X-bit labs

ATI Unveils FireStream Products for General Purpose Computing on GPU.

Category: Video

by Anton Shilov

[ 09/29/2006 | 11:59 PM ]

ATI Technologies, a leading supplier of graphics processors, announced Friday its Stream Computing initiative to promote using graphics processing units (GPUs) for high-speed general-purpose (GP) computing.

“ATI processors are some of the most technologically advanced computing architectures on the planet. They were designed with more than just graphics in mind, and today we’re seeing the initial fruits of those labors with the introduction of our stream computing initiatives,” said Dave Orton, president and CEO, ATI Technologies.

Stream computing makes use of ATI's sophisticated graphics processors (GPUs) that have until now, been used solely to calculate and render millions of pixels onto computer monitors, hundreds of times each second. Stream computing harnesses that processing power for a wide range of scientific, business and consumer computing applications, providing organizations the ability to process “incredible” amounts of information in significantly less time.

According to ATI, using stream computing, in simulations today processing of risk assessment models similar to those used by financial institutions’ were completed 16 times faster than traditional methods (based on simulations performed by PeakStream using traditional processing models vs. using ATI processors.), oil and gas companies saw seismic model processing increased by more than 20 times (based on results by PeakStream), and Stanford University is seeing disease research accelerated by as much as 40 times, giving them the ability to process three years worth of research data in just one month (Based on Stanford University’s testing that compares work unit processing on an Intel Pentium 4 2.80GHz processor vs. similar processing being conducted on a Radeon X1900 XT).

Even though modern graphics processors from ATI or Nvidia do offer very high processing speed, the majority of software is developed for x86 computers and it may not be that easy and affordable to re-design programs to take advantage of GPGPU. Nevertheless, even Microsoft now recognizes the potential of GPGPU, which means that eventually the technology will become much more widespread.

“The raw computational power of these DirectX-based processors is incredible and harnessing those capabilities for general purpose applications makes a lot of sense,” said Dean Lester, general manager of the graphics platforms unit, Microsoft Corp. “Stream computing has the potential to positively impact how organizations analyze data by improving the accuracy and efficiency with which critical business decisions are made, as well as enhancing the overall consumer experience by enabling compelling, high-fidelity environments to gamers today. Microsoft is working closely with ATI towards a future where all of our customers can experience the benefits that stream computing has to offer.”