Is there an upcoming gaming/workstation feature split between ATI and Nvidia?

[Orubasarot]

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[dguy6789]

OpenCL will make it not matter if you have an ATI or Nvidia GPU, they will all run the maintstream GPGPU programs. I doubt ATI will ever try to implement something like 3D Vision but there's a good chance Nvidia will have an equivalent to Eyefinity eventually.

 

[Orubasarot]

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[dguy6789]

Yep you nailed it. Cuda is out now, OpenCL is coming later.

 

[girlpower4ever]

Hey,
if you look around the internet, you can actually utilize the benefits of both graphics cards with a registry tweak for windows 7.
I recently noticed that they enabled nvidia physx support to an ati graphics card but they have to run in tandem on the pci express "slots".

The only noticeable recognition with nvidia as far as workstation goes is the badaboom video converter software.
Although ATI has the built in catalyst FREE AVIVO video converter software but it isn't as perfect as the paid software version of badaboom.

Here's a quick link
http://www.overclock.net/graphics-cards-general/452154-guide-how-enable-physx-nvidia-card.html

 

[BenSkywalker]

there's a good chance Nvidia will have an equivalent to Eyefinity eventually.

You mean, ATi already copied nVidia just without supporting as many displays and called it Eyefinity?

http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadronvs.html

nVidia has had the setup for quite some time, they just don't have it on their consumer level parts, only workstation offerings. They have mentioned they may add it to their consumer parts, it is a complete non issue for me one way or the other, but it could end up on the GeForce parts some time before OpenCL gains traction.

OpenCL will make it not matter if you have an ATI or Nvidia GPU

No matter what PR may lead you to believe, OpenCL will not make ATi parts fully IEEE754-2008 compliant, won't add a workable cache on to the die nor will it make the RAM ECC. ATi is not trying to compete in this market yet. Depending on what you are doing those things may or may not matter for you, but nV seems to be keeping far enough ahead of ATi in feature support atm to keep CUDA firmly planted at the high end of GPGPU computing- although video encoding and things like Adobe filters and such will almost certainly migrate relatively quickly to OpenCL(although it is likely nV will retain a large performance edge until ATi focuses their architecture around GPGPU a bit more).

 

[Seero]

I know this has already been answered in fragments but I'm looking at two main features that seem to be getting torn apart:

Eyefinity with ATI and CUDA with Nvidia, the problem is that I want both. The GPGPU side of ATI seems to be slacking a bit with new and upcoming video editing software that utilizes CUDA. However Nvidia seems to be ignoring Eyefinity entirely in favor of that 3D Vision hogwash.

Will I finally have to build separate workstation and gaming machines? Or is this just a turbulent transition before these features become mainstream and available from both manufacturers?

Or is everyone (software AND hardware) just going to comply with OpenCL already and stop wasting my money?

If you have ATI setup and will like to have 3d vision, then look for IZ3D.

If you have Nvidia setup and will like to have multi-monitor configuration, then look for triplehead2go or softth.

The ATI's version of CUDA is called stream. ATI don't support PhysX but rumor said it can be done.

You need a120 hz monitor/LCD for 3D, and note that 3D can not be used on multi-monitors. (I have limited info on multi 3d setup, there may be way to do it.)

Neither ATI or Nvidia support cross-gpu configuration, but it is possible through unofficial drivers. It has been said that you can use a ATI card to handle rendering graphics (Primary) and a Nvidia GPU to compute CUDA/PhysX(Secondary), but the current official Nvidia driver disallow this setup. It however can be done, and some users here knows how.

New video editing software utilizes both Stream and CUDA, and soon OpenCL and Dx11 will become the standard base to GPGPU.

 

[Wreckage]

You mean, ATi already copied nVidia just without supporting as many displays and called it Eyefinity?

http://www.nvidia.com/page/quadronvs.html

nVidia has had the setup for quite some time, they just don't have it on their consumer level parts, only workstation offerings. They have mentioned they may add it to their consumer parts, it is a complete non issue for me one way or the other, but it could end up on the GeForce parts some time before OpenCL gains traction.

Yep. As for OpenCL. It's a pipe dream. It does not have enough application support behind it to ever catch CUDA. It's years behind and even AMD has started to get wishy washy on it and support DirectCompute.

 

[jvroig]

will not make ATi parts fully IEEE754-2008 compliant

I was hoping ATi would get into the GPGPU game completely and make their floating-point computation standards compliant; was disappointed myself when the 5xxx launched and this was not the case. I don't even think it would have been that hard to do. Perhaps it is as you said, and they are just not even trying to compete in this market yet.

 

[gorobei]

those quadro nvs were only workstation cards in the sense they were only for work. 4 monitor out, low power cards with mobile chips, for mostly 2d (i.e. stock market trading setups). they were never meant for gaming or multi-span 3d setups.

the eyefinity drivers and display setup software are looking far more mature.

cuda has the edge in that it's been out for a year and apps are actually available now. but proprietary features have always been nvidia's downfall(i.e. SLI, hybrid power). physx and 3d were okay attempts at differentiation. but gambling the immediate financial future on GPGPU computing seems very risky.

 

[gorobei]

double post

 

[PingviN]

Yep. As for OpenCL. It's a pipe dream. It does not have enough application support behind it to ever catch CUDA. It's years behind and even AMD has started to get wishy washy on it and support DirectCompute.

AMD would be stupid not to supprt DirectCompute. Besides, there is no reason why they can't support both OpenCL and DC at the same time.