Warp wrote:
>   I'm also wondering about what advantages there could be compared to
> current FPUs.

The main difference, Warp, is the shear number of execution units.  On a 
CPU, you're looking at what, 3-5 FPUs *at most* per core, meaning a Quad 
core chip would have 12-20.

On a GPU, we're now seeing >100 execution units.

>   Besides, there will probably be data transfer overhead. Games can simply
> upload their vertex and pixel shader code into the graphics card and then
> let the graphics card do what they do. Games don't need the results back.

One of the main reasons the switch was made from AGP to PCIe is that 
PCIe is bidirectional, allowing efficient communication in both 
directions.  Although previous generations of cards don't take advantage 
of this, the 8800 series does (a little bit), and future cards are 
likely to as well.

I looked into the CUDA to see if it was something I could take advantage 
of for personal projects, and unfortunately it isn't.  There are too 
many restrictions on what data may be accessed, what data has to be 
shared, et cetera, for it to be useful for something as complex as 
POV-Ray at this time.  Perhaps with future revisions (based on future 
cards) it will be more flexible, and thus more usable, but for now it 
won't help.

I tried to find information on DAAMIT's cards and programming them, but 
I couldn't find anything public on the Web.

-- 
...Ben Chambers
www.pacificwebguy.com

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