It looks like OpenCL is getting ready for prime time. A reader from across the English Channel contacted us with a link to Youtube video that showcases OpenCL being processed on a GPU.
If I recall correctly, a while ago AMD claimed world’s first OpenCL demo, but it was done on a single core (and then scaled up to all four) on a Phenom II X4 CPU. If this video is correct, Nvidia gets the pole position for being the first company to demonstrate OpenCL working on a GPU, which is “usage as intended”.
Judging from the video, Nvidia showed Nbody simulation changing following parameters: point size, velocity damping, softening factor, time step, cluster scale, and velocity scale. The company used a laptop equipped with Quadro FX 570M graphics card, e.g. GeForce 8600M after a “GL” tune-up. As far as the official debut of OpenCL go, KHRONOS Group launched the API on Siggraph Asia 2008 in Singapore, from where both AMD & Nvidia videos came from.
But don’t expect OpenCL drivers until both companies supply drivers to Apple. It looks like Snow Leopard will be the beginning of OpenCL on a PC platform and Windows Vista is sitting on backburner… that’s what Microsoft get for botching OS development and sucking up to allmighty Chipzilla.
