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AMD Launches World's First Mobile DirectX 11 GPUs
J. Dzhugashvili writes "Less than 4 months after releasing the first DX11 desktop graphics card, AMD has followed up with a whole lineup of mobile graphics processors based on the same architecture. The new Mobility Radeon HD 5000 lineup includes four different series of GPUs designed to serve everything from high-end gaming notebooks to mainstream thin-and-light systems. AMD has based these processors on the same silicon chips as its desktop Radeon HD 5000-series graphics cards, so performance shouldn't disappoint. The company also intends to follow Nvidia's lead by offering notebook graphics drivers directly from its website, as opposed to relying on laptop vendors to provide updates."
Perhaps this will increase the actual quality of the Drivers which have been historically so bad?
--jeffk++
ipv6 is my vpn
Who the hell other than the poor sods still doing x86 Windows only game/graphics development still uses that turd of an API DirectX?
Let's just go over the platforms I work on:
PC graphics development - OpenGL
Linux graphics development - OpenGL
Mac graphics development - OpenGL
Android graphics development - OpenGL ES
iPhone graphics development - OpenGL ES
Embedded ARM based system development - OpenGL ES
even some OpenGL for console development.
Ok - so that's minesweeper and hearts... what's the third? Seriously though - I don't even have those games on my work computers. I'm more interested to know if they work well with my software, or matlab and so forth. There are other uses for computers.
Than buy another graphics card powered by ATI. Seriously, my X1300xt was only supported for like 3 years. Now I can't even use it on a current distro whilst retaining the full functionality/performance of the closed driver.
To ATI: Support your products for at least 5 years (like NVidia does), or I will *never* buy from you again!
Are these cards fast enough to run the games in DX11 mode?
DirectX 11 in a mobile device? So the device doubles as a hairdryer?
I want this account deleted.
Support in the open-source drivers is being written as fast as ATI can verify and declassify docs. Also the r600/r700 3D code should be mostly reusable for these GPUs.
~ C.
At least the higher end models will. They have 800, 400 and 80 stream processors respectively.
As well as a good deal of other Windows graphic programs. You can stick your head in the sand and pretend that Microsoft Windows isn't a major player, but you are fooling only yourself. Windows development matters a whole lot, and DX is the native API and thus many use it.
However, in this case the reference is to features of the card. See OpenGL is really bad about staying up to date with hardware. They are always playing catchup and often their "support" is just to have the vendors implement their own extensions. So when a new card comes out, talking about it in terms of OpenGL features isn't useful.
Well, new versions of DirectX neatly map to new hardware features. Reason is MS works with the card vendors. They tell the vendors what they'd like to see, the vendors tell them what they are working on for their next gen chips and so on. So a "DX11" card means "A card that supports the full DirectX 11 feature set." This implies many things, like 64-bit FP support, support for new shader models, and so on. IT can be conveniently summed up as DX11. This sets it apart to a DX10 card like the 8800. While that can run with DX11 APIs, it doesn't support the features. Calling it DX10 means it supports the full DX10 feature set.
So that's the reason. If you want to yell and scream how OpenGL should rule the world, you can go right ahead, however the simple fact of the matter is DirectX is a major, major player in the graphics market.
Xbox 360 graphics development - DirectX
XNA (Xbox 360 indie games) graphics development - a managed API based on DirectX
Some of the reviews of "Dirt 2" had suggested that ATI 5xxx cards were up to 50% faster in DX9 mode.
I wouldn't know, but the 800 stream processor mobile card looks like it has very similar performance to the desktop 5xxx cards. Even at 75% speed, it should still be playable. Besides, DX11 is brand spanking new, I would expect some time before the drivers mature.
Good thing they got these out on the market. They were about to kill off DX10, just like they killed off DX9... oh wait...
This is ATI, their drivers don't mature they ferment :)
As for the original article, I could have sworn I had adverts turned off on this site...
...
So, in your opinion, all technical progress should stop at once?
"It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
Just upgraded my brother's laptop over the holiday. Seems ATI dropped support for his GPU in their proprietary driver so now he has a choice. Option one, use the open source drivers which provide no 3d acceleration. Basically 3D is completely unusable. Option two, use an older distribution which has the required version of X, kernel support, and all dependent software. And with the second option comes all the associated security issues of running an old and unsupported distro. He chose to run a current distro and be stuck with 2d-only acceleration. All of the 3d games he had on his laptop are now completely unplayable; measured in fractions of frames per second.
It turns out ATI decided they would simply stop supporting his GPU and AFAIK, they have not released any 3D documentation on it. This is exactly the reason I've gone out of my way to never buy ATI. They drop support of cards like crazy leaving users completely stuck. And in something like laptops, which is exactly what this article is about, that means your entire laptop is now obsolete.
I don't care how many ATI fanboys there are that want to bash NVIDIA for providing binary blobs - the fact is, their stuff works and works well and best of all, they don't leave their users high and dry. The only problems I've had with NVIDIA was years ago when their first started providing 64-bit Linux drivers. So say what you will to support ATI, at the end of the day, they are still doing the same old thing and hurting their customers. Case in point, I have an nvidia video card which is older than my brothers laptop which is still supported by NVIDIA's drivers.
So what do you want as a user? Stuff that works year after year or a company (ATI) telling you when your equipment is obsolete and that you need to replace the entire computer?
For Linux there is still only one 3D option - NVIDIA. Period.
...without great drivers?
Seriously.
I know everyone says ATi is so much better now, but as frequently as they drop support for older hadrware (and as badly as I was "burned" for my last two cards from them), I still have no desire to purchase their hardware.
nVidia delivers drivers for platforms that have an even smaller market than GNU/Linux does for 3D such as Solaris, FreeBSD, etc. which greatly benefits me as a user of those operating systems.
What motivation do I have to buy ATi cards when their support for non-Windows operating systems has been so crap for so long?
You forget to mention the Apple Newton. There are people STILL using their Newtons today. It had handwriting recognition years ahead of anything comparable, and communication capabilities. When Steve Jobs went to Next, Mr Sculley(sic) (another corporate droid - in the theme of your post) shut it down.
Over the years Newton enthusiasts have asked the company many times to release the code so they could port their beloved operating system to newer hardware as their Newtons died of old age. Apple always refused. I can only speculate, but I think this new device may leverage the experience of the Newton - if not the code - to resurrect the table PC concept.
Lodragan Draoidh
The more you explain it, the more I don't understand it. - Mark Twain
Direct X 11? Is that anything like Direct X 10? Last story I heard, said I should rush out to get a Direct X 10 video card so I can play the whopping 3 games that support Direct X 10. I haven't heard any other stories updating that number.
Actually this is one problem you can lay squarely at the feet of MSFT. Instead of investing in their core business and pushing Windows they have spent all this money on Xbox, and now it is coming back to bite them in the ass. How? Because a whole lot of new computers, along with a whole lot of windows licenses, are bought by those that like to game on Windows.
And since the x360, which in all likelihood be the same model they will be selling 3-5 years from now, due to the cost of designing a console, supports mostly DX9 game companies are designing for the x360 FIRST, and then putting out a shitty port and calling it "multiplatform" later. Which doesn't leave a whole lot of PC games left worth having, and the MMOs like WoW will frankly run just fine on a 3.2Ghz P4 with a 36xxHD AGP card.
This is why you have ATI pushing Eyefinity, and Nvidia pushing GPGPU, because ever since Ballmer took over it has been a big FU to gamers and their core markets. But MSFT better wake up and smell the stupid, because as the Linux guys will tell you, just about everything EXCEPT Windows gaming can be done on Linux just fine, with cheaper hardware and no licensing fees. All it is gonna take is a big OEM getting really pissed off at being burned on all those juicy gamer rig sales to really push Linux and cause the Ballmer monkey to crap his pants.
Windows 7 is definitely a step in the right direction, but if they don't push hard to get REAL games for it, instead of shitty console games with the word "multiplatform" tacked on (God I hate that fucking word) then it will all be for naught. I know many gamers that are still using XP, as thanks to DX9 there really isn't a compelling reason to switch, and Linux is getting better all the time. MSFT really needs to push their games division to put out REAL DX11 games for the PC, push their partners to do the same, and get it done ASAP if they don't want their marketshare to be dominated by XP with the Mac and Linux creeping up to bite them in the ass.
I used to buy $150+ cards to game with just about every year, and build a new PC (with a new Windows License) every other year just so I could crank up the purty. Now everything I play looks nice on a $60 ATI 4xxx card, and I doubt my quad core will be going anywhere for the better part of a decade. Why should it? DX9 is what 99% of the games are using, the few games that would need more powerful hardware are frankly ePeen tech demos like Crysis that are NOT fun, so why should I build bigger? Why should I buy a new Windows every other year so I can pass down my older machine? I can't find any reason to. And THAT is what MSFT needs to be worrying about. The x360 is doing just fine, it is PC gaming that is on life support. So Ballmer better get off his ass and get to work ASAP.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
J. Dzhugashvili writes...
Thank you Stalin.
All you need for the game of monopoly that is the windows 7 desktop.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Wrong. Don't compare Motorola G4 junk to Intel Core duo. G4 has 133Mhz FSB for God's sake. Even if G4 had "bigger Mhz" (Sixpack), its 133Mhz FSB would still guarantee the horrible performance.
But... If we compare first G4 CPUs of the time to Intel CPU of that day, we can easily match 2x speed difference, especially with decent Altivec instructions. Obviously, you also need a good programmer/developer to effectively use them.
Lets talk about G5 and current POWER6, especially POWER6 which 4.0 Ghz speeds are common. Or Cell broadband?
Funny thing is, MS never learned their lesson. DirectX 10 was Vista exclusive (!!!) technology and all gamers were running XP! So, except the usual MS ass kisser companies, nobody was that stupid to release a directx 10 game.
Guess what? DirectX 11 is a Windows 7 exclusive technology!
I pity the idiots coding in directx only in this age, especially after iPhone and Intel OS X revolution. How many years must pass for them to understand?
All I did was pop in a Fedora 12 livecd and my R500 card started working. Absolutely no configuration. Whatsoever.
Hell, my old roommate uses Gentoo and even he doesn't have to do much of any configuration to get it running, all he does is build X as usual, with radeon support. If you still need to do manual configuration of X on a modern setup, you are failing hard.
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
Somehow it feels that AMD is completely loosing it's focus on CPUs. Great wins at graphics market every few months but nothing (really) exciting coming on CPU front. That's sad.
It is therefore reasonable to want AMD to properly support it if they aren't going to provide drivers themselves
ATI/AMD *do* support the Radeonhd project. They provide documentation and test code - although at a very slow pace.
On the other hand Nvidia are completely ignoring the Nouveau project. (At least, they don't sue or DMCA neither).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]