14,648 Rep Power: 0	somehow i see a physics/graphics mode coming to crossfire......

Oct 11, 2005, 09:37 PM	Thread Starter #5
Vikingod Int'l Fish Liaison Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: By the light of lamp I sit and type... Posts: 16,197 Rep Power: 112 System Specs	I have a feeling its PR talk. To me, I would rather have my GPU to be a great GPU (spend all its efforts making my games run well) than a GPU with a medeocre physics processor (time spent doing both). I don't think any of the modern cards (or games) need this sort of feature, they should just practice being good GPU's.