AMD Now Offers Free OpenCL For CPU Beta Download

AMD has started offering a free OpenCL for CPU beta download as part of its ATI Stream SDK v2.0 Beta Program. AMD (News - Alert) has also submitted conformance logs to the Khronos Working Group for certification from its Microsoft Windows and Linux CPU beta releases.

 

The beta helps programmers to develop parallel software programs and take advantage of multi-core x86 CPUs to accelerate software and deliver a better computing experience. Open Computing Language is an open, royalty-free programming standard for parallel programming CPUs and GPUs found in personal computers, servers and handheld devices. OpenCL provides AMD’s multi-core CPUs and ATI Stream technology with a parallel programming platform that application vendors and developers can use to better utilize all the computational capabilities available in their systems.

 

According to Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager of AMD Products Group, by supporting CPUs and GPUs with their OpenCL environment, AMD provides developers easy access to both processing resources. This enables developers to efficiently write cross-platform applications for heterogeneous architectures with a single programming interface. Bergman also added that AMD is supporting OpenCL with their ATI Stream SDK as an enabler of wider GPGPU adoption among developers and users.

 

AMD is the first company to deliver a beta release of an OpenCL software development platform for x86-based CPUs. This release is proof of AMD’s commitment to deliver a complete heterogeneous OpenCL development platform for both the CPU and GPU. The OpenCL for CPU beta from AMD is a key component of the complete OpenCL development platform included in the next ATI Stream software development kit. It is expected that the next ATI Stream SDK will be released in 2009.

 

As the only provider in the industry that delivers both high-performance CPU and GPU technologies, OpenCL holds huge opportunities for AMD. ATI Stream technology enables developers to divide software workloads between different hardware elements like CPU and GPU by supporting OpenCL.