ATI Stream Technology

SO WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR?

While NVIDIA is concentrating on physics acceleration, ATI Stream benefits the user in other ways. In fact, on a direct question, AMD admitted that they still only are in talks with Havok to see if their GPU’s can help in Havok-using games.

The main focus for AMD right now with ATiI Stream is transcoding. AMD has noticed that this is an area where the GPU can perform a lot better than the CPU.

AMD Platform w/ ATI Avivo Video Converter : CPU: AMD Phenom™ X4 9950 2.6GHz, GPU: ATI Radeon™ HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 (625e/993m), Drivers: ATI Catalyst™ software version 8.56 (beta), RAM: 2GB, OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit

NVIDIA w/ Elemental Badaboom: CPU: AMD Phenom X4 9950 2.6GHz, GPU: XFX GeForce GTX280 1GB GDDR3 (602e/2210m), Drivers: ForceWare 178.08, RAM: 2GB, OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit

INTEL w/ QuickTimePro + MPEG-2 Pack: CPU: Intel Core2 Extreme Processor QX9650 3.0GHz, GPU: Intel G45, Drivers: n/a CPU only transcoding, RAM: 2GB, OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit

This is something AMD has talked a lot about and it certainly looks impressive. We will, of course, have to verify the numbers ourselves as soon as we get our beta of the drivers.

To give users a way to start transcoding right away, AMD is bringing back an old friend again, the ATI Avivo Video Converter. This time though it actually uses the GPU for transcoding (it used the CPU in earlier versions). This utility is aimed at the regular users and will be able to convert video in lots of different formats.

For profesionals, AMD is working with several companies to bring out plugins and/or patches to their products so that they will take advantage of the GPU via ATI Stream. AMD mentioned two program: Cyberlink PowerDirector and Arcsoft Total Media Theater, that would have support for ATI Stream early in 2009. They also said that they were in talks with lots of other companies who would add support.

In addition to the transcoding benefit, AMD also mentioned a bunch of other programs that already would be able to take advantage of the GPU:

• Adobe Acrobat®Reader: “Up to 20%* performance improvement when working with graphically rich, high resolution PDF files when compared to using the CPU only”
• Adobe Photoshop CS4® Extended: “Accelerated image and 3D model previewing (panning, zooming, rotation) and 3D manipulations to photos, for example mapping an image onto a 3D object”
• Adobe After Effects®CS4: “Allows for the rapid application of special effects to digital media”
• Adobe Flash®10: “Dynamic, graphically engaging Web content designed with these capabilities in mind”
• Microsoft Windows Vista®: “Harness stream processing to make image adjustments on the fly in Microsoft’s Picture Viewer application”
• Microsoft Expression®Encoder: “Accelerated encoding of content for Microsoft®Silverlight™, Windows Media video and audio”
• Microsoft Office® PowerPoint 2007: “Acceleration of slideshow playback for smooth animations, transitions and slide display”
• Microsoft Silverlight: “Unlocking the full potential for web based multi-media and robust user experience and interface”

As this is a new feature of the GPU, AMD admitted that it was not a huge list of supporting programs but they were confident that it would grown rapidly in the near future.

CONCLUSION

To some extent it feels like we are back in the days when 3D was introduced. While the new use of the GPU might not be as visually obvious, I cannot help thinking that this is the point where the GPU evolves from just a component that renders objects to a more useful multi-purpose component that will be useful for more than gaming geeks. With the new standards emerging, 2009 looks like the year when GPGPU finally gets its commercial breakthrough.

I am sure AMD is hoping this too. This should give them an opportunity to sell new faster cards to more than the gamers. If a regular causal or non-gamer can benefit from a good video card, then it will make it easier for AMD and NVIDIA to sell them a bit more expensive card than before, expanding the market.

It is a bit dissapointing though that AMD still will have nothing going on for physics acceleration in games. I cannot help thinking that they simply are waiting for OpenCL and/or the new DirectX to emerge. Will this give NVIDIA time to get an edge? Maybe in a few games, but if OpenCL/new DirectX does indeed become standards then it probably won't be long before the API-issue is moot anyway.

For me, I am just excited to get a free fast transcoder for all my movies that I want to bring with me on my iPhone.

The new Catalyst 8.12 with ATI Stream Technology will be out on the 10th od December (which also happens to be my birthday!).