xbitlabs 的专访：AMD DX11、Eyefinity 以及更多

Edison

Definity: AMD Talks About DirectX 11, Eyefinity and More

DirextX 11 Technologies
X-bit labs: Do you plan to support/encourage video game developers to implement certain technologies, e.g. DirectX 11? How do you plan to support/encourage them?

Neal Robison: At the core of AMD Gaming Evolved is the Gamers’ Manifesto which is basically a group of guiding principles that define what AMD does for the gaming industry and developers. There are four tenets that AMD lives by: drive innovation, participate in the development of standards, support PC game developers and the PC gaming industry, and, last but not least, put gamers first. Guided by these four tenets, yes absolutely we want to encourage developers to implement features like DirectX 11 and ATI Eyefinity which we believe are well positioned to become must-haves for PC gaming.

How do you plan to promote ATI Eyefinity technology among game developers, considering the fact that there are very few gamers with multiple displays?

Neal Robison: Our developer relations team – game developers, engineers, relationship managers – work closely with our technology partners (with tools, lab testing, marketing support, and more) to make sure the hottest games are designed to take advantage of these innovative features. Optimizing new games for graphics innovations is just one small piece of the development support we offer; we also provide developers and publishers with code, tools, testing, hardware, marketing support and more.



X-bit labs: Congratulations about the industry’s first OpenGL 3.2/4.0 WHQL-certified driver. But does OpenGL make sense for video games nowadays in general?

Neal Robison: Although DirectX is probably the best known collection of APIs for games, OpenGL still remains an important part of gaming technology. AMD has worked extensively on shaping the OpenGL standard as well as providing ongoing support for it. As you alluded to in your question, in March of 2010 we were able to announce our support for OpenGL 3.3 and OpenGL 4.0, an incredible feat on the part of our OpenGL software team, and an act that speaks volumes to the commitment and continued support that we have for the many developers utilizing OpenGL. We believe in and encourage open and industry standards so maintaining OpenGL as a strong and viable graphics API is important to AMD.

X-bit labs: You implemented Truform technology into your GPUs back in 2001, but it was hardly used, just like the tessellation hardware in Xbox 360 and R600/RV770 GPUs. Will you continue to implement this kind of forward-looking technologies into forthcoming GPUs? Which directions should we look at in expectation of those promising features?

Neal Robison: Thanks for pointing out that we have continually added new and innovative features to our products.  We have every intention of continuing this trend in the future.  Categorically, image quality is near and dear to our hearts so we will continue to place emphasis on this area.  Additionally, graphics rendering performance is a focus, and we will tap new technologies that allow us to maintain or even reduce current levels of power consumption while delivering even more rendering performance.  Also, ATI Stream and the push to use the GPU for compute functions is a remarkable opportunity for the entire industry.

X-bit labs: Your implementation of tessellation hardware was always proprietary. However, from time to time you criticize some of your rivals for their proprietary technologies. But is there any differences?

Richard Huddy: The reality is that when a company is the first to introduce a technology, that technology will be proprietary at the time of introduction as only one company has access. What is done with that technology in the weeks and months after it is introduced to the market truly defines whether it is proprietary.  After introducing tessellation, we did in fact work with industry partners to allow broader adoption and our efforts were rewarded with the inclusion of tessellation in the industry standard DirectX 11.  The difference between our approach and that of some competitors is whether there is an effort to exclude or limit access to a new technology.  We did neither with tessellation.

X-bit labs: What was the main reason why no game developers utilized tessellation hardware from R600/RV770 GPUs?

Richard Huddy: A key point to consider is that we developed tessellation technology to meet a need that most game developers had expressed and that was the ability to further subdivide polygons to create more realistic surfaces.  As with any new development tool, there is a period in which developers kick the tires so to speak, but adopt the technology when the market opportunity warrants it.  In the case of tessellation, critical mass was achieved with the inclusion of tessellation in DirectX 11.  That’s fine, someone has to go first, and in this case it was AMD.

X-bit labs: How do you intend to support quick adoption of open standards, given the fact that it takes years to ratify them?

Neal Robison: The game industry in general likes open standards, and industry standards.  They gravitate to standards that ensure access to a large audience.  Our Gaming Evolved program will win out over closed or proprietary standards simply because we will not place restrictions on any of our partners. In short, there is no downside for supporting Gaming Evolved, while there are advantages because we will be able to ensure compatibility and a great game experience, something that PC gamers haven’t uniformly had in the past due to the wide range of unqualified hardware and software choices that sometimes led to compatibility issues.

X-bit labs: Will you be able to support implementation of GPU-accelerated physics effects into forthcoming video games using open-source engines, such as Bullet?

David Hoff: On a fairly regular basis game developers contact us to express interest in the Open Physics Initiative and ask about new developments. We continue to work with our partners to build out the library of physics tools available to developers, starting with the open source Bullet physics engine. The engine now has GPU acceleration in both OpenCL and Microsoft DirectCompute interfaces. The open source nature of Bullet allows anyone to adopt and use it as-is, or mix and match and customize as they please without any obligation to contribute back to the library.  This last aspect is attractive to many studios and game engine developers because Bullet gives them a well developed set of simulations they can then repurpose for their own needs. Additionally, many developers are attracted to Bullet physics because of its ability to run on any platform, including multi-core CPUs, GPUs, game consoles, smart phones and tablets.  It is incredibly flexible, and has been used by developers working on everything from triple-A titles to casual games.

Edison

Stereo 3D Here to Stay
X-bit labs: What do you think about the new comeback stereo 3D? Will it stay, or will it go, just like it did in the past?

Neal Robison: I like the stereoscopic 3D (S3D) experience as it adds further realism to games. I also feel graphics technology is now powerful enough to drive an incredible S3D experience.  The big question is whether it will have mass market appeal while glasses remain a requirement.  Will people balk at the $100 + price of active shutter glasses, currently the preferred route to deliver the S3D experience, or even more if they have to buy multiple sets of glasses for family and friends?  I believe S3D is here to stay, and will grow in the coming years, but how much growth depends to a large extent on the experience, and for some the need for glasses will be an impediment to adoption.

X-bit labs: Don’t you think that your recent support for 120Hz output actually advices your customers to buy proprietary stereo 3D solutions from DDD or iZ3D and even leaves the quality of user experience to providers of those solutions? But

Neal Robison:  Our Open Stereo 3D Initiative is meant to avoid making customers choose one proprietary solution over another.  We intend to offer S3D solutions that allow customers to choose from multiple vendors.  With 120Hz or higher quickly becoming a fairly standard specification for televisions and monitors, a recommended output of 120Hz ensures an uncompromising customer experience.



X-bit labs: Maybe, when there are available BDA-certified 3D glasses and displays/TVs, you are going to release your own stereo 3D software package (akin to Nvidia 3DTV Play, 3D Vision) that tailors games for stereoscopic output?

Neal Robison: 3DTV Play was a step in the right direction for Nvidia as it removed the restrictive requirements that threatened to lock out owners of a 3D Vision kit from enjoying S3D on anything but 3D Vision-Ready displays.  Can you image buying one of the new stereoscopic 3D televisions, setting up your 3D Vision computer and then finding that it didn’t work because the television manufacturer hadn’t paid to be part of the 3D Vision-Ready program? It’s exactly scenarios like that driving our Open Stereo 3D Initiative.  We want everyone that invests in an S3D experience to get exactly that, a great S3D experience. We intend to remove the potential headaches of hardware incompatibility.

X-bit labs: Will you support implementation of stereo 3D into forthcoming video game as a part of your Open Stereo 3D initiative?

Neal Robison: Absolutely.  In fact, we have already developed the quad-buffer capability required to support stereoscopic 3D games, so 3rd party middleware vendors can output stereo L/R images at 120 Hz (60 Hz per eye). At GDC this past March we announced our Open Stereo 3D Initiative and our intent to work with ecosystem partners, encourage cooperation and standards development with industry-wide participation to ultimately provide customers with more choice in interoperable hardware and software.

Edison

Back in the days of DirectX 9 ATI’s mainstream graphics cards used to have performance of high-end accelerators of the previous generation or even higher (Radeon 9600 Pro was faster than Radeon 8500, Radeon X700 XT was faster than Radeon 9800 Pro, Radeon HD 4670 was as fast as the Radeon HD 3870, etc). Nevertheless, there are opposite example, where affordable graphics cards (e.g., Radeon X1600 XT, Radeon HD 2600/3670, Radeon HD 5770) are slower compared to premium graphics boards that belong to the previous generation. .

Performance Comes First
X-bit labs: Do you think that high performance levels of mainstream hardware are crucial for rapid adoption of new technologies (e.g., DX11, Eyefinity, etc)?

Neal Robison: With DirectX 11 and ATI Eyefinity, we have been inclusive, making the technologies available throughout our ATI Radeon HD 5000 series stack, from cards costing less than $100 to ultra-enthusiast products priced above $500.  Technologies capable of delivering a better visual experience should be enjoyed by all, regardless of the customer’s budget.



X-bit labs: The market of mobile Internet devices is growing very rapidly. Do you see any opportunity there in terms of content as well specially designed graphics chips?

Neal Robison: At Computex, we provided an early look at our upcoming Fusion technology.  The opportunity for accelerated processing units (APU) is immense, and represents a natural evolution of the silicon within a PC.  At the start of the PC revolution, every chip had a dedicated purpose.  Over time, chips were able to combine functions, driving greater and greater efficiencies.  Within the last decade, small graphics processors were added to the north bridge to give us integrated graphics processors (IGP).  Similarly, moving the graphics processor from the north bridge to the CPU makes sense as it will bring a number of benefits such as power efficiency and faster access between CPU and GPU.  Our Fusion APUs will eventually drive a wide assortment of devices, quite possibly including very small form factors such as MIDs, delivering great battery life as well as great gaming and multimedia experiences.

Edison

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http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles ... 82010interview.html

luckissy

多谢了

ericman

说的啥啊！怎不翻译下，看来只能去驱家看上方的了