On 16-1-2010 15:58, nemesis wrote:
> andrel wrote:
>> On 15-1-2010 21:38, nemesis wrote:
>>> andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>>>> to try to port to one specific architecture. Particularly if that is 
>>>> not
>>>> supported by the standard setup of a typical POV user.
>>>
>>> GPU's are part of every computer nowadays whether you use them or not.
>>>
>>
>> GPUs are, but do they support CUDA or similar*?
> 
> they will once code is complete.  

Ah, still young and naive. I have seen a lot of promising technology and 
software discontinued after a few years. I think it is highly like ( 
 >70% ) that this particular type of GPU programming will be obsolete in 
5 years time. Most probably replaced by an API where you don't know if 
software is running on a GPU or not, if I can have a guess. Because of 
backwards compatibility you know.

> By the time povray 3.7 was started, 
> the thought of running raytracing on GPU was a distant dream.  Looks 
> like hardware evolves far faster than software.  You can certainly tell 
> that by how slow paradigms change and new languages with radically new 
> ideas flourish (motivated by hardware changes anyway)...
> 
>> Of the three machines here that are on, one does (GeForce 8800GTS) one 
>> doesn't (GeForce FX 5200) and one I don't know (a fairly recent HP 
>> laptop).
> 
> The first is the only one that counts, since it's the most recent (and 
> fairly old already BTW).  Laptops always use yesterday's technology.

The laptop is the newest by far. The reason I have that 8800 is that I 
don't do much things that require a fast graphics card (mainly signal 
processing and some POV if I get a chance. Blender is the only thing 
that might benefit from a better card.). I decided not to spend money on 
that when I bought the machine and wait until I really needed one. 
Assuming that by then I could get more performance for less money.

> We shouldn't have to wait for the iPhone to have a proper GPU to begin 
> any such coding...

Ok, be my guest. I'll wait and see what you come up with.

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