Unreal Engine 3 update to support DirectX 11 features
It appears that the latest iteration of the Unreal Engine will be joining the DirectX 11 club, courtesy of help from NVIDIA, in the near future.
Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 game development tools are by far the most popular third party software tools used by game developers around the world. Today at GDC 2011, Epic Games announced that an upcoming unreal to Unreal Engine 3 will allow the tools to support DirectX 11 graphics features including tessellation.
The demo is running at Epic's GDC 2011 booth using Nvidia's GeForce GTX 500-based graphics cards. Unreal Engine 3 already supports Nvidia's propiertary gameplay features such as PhysX (for in-game physics) and APEX (for more realistic animations). In addition to Unreal Engine 3 the free UDK software will also get an update that will support DirectX 11 graphics features.
Big Download has the story.The demo is running at Epic's GDC 2011 booth using Nvidia's GeForce GTX 500-based graphics cards. Unreal Engine 3 already supports Nvidia's propiertary gameplay features such as PhysX (for in-game physics) and APEX (for more realistic animations). In addition to Unreal Engine 3 the free UDK software will also get an update that will support DirectX 11 graphics features.
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Lucid Virtu GPU virtualization software review
Lucid's promise to provide compatibility between NVIDIA and AMD graphics boards in multi-GPU setups never really became the big thing those behind it were hoping it might be, but has the introduction of integrated GPUs on Intel's Sandy Bridge products opened up a new avenue for Lucid's technology and background? They thing so, and the result is Virtu.
The name Virtu is short for GPU Virtualization and the setup is pretty simple at a high level.
Start with a platform that supports Sandy Bridge's processor graphics (H6x or Z68) and connect your display to the motherboard's video out. Add in a supported discrete GPU, supply power but don't connect your monitor to it.
Virtu behaves a lot like Hydra. It intercepts API calls and passes them along to a GPU of its choosing. Unlike Hydra however, the goal here isn't to spread the load across multiple GPUs. Instead, Virtu aims to match each task with the GPU best suited to it.
Video output is handled by SNB's GPU, data is simply copied from the dGPU's frame buffer to the iGPU's frame buffer for output. There should be some overhead in this process however Lucid claims it's minimal.
What we end up with is a system that should run all 3D games on your discrete GPU, and run all video decoding and encoding on SNB's GPU. Since this isn't switchable graphics but rather a form of GPU virtualization you can actually run iGPU and dGPU applications at the same time (e.g. you can watch a movie in one window on the iGPU and play a game in another on the dGPU).
AnandtechStart with a platform that supports Sandy Bridge's processor graphics (H6x or Z68) and connect your display to the motherboard's video out. Add in a supported discrete GPU, supply power but don't connect your monitor to it.
Virtu behaves a lot like Hydra. It intercepts API calls and passes them along to a GPU of its choosing. Unlike Hydra however, the goal here isn't to spread the load across multiple GPUs. Instead, Virtu aims to match each task with the GPU best suited to it.
Video output is handled by SNB's GPU, data is simply copied from the dGPU's frame buffer to the iGPU's frame buffer for output. There should be some overhead in this process however Lucid claims it's minimal.
What we end up with is a system that should run all 3D games on your discrete GPU, and run all video decoding and encoding on SNB's GPU. Since this isn't switchable graphics but rather a form of GPU virtualization you can actually run iGPU and dGPU applications at the same time (e.g. you can watch a movie in one window on the iGPU and play a game in another on the dGPU).
The Lucid Virtu software is a layer that actually rests below any discrete or integrated graphics driver and just above the DirectX layer. This allows the software to intercept calls to specific executable files and assign those commands to a specific GPU. One note here though is that currently only DirectX games are supported - OpenGL is not compatible with this software solution.
To be sure, this is a completely software based solution - no Lucid or other vendors hardware (other than both a Sandy Bridge processor and discrete GPU) are required for it work. The HYDRA technology that Lucid also offers for discrete GPU scaling enhancements does require both a hardware and software implementation; Virtu does not share that trait.
This abstraction layer is responsible for sending individual tasks to either discrete or processor graphics as well as merging them back again into a common frame buffer. The flow diagram below shows that for a game running on the discrete GPU, the resulting images are actually sent to the frame buffer of Intel's HD 3000/2000 graphics rather than to the cards own frame buffer. This is allows the Intel display outputs to properly display the workloads being rendered on BOTH GPUs.
PC PerspectiveTo be sure, this is a completely software based solution - no Lucid or other vendors hardware (other than both a Sandy Bridge processor and discrete GPU) are required for it work. The HYDRA technology that Lucid also offers for discrete GPU scaling enhancements does require both a hardware and software implementation; Virtu does not share that trait.
This abstraction layer is responsible for sending individual tasks to either discrete or processor graphics as well as merging them back again into a common frame buffer. The flow diagram below shows that for a game running on the discrete GPU, the resulting images are actually sent to the frame buffer of Intel's HD 3000/2000 graphics rather than to the cards own frame buffer. This is allows the Intel display outputs to properly display the workloads being rendered on BOTH GPUs.
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Crysis 2 multiplayer demo now available on PC
Want to give Crysis 2 a try? Now you can!
PC gamers looking to get a taste of the upcoming FPS Crysis 2 can now download the game's previously announced multiplayer demo. The demo can be grabbed from Shacknews right now.
Players can square off in six vs. six matches on two New York City-based maps. The first map, Skyline, pits players against each other on the rooftops and interiors of destroyed Manhattan skyscrappers while the second map, Pier 17, throws players in an open environment as they battle between limited cover.
You can download the demo from Shack News.Players can square off in six vs. six matches on two New York City-based maps. The first map, Skyline, pits players against each other on the rooftops and interiors of destroyed Manhattan skyscrappers while the second map, Pier 17, throws players in an open environment as they battle between limited cover.
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AMD Radeon HD 6990 "Antilles" sneak preview
We all know that a dual-GPU Radeon HD 6990 part is on its way at some point in the future - however, [H]ard|OCP have actually managed to get their hands on one for some very brief testing.
The specifications and performance of this video card are currently under embargo. In fact AMD even wants the video card's name kept low key at this point. The only reason we can even tell you the name of the video card is because it was revealed as public knowledge back during the Radeon HD 6870 launch. It was shown in a slide then that the dual-GPU video card above the Radeon HD 6970 would be code named "Antilles" and called the "Radeon HD 6990." Therefore, we will refer to Antilles as Radeon HD 6990 throughout this preview.
While we cannot reveal the specifications or framerate numbers to you today, we will say this, we are happy with what AMD has provided. The specifications are everything HardOCP had hoped for. We think gamers will be pleased with the hardware. This video card is better out-of-the-gate than the Radeon HD 5970 ever was.
Our video card came to us in this stealthy and shiny briefcase. Upon opening it we were pleased to see the Radeon HD 6990. At this time, all we can show you is this single photograph of the reverse side of the video card, proving it has two GPUs on board. There will be more photographs to come later.
Read the sneak peek in full over here.While we cannot reveal the specifications or framerate numbers to you today, we will say this, we are happy with what AMD has provided. The specifications are everything HardOCP had hoped for. We think gamers will be pleased with the hardware. This video card is better out-of-the-gate than the Radeon HD 5970 ever was.
Our video card came to us in this stealthy and shiny briefcase. Upon opening it we were pleased to see the Radeon HD 6990. At this time, all we can show you is this single photograph of the reverse side of the video card, proving it has two GPUs on board. There will be more photographs to come later.
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