AMD yesterday announced the release of the latest update to the ATI Stream SDK. Version 2.1 of the SDK adds a host of new features, in addition to expanding hardware support to prepare developers for AMD’s Fusion APU’s, which will be released some throughout 1H11.
ATI Stream is AMD’s answer to NVIDIA’s CUDA for GPU processing. Like CUDA, ATI Stream works the GPU in tandem with the CPU, utilizing the Stream Processors of the GPU to accelerate compute performance. ATI Stream and its SDK is built around the OpenCL open programming standard.
The additions for version 2.1 include OpenCL/OpenGL interoperability to help reduce the overhead of passing data for display purposes, as well as support for OpenCL byte addressable stores, which will improve coding for applications that deal with smaller than 32-bit data granularities.
Also new to the SDK is support for OpenCL images; OpenCL extension support for AMD media operations in OpenCL; extension support for device fission, which will allow developers to sub-divide an OpenCL device; and integration of the Stream KernelAnalyzer 1.5 installer, which is a system that assists developers to analyze kernel performance while developing for AMD GPUs.
On the hardware side, the Stream SDK includes support for ATI’s latest professional FirePro GPU offerings, including the brand new FirePro V8800, ATI Radeon and Mobility products.
Developers looking to get their hands on the ATI Stream SDK 2.1 can download it immediately and begin building programs that harness the GPU.


Articles RSS