 Apple’s new Snow Leopard operating system (OS) is the first OS to integrate OpenCL, a cross-platform open standard that makes it possible for developers to tap into the vast gigaflops of computing power currently in the graphics processing unit (GPU) and use them for any application.
OpenCL on the NVIDIA CUDA architecture enables applications to use the CPU and the GPU together as co-processors. NVIDIA’s integration of the CUDA architecture across its brands and segments enables it to offer Apple users a broad selection of 10 GPU models officially supported by Snow Leopard. These are: NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, GeForce 9600M GT, GeForce 8600M GT, GeForce GT 120, GeForce GT 130, GeForce GTX 285, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GS, NVIDIA Quadro FX 4800, and Quadro FX 5600.
"NVIDIA chairs the OpenCL working group and is the only company to have OpenCL drivers for the GPU in the hands of thousands of Snow Leopard, Windows and Linux developers today," said Sanford Russell, general manager of CUDA at NVIDIA. "We’re excited to see Snow Leopard ship, signaling the arrival GPU Computing for all Apple users."
NVIDIA has a range of documentation and tools available for OpenCL including a detailed programming guide, a Best Practices guide with tips and tricks for tuning performance, SDK code samples and a soon-to-be-released Visual Profiler for performance optimization. In addition to working closely with Apple to integrate support for OpenCL into Snow Leopard, NVIDIA has also released OpenCL conformant drivers for Windows and Linux.
Links:
For more information, visit www.nvidia.com/opencl. |
