Got this video via email from one of the engineers on the FirePro team. Seems someone at Autodesk University was so impressed by FirePro graphic performance that they upgraded the FirePro team to one of the massive presidential suites at the Mandalay Bay. The video is entertaining to watch as much to see what a presidential suite looks like (nothing like the rooms I have stayed in in Vegas), as it is to see how the engineers get so blown away (obviously good for these guys to get aways from their computers now and then)!
At I/ITSEC 2009 Sogitec (subsidiary of Dassault Aviation) announced that they have certified the FirePro S400 and V8750 for their realistic flight simulation applications using the Apogée 6 Image Generator Systems. The S400 allows for synchronization of 3D rendering across multiple V8750 GPUs across multiple PCs (Framelock) - for multi-display/projector panoramic and realistic displays.
Video demo below - turn down the volume to avoid the annoying technobeat.
Also at the show today Wednesday 12/2 at 4:15 p.m., AMD will present ”Dense, Synchronized Multi-Display Systems for Visual Simulation” in the Innovation Showcase.
Dell updated their 17-inch mobile workstation Precision M6500, offering both Core i7 quad-core and Core i7 Extreme quad-core processors. The system supports up to 16 GB RAM and up to 3 storage devices. The 1920 x 1200 display is offered with a choice of ATI FirePro M7740 1GB or NVIDIA Quadro graphics accelerators.
In the last few weeks, web browser developers have announced that GPU hardware acceleration will be standard features on the leading Windows web browser including Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) and Firefox. These browsers will take advantage of the new Direct2D API in Windows 7 for rendering menus, graphics, animations, maps etc. Microsoft has for example talked about 60 frames per second for rendering Bing maps in IE 9 using the GPU, compared to 14 frames a second in IE8 using the current CPU graphics implementation.
In addition to 2D acceleration, there are several 3D solutions being developed. Google has announced O3D, a JavaScript API for creating GPU-accelerated 3D graphics applications that run via a plug-in in a browser window (for games, ads, 3D model viewers, product demos, virtual worlds, etc). O3D maximizes performance by programming to the GPU’s shader language directly. The Khronos Group has detailed WebGL, a plug-in free effort to support GPU-accelerated 3D graphics in web pages using JavaScript and HTML 5.
CG Channel recently reviewed the FirePro V8750 in the leading DCC apps, and directly compares the performance to the Quadro FX4800, the much pricier Quadro FX5800, and the FirePro V8650 (its predecessor). Cut to the chase: the FirePro V8750 is able to match or outpace all of the Nvidia cards across the majority of tests in Max, Maya, Softimage and Mudbox. And if you are a MachStudio Pro user, you will see a doubling of performance with the V8750 vs the V8650.
Quotes from the article:
“AMD has got a winner on it’s hands in the FirePro V8750. It is an excellent piece of hardware with excellent performance numbers. To say it was a pleasant surprise is a bit of an understatement, as I was a bit shocked that it performed so far ahead of it’s competition, and even outpaced it’s competitor’s highest end offering, the mighty 4 GB Quadro FX5800, something that it’s not even targeted at.”
“If you are considering purchasing a Quadro FX4800, or even a 5800, I suggest you seriously consider the FirePro V8750, believe me, you won’t be disappointed.”
If you are attending this years I/ITSEC 2009, the world’s largest modeling and simulation conference, be sure to check out the demos of ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology and in particular, the ATI FirePro S400 Synchronization Module setup rendering and synching video and 3D applications across 9 monitors. This year I/ITSEC 2009 is held in Orlando, FL from November 30 to December 3, 2009.
In the short span of two months, AMD has launched five DirectX 11/OpenGL 3 cards ranging in price from $150 to $600, each setting the performance title per price point. The latest is the dual-GPU powered Radeon HD 5970. In addition to unrivaled performance, the 5970 supports full DirectX 11, ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology, the latest UVD engine, is overclockable, offers the best game image quality of any graphics card and is power efficient for it's performance level (but still potentially hungry).
Adobe Flash Player 10.1 (beta) adds support for hardware decoding of H.264 video under Windows (XP, Vista, 7) when running on any of the FirePro professional graphics cards, as well as later Radeon cards.
AMD has given out more details on it “Fusion” strategy of taking advantage of their combined CPU and GPU strengths.
The first product (codenamed Llano and expected in 2011) will feature Phenom CPU cores tightly integrated with a GPU that supports DirectX11/OpenGL and OpenCL. Eventually this will be replaced by “Bulldozer” which will more tightly link the GPU math hardware into the multithreaded CPU core in a single-chip Accelerated Processing Unit (APU).
The Fusion approach AMD is taking, is designed to be developer- and existing render code-friendly, focused on open standards and compatibility with existing workloads, methods, and programming models.
I’ve written before about the real difference in CAD and DCC performance between using a professional graphics card like a FirePro and a consumer graphic card like a Radeon. But what about the new “Evergreen” line of DirectX 11-based GPUs like the Radeon HD 5870. This is getting awesome performance reviews. So how does this compare to a top of the line FirePro card?
Icrontic recently had the same question so he ran some benchmarking tests (Cinebench R10, SPECviewperf 3ds Max, and SPECviewperf Maya) between the Radeon HD 5870 and the FirePro V8750 (with a GeForce 8800GTX thrown in for comparison).
Quote from the article for Max: ”The FirePro V8750 handily overpowered the Radeon HD 5870 by more than twice the average framerate. The Radeon HD 5870 followed with a strong showing of its own, as it doubled the average framerate put up by the GeForce 8800 GTX.”
Quote for Maya: ”Results in Maya were nothing short of shocking. While the HD 5870 was in a virtual dead heat with the 8800 GTX, the FirePro V8750 quite simply facepounded both of them. In fact, the V8750’s average performance increase over the big, bad Radeon came out to about 650%. Six hundred fifty percent.”
Why is this the case when the basic hardware specs look so similar? Chip and board-level optimizations on the FirePro account for the bulk of the performance difference (sorry softmodders). On top of that are the optimized drivers and heavy testing to ensure optimal performance. Icrontic is actually going to talk to AMD engineers to get more details.
Also one great quote from the comments referencing the price differential: “One thing to remember is that the cost of the card is inmaterial compared to the cost of the people running the hardware. If the artist is waiting for screen re-draws that’s productivity lost.”
FireUser.com is a community resource for visualization, 3D, video and engineering professionals to learn about the latest acceleration and display technologies, discuss support issues, as well as influence the features and direction of the FireGL and FirePro accelerator line.
CG Channel recently 
In the short span of two months, AMD has launched five DirectX 11/OpenGL 3 cards ranging in price from $150 to $600, each setting the performance title per price point. The 
AMD has 
Icrontic recently had the same question so 
