AMD launches GPUOpen Initiative
As a continuation of the strategy AMD started with Mantle, AMD are giving even more control of the GPU to developers. As console developers have benefited from low-level access to the GPU, AMD wants to continue to bring this level of access to the PC space.
AMD GPUOpen for gaming is giving developers the ability to harness the investments they've made on console development, including feature-rich, close-to-the-metal programming, and bring that to life on PC game development. Game developers will now have direct access to GPU hardware, access to a large collection of open source effects, tools, libraries and SDKs.
As such, in early 2016, libraries and samples i.e. source access to the library directly will be made available from AMD. GPUOpen is the primary vehicle to allow low-level access to the GPU.
New Compiler for Heterogeneous Computing
One of the primary goals of Heterogeneous Systems Architecture (HSA) is easing the development of parallel applications through the use of higher level languages. The new AMD “Boltzmann Initiative” suite includes an HCC compiler for C++ development, greatly expanding the field of programmers who can leverage HSA. The new HCC C++ compiler is a key tool in enabling developers to easily and efficiently apply discrete GPU hardware resources in heterogeneous systems. A Heterogeneous Compute Compiler that compiles an Open Source C++ Compiler for GPUs, and HIP allows developers to convert CUDA code to portable C++. AMD testing shows that in many cases 90 percent or more of CUDA code can be automatically converted into C++ by HIP with the final 10 percent converted manually in the widely popular C++ language.
Linux Driver and Runtime Focused on the Needs of HPC Cluster-Class Computing
Demonstrating its commitment to Linux, AMD developed a new HPC-focused open source driver and system runtime. This new headless Linux driver brings key capabilities to address core high-performance computing needs, including low latency compute dispatch and PCIe® data transfers; peer-to-peer GPU support; Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) from InfiniBand™ that interconnects directly to GPU memory; and Large Single Memory Allocation support.
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Nvidia can let the market share speak for itself. You can't say a company would be doing anything wrong when it dominates 80% of the market. Perhaps if AMD can rise 10 points, Nvidia would already feel the need to do something flashy (aside from the basic GPU chip marketing, which is always flashy from both sides).
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I believe since AMD has split so much now, they can focus more on the software level more than they ever have in the past. They may not have the fastest hardware, but if they have a great combination of hardware and software to meet performance demands and enough developer support, it could be great. I just fear that AMD will become the next 3dfx with Glide for example. Glide had great support but lost to Direct X. It does seem that Microsoft is working more with both AMD and Nvidia this time around though.
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You can think of this what you want, but the tune's the same as with dx12, Mantle, and all those features that came, or will come along. As long as the devs have to put in the work, we won't see it happening broadly as a matter of a technological base every game will make use of..
Games could have been more optimized for years now, and they weren't. Do you really think it was just because Mantle wasn't around? You know what, even until today not all devs have adopted Mantle, and just the same will be happening with anything AMD has to offer beyond consoles games. And games could be better optimised for PCs still, look at many of the ports. That's why GTA5 seems to be so popular among the PC ports, because it seems it was well done. Other ports haven't fared that well, neither on the technical side, nor with the gamers and their opinions about the games.
Again, I'm not saying it's not good they try to offer something, but the point is, devs won't do it as long as people pay 120$ for preorder games when they haven't even played the beta. Or when we take technical lacking games and hail them because of their flair, and style, and the setting behind it, and yet pay full price willingly. If we buy what they offer, there's simply no reason for them to improve. And that's why I'm not all enthusiastic about such things, I just don't see them magically take over.
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Under embargo till 15th December 2016

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Idk, the companies definitely push off eachother. You have to remember, ATi was the OEM with literally zero customer interaction. It wasn't until Nvidia came along and started making everything about the "Gamer" that ATi actually start communicating at all to end users. There wouldn't be a Freesync if G-Sync didn't come along. There wouldn't be a GPUOpen library if Gameworks didn't exist. And it goes vice versa.