AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) now available

• AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) now available

In a press release today (8th August 2011), AMD announced that the AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) Software Development Kit (SDK) v2.5 is now available. The press release was entitled "AMD Opens the Throttle on APU Performance with Updated OpenCL Software Development" and is available below :-


SUNNYVALE, Calif. —8/8/2011

AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced availability of the AMD Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) Software Development Kit (SDK) v2.5. Featuring advances in CPU to GPU data throughput, the latest version of the APP SDK provides developers a solid foundation to take full advantage of Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), including the latest AMD A-Series APUs offering brilliant HD graphics, supercomputer-like performance and All-Day battery life. (1)

The AMD APP SDK helps developers quickly and easily tap into the power of GPU compute and parallel processing in heterogeneous computing platforms, building on the OpenCL™ industry standard to help developers reach a broader market by writing applications that run on a variety of device form factors.

The updated AMD APP SDK v2.5 delivers a key performance enhancement that reduces CPU to GPU bandwidth limitations, achieving effective data transfer rates as high as 15GB per second with the latest AMD A-Series APUs. In addition to raw performance, AMD A-Series APUs also enable advanced capabilities that can greatly enhance the computing experience such as gestural interfaces, multi-monitor support, 3D entertainment and real-time image stabilization. (2)

“Improving performance and programmability on AMD platforms is a key initiative for us, and we work closely with developers to help us make the APU the best possible development platform,” said Manju Hegde, corporate vice president, AMD Fusion Experience Program. “With these latest SDK refinements, we are supporting continued growth of the ecosystem and building on the momentum generated by the successful AMD Fusion Developer Summit held in June of this year.”

“With the introduction of the AMD A-Series APUs and these new enhancements to the SDK, AMD is removing hardware barriers and reducing coding complexity to help developers build immersive computing experiences,” said Graham Brown, chief technology officer, Corel Corporation. “Leveraging open standards, AMD has created a comprehensive platform developers can use to deploy all available compute power and deliver a significantly enhanced experience to multimedia consumers.”

Other features of the AMD APP SDK v2.5 include enhancements to the OpenCL runtime designed to enable more efficient use of available GPU compute capabilities by reducing kernel launch times and PCIe transfer overheads.

In addition, the AMD APP SDK provides broad multi-GPU support on Windows platforms including support for APU plus discrete GPU that enables compute performance scaling across multiple GPUs, as well as AMD PowerXpress™ technology support for APU plus discrete GPU.

The AMD APP SDK is being used by developers who have entered the AMD OpenCL Coding Competition, being run by software development leader TopCoder. This contest, which was announced in June at the AMD Fusion Developer Summit, is open to software developers worldwide, and up to $50,000 in prizes will be awarded to winning submissions. For more information, visit http://amd.topcoder.com.

The AMD APP SDK v2.5 with OpenCL™ 1.1 support uses the OpenCL™ ICD (Installable Client Driver) as part of the software stack. Code written with beta releases of the ATI Stream SDK v2.0 requires changes to comply with the OpenCL™ ICD requirements.

For a full list of the enhancements and download. you can visit http://goo.gl/9TlTa. Information on AMD APP Showcase is available at http://goo.gl/IYNK4, OpenCL zone at http://goo.gl/npgG2. You can also visit the AMD Developer Central.

1. AMD defines “All Day” Battery life as 8+ hours as measured with Windows Idle.
2. Additional hardware (e.g. Blu-ray drive, HD or 10-bit monitor, TV tuner, Wireless HDMI connection) and/or software (e.g. multimedia applications) are required for the full enablement of some features. HD video requires an HD video source. Not all features may be supported on all components or systems - check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities and supported technologies. CP-05.

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