AMD Mantle - New API

[Gir]

AMD has revealed an API that gives developers direct access to GPUs using the GCN architecture.


Mantle benefits include reducing the CPU overhead to enable 9X more draw calls per second than other APIs. This will provide PC gamers proper multi-tasking scaling on the CPU without the need to handle all the background draw calls required by the older APIs. Other Mantle benefits include leveraging optimization work from next-generation game consoles to PCs, and new rendering techniques. Thus with direct access to all GPU features, developers can unlock higher graphics performance on consoles and gaming rigs with GCN-based GPUs.



http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/amd-mantle-api-gcn-battlefield-4,news-45619.html


Is this any good for Dolphin ?

[MayImilae]

This was already discussed by the developers in the IRC and mentioned in the latest article.

https://dolphin-emu.org/blog/2013/09/26/dolphin-emulator-and-opengl-drivers-hall-fameshame/#cuthere

[pauldacheez]

Y'know, normally it pisses me off when people just read about some buzzword-y technology they don't really understand and then ask if it'll make Dolphin faster (e.g. the guy who asked about tessellation a few weeks back), but Mantle could actually be pretty helpful for Dolphin due to (TRIGGER WARNING: SPECULATION/TALKING OUT OF MY ASS) the massive decrease in API function stalls (currently one of the biggest bottlenecks in Dolphin) and ability to manage memory more manually, thus letting us push more work onto the GPU. It's also possible that more obscure/exotic/complex functions of the GameCube GPU that we can't emulate with other APIs without reverting to software rendering can be emulated on the GPU via Mantle.

[NaturalViolence]

pauldacheez Wrote:Y'know, normally it pisses me off when people just read about some buzzword-y technology they don't really understand and then ask if it'll make Dolphin faster

Yeah where have I seen this type of thread before in the past.....
-openCL
-CUDA
-AVX
-TSX
-SSE4+
-quad core cpus
-6 and 8 core cpus

Unfortunately these companies are very good at convincing consumers that they need new feature X without explaining to them what it actually does or how it should be used. So consumers just assume that it's "better" than whatever the alternative is because company Y told them so. And any software that doesn't implement this amazing new feature is evil and/or stupid. Although in this case our developers have actually expressed interest in this particular feature so this time it's not entirely wrong to ask.

[delroth]

If Mantle is how I imagine it (low-level access to the GCN command queue, braindead simple API that tries to make as many things transparent as possible instead of hiding implementation behind layers of abstraction), it should help Dolphin a lot. Most of our speed issues with GPU emulation are due to API limitations (GL not supporting client-side buffers until 4.4, for example).

[Anti-Ultimate]

According to this: http://www.planet3dnow.de/cms/3823-mantle-halboffen-fur-andere-hersteller-auch-auf-den-konsolen-vertreten-zukunftiger-zeitvorteil-bei-spielveroffentlichungen/ (Try putting it into translator)
it's not open like OpenCL/GL and you must pay a fee or something

[Starscream]

*Looks into the future: Sees support for anything but this type of video card being dropped*

[RachelB]

(09-28-2013, 10:27 PM)Starscream Wrote: *Looks into the future: Sees support for anything but this type of video card being dropped*

We're actually just going to whitelist hardware we like, that can get good speeds, and refuse to run if your hardware isn't on the list. it will save us a lot of trouble dealing with people complaining that their laptops get bad speed.

[delroth]

(09-28-2013, 10:27 PM)Starscream Wrote: *Looks into the future: Sees support for anything but this type of video card being dropped*

Dolphin is open source. If people are not happy with decisions from the development team they are free to fork the project and make their better alternative.

[Shonumi]

delroth Wrote:Dolphin is open source. If people are not happy with decisions from the development team they are free to fork the project and make their better alternative.

There's always Gekko :p

At any rate, this is just a low-level API correct? So it's possible that other vendors could come up with their own implementations for the Mantle API? If that's the case, it would be a boon for future IGPs if Dolphin eventually supports it (and it turns out to yield performance increases).

EDIT : Seems it's limited to the GCN architecture though (AMD only?).