The broad industry support Apple is building around OpenCL will help increase the critical mass behind OpenGL, the 2D and 3D graphics language Apple uses extensively in Mac OS X. Since the mid 90s, Microsoft has worked to prevent the adoption of OpenGL as an interoperable industry standard in favor of its own proprietary DirectX portfolio of graphics software and gaming tools.
This seemed like the most logical place to ask this, since the Mac Pro forum seems to be where all the higher level hardware/software modification discussion is. Currently the Starcraft 2 beta is suffering from horrible performance problems. Many of the threads I've read on their support forums point to graphics drivers as the main culprit, with DirectX->OpenGL porting being close behind. The main problem with both seems to be shaders.
One thread I found, however, is in reference to performance on Hackintosh machines. Apparently Hackintosh users, who all use custom graphics drivers for specific graphics cards (ones not ever supported by OS X, like the GeForce 9800) are getting performance on par with boot camp users, at similar settings. So my question is this: is it possible to write custom graphics card drivers for normal mac users (I myself use a flashed 4870) that optimize the use of extensions for shader intensive games like SC2? If so, where should I start looking to figure out how?
I have a MacBook Pro with two Nvidia cards but my bootcamp'd Windows 7 can't find directX and I can't install it (well, I can, but it can't be found). I'm running Leopard 10.5.8. I bootcamp'd to play games and now I can't
View 9 Replies View RelatedBoth cards in OSX are reported as they should be and show acceleration, etc.I've noticed that the couple of games I've tried on the OSX side don't work right (well don't display right anyway) plus more bothersome is the fact that in VMware Fusion (2.05) running XP with DirectX acceleration turned on for the virtual machine, *any* software that runs and tries to use DirectX makes Fusion throw an error about the virtual machine performing invalid operations. (the error is thrown on the OSX side, not in the XP virtual machine)
View 7 Replies View RelatedI have been reading that Apple worked with nvidia on OpenCL and that leaves me wondering: will ATI see all the same GPU acceleration of nVidia?
I am looking to buy an iMac in the next few months, and am stuck deciding between the lesser nVidia 130 that can use open CL or the fast ATi that may not...
I checked apple's website and went down to the requirements page. turns out, you require a nvidia or a very very recent ati chip to run openCL. the imac that i own has a ati radeon 2600 pro. what i don't get it, how is a nvidia 9400m more powerful than 2600 from ATI there seems to be no other reason than the fact that apple is being lazy about supporting fairly recent hardware. I only got this imac a couple of years a go and its still pretty new. Does apple expect me to get a new mac?
View 14 Replies View RelatedDon't get me wrong, the (apple-shipped) 8800GT has never given me a moment's worth of problem but it would seem that if there is OpenCL support for the GTX285 in SL next month, it may be worth it to drop the coin and get this card (I'll take it as a business expense).
Has anyone heard or seen something about officially supporting this card? When I looked on Apple's website under SL tech specs, this card isn't listed.
I have a question about how OpenCL works. What programs can utilize the GPU for processing? Does it happen automatically, or does the programming within the application have to state that the GPU can be used? It seems like everyone is excited about OpenCL and GPU acceleration, but how often is it used?
View 6 Replies View RelatedI'm thinking of getting Snow Leopard and want to see if i can take advantage of it's features...specifically OpenCL
View 2 Replies View Related1) from wwdc latest information, Mac pro user will have only 3 Apple official option OpenCL that is : GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce GT 120 and Radeon 4870
2) but I think GTX285 and FX4800 will support too. (At least final ver. of Snow leopard)
3) Assume you want many core the best selection from 1) & 2) is ATI Radeon 4870 because it has 800 stream processor. GTX 285 have 240
4) Assume you want memory speed the best selection from 1) & 2) is ATI Radeon 4870 again because it GDDR5 (but i can't confidentally confirm it when 4870 have lower memory speed and lower memory bandwidth)
09 Quad Mac Pro, with flashed 1g XFX 4870 ...
all the OpenCL sample apps from Apple, except for the "hello world" example, are failing.
Can anyone else confirm the same errors on their setup? Just so that I know for sure it is due to the 4870.
I will try putting in my GT120 and see what happens.
Code:
Last login: Sat Aug 29 16:35:11 on ttys002
/Users/mani/Downloads/OpenCL_RayTraced_Quaternion_Julia-Set_Example/build/Debug/qjulia ; exit;
Galactus:~ mani$ /Users/mani/Downloads/OpenCL_RayTraced_Quaternion_Julia-Set_Example/build/Debug/qjulia ; exit;
Creating Texture 512 x 512...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Using active OpenGL context...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Connecting to AMD Radeon HD 4870...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Loading kernel source from file 'qjulia_kernel.cl'...
Error opening file qjulia_kernel.cl
Error: Failed to load kernel source!
Failed to setup compute kernel! Error 1
logout
[Process completed]
Code:
/Users/mani/Downloads/transpose/transpose ; exit;
Galactus:~ mani$ /Users/mani/Downloads/transpose/transpose ; exit;
Error: Failed to load compute program from file!
logout
[Process completed]
And here's output from hello.c, which happens to work:
Code:
Galactus:~ mani$ /Users/mani/Downloads/OpenCL_Hello_World_Example/build/Debug/hello ; exit;
Computed '1024/1024' correct values!
logout
[Process completed]
When 10.6.1 include new ATI Kext.
View 1 Replies View RelatedDo you think with openCL which one is better. GT 120 or 4870.
View 1 Replies View RelatedWhen Snow Leopard came out last year, Apple made marketing out of the fact of having no new features. Arstechnica wrote a splendid review praising the potential of the two new core technologies it brought, and the perspective performance improvements coming from them.
The "radically new development paradigm" was promising for a slower deployment, but I though it would have been compensated by the advantages in speed and code maintainability.
So I've been periodically sampling the Internet for news on either technology. I expected lists of applications employing them, or some visibility on existing apps directories (like "GCD" or "OCL" tags). In lack of these I then resorted to expecting some random block posts from developers, but even of this I find very little.
The most material you find from Robert Watson, concerning applications at the FreeBSD project!
So what happened to these technologies under the Mac? Did they pass ignored by Mac Developers? If so, why? If not, why do they not reflect publicly the same excitement that the competent Ars masters showed?
Why can't Apple let NVidia manage the graphics drivers. It's so frustrating that we have to suffer because of Apple's control paranoia. Now we still lag behind the latest OpenGL.
View 4 Replies View RelatedSo I just installed the Apple ATI Radeon HD 4870 in my 2.66 quad Mac Pro1 1. Everything seems to be great but when I ran Cinebench I noticed that it is running OpenGL Engine, 2.0 ATI-1.5.48. In the results I see another 4870 with higher scores running OpenGL Engine, 2.1 ATI-1.6.6. My question is this. Is there something I should update for better performance? Is this a difference in cards, OS, drivers, firmware?
has anybody has any problems in Photoshop CS5 with OpenGL still turned on? I remember reading that turning this off can actually yield better performance, but is that even relevant with the 5770 and 5870?
View 2 Replies View RelatedI installed DarwinPorts, and now I am trying to install the OpenGL
From the website, it says I need to enter
% cd /opt/local/bin/portslocation/dports/rb-opengl
% sudo port install rb-opengl
Now, running the first command, I get an error saying this directory does not exist.Now, just running the second command, it starts to install so many other libraries! It installed somethings like:
ncursew
gettext
perl
and so many other. I stopped it right now, because it was still installing things!
I just noticed that Xbench gave me a better OpenGL score on my new late 2008 MacBook compared to 10.5.5, so I was wondering if anybody knows how much better the graphics performance actually is in 10.5.6? Although I just traded in my old white MacBook with a crappy intel graphics card for the new MacBook with a rockin' graphics card, I am curious how much the 10.5.6 update improves performance on the intel graphics cards. Can anybody compare the OpenGL results from 10.5.5 and 10.5.6 to see if I'm the only one who is seeing an improvement. Did Apple update the graphics card drivers or is there some other reason I'm seeing better performance?
View 7 Replies View RelatedAccording to System Profiler I have OpenGL version 1.5.10 installed on OS X. Is there a way to easily update this like with Direct X on Windows? I play some Diablo II which is a Mac game and it looks a bit more washed out than how it appears in Windows; wondering if an OpenGL update might help. It's up to 3.1 now.
View 4 Replies View RelatedWith the recent release of Steam for Mac, and the countdown to the release of Starcraft 2, I've been thinking that Blizzard and Valve should (or current are) actively pursuing Apple to make OS X more compliant with OpenGL, and at the same time increase effieciency of their graphics card drivers. Both of these companies are having the potential market for Mac gaming grow every day, and need their clients to run as smooth on a Mac as they would on a PC. I followed the dev builds of 10.6.3 somewhat closely, and remember seeing the builds add in compliance with OpenGL 3(?), so my question I'm asking is: Do you think Blizzard and Valve are actively working with Apple to increase performance for their games?
View 2 Replies View RelatedI recently purchased mba 2011 (256gb with i5 ulti), and incoming release of Adobe CS6, I would like to ask if my machine is capable of running CS6? In company I will be given a mac mini 2011 and at home I have a macbook air 2011.
The Photoshop CS6 mentions they need: Mac OSMulticore Intel processor with 64-bit support-Mac OS X v10.6.8 or v10.71GB of RAM2GB of available hard-disk space for installation; additional free space required during installation (cannot install on a volume that uses a case-sensitive file system or on removable flash storage devices)1024x768 (1280x800 recommended) resolution display with 16-bit color and 512MB of VRAMOpenGL 2.0–capable system?
Info:
MacBook Air, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
Look at [URL] there are some specs about snow leopard and OpenCL (supported video cards)
- NVIDIA Geforce 8600M GT, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GTS, Geforce 9400M, GeForce 9600M GT, GeForce GT 120, GeForce GT 130.
- ATI Radeon 4850, Radeon 4870
Is my GF 8800 GS not supported?
In the tech specs for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard it only lists the ATI Radeon 4850 and 4870 for supported graphics cards for OpenCL so does this new 4670 support OpenCL? I think it would be pretty silly to have the cheaper iMac with the GeForce 9400M support it but not the next step up with a dedicated card.
View 2 Replies View Related[URL]
Excerpted:
Quote:
OpenGL 4.0 further improves the close interoperability with OpenCL™ for accelerating computationally intensive visual applications. OpenGL 4.0 also continues support for both the Core and Compatibility profiles first introduced with OpenGL 3.2, enabling developers to use a streamlined API or retain backwards compatibility for existing OpenGL code, depending on their market needs.
OpenGL 4.0 has been specifically designed to bring significant benefits to application developers, including:
two new shader stages that enable the GPU to offload geometry tessellation from the CPU;
per-sample fragment shaders and programmable fragment shader input positions for increased rendering quality and anti-aliasing flexibility;
drawing of data generated by OpenGL, or external APIs such as OpenCL, without CPU intervention;
shader subroutines for significantly increased programming flexibility;
separation of texture state and texture data through the addition of a new object type called sampler objects;
64-bit double precision floating point shader operations and inputs/outputs for increased rendering accuracy and quality;
performance improvements, including instanced geometry shaders, instanced arrays, and a new timer query.
Lastly, Khronos has simultaneously released an OpenGL 3.3 specification, together with a set of ARB extensions, to enable as much OpenGL 4.0 functionality as possible on previous generation GPU hardware; providing maximum flexibility and platform coverage for application developers. The full OpenGL 3.3 specification is also available for immediate download at [URL]
"The release of OpenGL 4.0 is a major step forward in bringing state-of-the-art functionality to cross-platform graphics acceleration, and strengthens OpenGL's leadership position as the epicenter of 3D graphics on the web, on mobile devices as well as on the desktop," said Barthold Lichtenbelt, OpenGL ARB working group chair and senior manager Core OpenGL at NVIDIA. "NVIDIA is pleased to announce that its upcoming Fermi-based graphics accelerators will fully support OpenGL 4.0 at launch."
"AMD sees the release of OpenGL 4.0 as another major accomplishment for the OpenGL ARB," said Ben Bar-Haim, vice president of design engineering at AMD. "AMD contributes to the Khronos workgroups, and we consistently find that Khronos is successful at developing healthy, thriving, and evolving open standards such as OpenGL and OpenCL."
"OpenGL 4.0 continues the ARB's schedule-driven roll-out of new functionality, and this significant major release enables developers to access leading-edge GPU functionality across multiple platforms with full backwards compatibility," said Neil Trevett, president of the Khronos Group and vice president at NVIDIA. "OpenGL continues to be a keystone in the Khronos API ecosystem, through driving innovation into OpenGL ES and WebGL™ to bring high-performance programmable graphics to mobile platforms and the Web, and by interoperating with OpenCL to create a seamless visual and compute platform for application developers."
I have a 2006 MBP 2.2Ghz with 128mb Nvidia 8600M graphics card. I installed a trial version of Photoshop CS4 back in November, and was able to use the OpenGL effects of zooming in and drift-moving the canvas around. However, having installed the full version earlier last month, I've noticed none of these features are enabled, and in Photoshop's preferences it claims I need a new video card or driver. My drivers should be up-to-date, as I've installed all Apple's firmware and software upgrades via autoupdate.
View 1 Replies View RelatedAfter upgrading to Snow Leopard on my brand new MBP, I have taken notice of a definitive perf drop in OpenGL, particularly when I make use of switching windows via Spaces. The transition between windows skips and is not a smooth animation.
View 2 Replies View RelatedI'm new to Xcode but I'm trying to learn it as fast as I can. I'm attempting to render in OpenGL but I have no clue how to render or link anything. Where are some good tutorials to get going Fast?
I've noticed something rather subtle at first. My new mac mini just did not give me any faster feel comparing to old one, as matter of fact my old mini seamed faster and smoother. After comparing minimize/maximize animations while holding shift on old and new system system by side, I have noticed that new one gives off as having 2 times slower frame rate or slight flickering when doing minimize, maximize and magnify effects on dock. Also gave some shabby feel comparing to old one.
After I have run XBench of both systems and 2 restarts, it came as consistent result that new system scored 125+/-4 vs old one 280 on OpenGL test, more than 2 times slower! I expected upgrade to be upgrade, not downgrade! What could be issue, it is supposed to be 5 times faster. Is it not tuned up or quite not ready drivers. Will this issue be fixed by apple anytime soon? I love apple but I feel disappointed that my old system gives smother user experience than my new one.
Having issues with OpenGL after latest updates to OSX and Safari. iTunes will not display cover art and Angry Birds responds glewInit failed: Missing GL version. The is a Mac Pro with 10.7.4 and Safari 5.1.7.
Info:
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3)
