B1Gx5MurF

December 21, 2009 at 4:49pm

I think ATI started hardware accelerating HD streaming content with their 9.11 catalyst release.  For me there's definitely an improvement, but its not really noticeable unless i'm trying to do like a dozen other things at the same time.

 What gets me excited are the possibilities in new content.  Quake Live for example, I remember when I spent $2k to build a system that could play that game, but now those same system requirements can run in a browser.  This could be a preview at possibilities of cloud computing.

 Another is folding@home, cpu's cant even come close to matching even mid range gpu's, I wonder what other applications which aren't really feasible using cpu power could come out of the woodworks

visibly_stealthy

December 19, 2009 at 12:14am

 why would I reply without reading the entire comment? I can't think of one person who uses their computer for just gaming. I'm sure they use media players and internet browsers and such, not my point but still, carrying on games are one of the very few things I can think of that require a computer full potential. Save for scientific research and the like. Maybe if you are playing blu-ray's but even that doesnt require very much computational power mostly gpu horsepower. And if games aren't productive I guess the military uses some games as a pre-training platform for no inherent reason? I guess I'll keep my mouth shut since I have no idea what I am talking about, and am primitive to you. I'll stick with being a gamer that's a power user, but not a power user for the simple given fact that I am gamer!

 

In the hands of a master, any object can become a field improvised, lethal weapon.

jonahkirk

December 18, 2009 at 4:45pm

Of course gamers are power users. Have you seen the wattage our 4890's in quad crossfire suck down? It ain't a 1200 W power supply for no reason. LOL

visibly_stealthy

December 18, 2009 at 4:05pm

 "what's with gamers calling themselves power users, when all they do is game?" What an ascinine question.  So that means, because I play games I'm a gamer, And because I'm a gamer, I'm a poweruser that only play's games? That sounds stupid, yet is what is being implied by your question. Sure I could spend 5 seconds coming up with a few different analogies to make my point. but your point is moot, and would require but a paltry rebuttal to prove you are ill informed.But I have wasted enough of my time on this. Because I need to go be a poweruser that only games.....................as previously stated, you sound like an idiot.

In the hands of a master, any object can become a field improvised, lethal weapon.

lien_meat

December 18, 2009 at 12:05pm

I don't really game much either.  I find it a huge waste of time.  None of my computers have decent video cards (read laptop with integrated intel, desktop with a 6 series nvidia)...but the day will probably arrive when even my work will necessitate something that can do gpu computing well.  That's probably when I'll buy a decent video card.

And hey...just wondering...what is with gamers calling themselves power users...when all they do is game.
Gaming no more equates you as being a power use than does running photoshop.  Gaming isn't even a productive use for a computer...  I'm fine with the term if it's used to distinguish those that know how to use a computer to it's potential rather than just game...but that's not often the case...

dpomales

December 18, 2009 at 11:36am

Excellent point, I used to run bare foot too. Maybe I still am. After graduating to Windows 7 64bit professional, I realize those days are over. I love my Visiontek Radeon HD 4650 GPU system. It is running on a GA-61PME-S2P Gigabyte motherboard. I originally loaded the OS to a ECS GeForce 6100SM-M motherboard. The ECS motherboard started to fail because of old age ( leaky electrolytic capacitors ). I saw that the Gigabyte motherboard had the same chipset so I installed and booted it without reloading the OS. The RAID-0 striped array was detected and came up without a hitch on Windows 7 64 bit. Supplemental drivers installed automatically. Okay I had to redo my license with Microsoft, but that was the only problem. I expect the Gigabyte motherboard to last longer. This is due to it's use of aluminum capacitors and ferrite cores on the inductors for the four phase voltage regulator on the AMD AthlonX2 64bit processor. Details...

captrespect

December 18, 2009 at 11:33am

Not Maximum at all.

Biceps

December 18, 2009 at 11:24am

Sir, I have an extra AGP-slot 7800 Nvidia card that I will GIVE you.  No one should have to suffer with a 4200. No one, you hear me??!

logicmaster2003

December 18, 2009 at 10:49am

GeForce4 Ti-4200 from 2002 ?

Mine.. one of my 3 PC is running on ATI-8500DV (year sub-2000) for almost 10 years now ! - I use it on a daily basis to record tv shows :) 

JasonCross

December 18, 2009 at 10:12am

Grand Central Dispatch? Am I missing something? Everything I've ever read about it points to GCD being a task-parallel thread pooling system for multicore CPUs. There's no access to GPU hardware in there, that I have seen (I'm not a programmer, I'm just going by what I've read). Now, Apple is supporting OpenCL, so there's still that avenue for GPU acceleration in Snow Leopard.

nekollx

December 18, 2009 at 9:35am

 The interesting thing is is in this future you propote now even non gamers will have a lower hurdle to entry. Joe Bob gets a GPU powered pc to watch movies,a few months later he reads about The Sims 5, interested he checks the back of the box "Hey i can run this." And takes the box home that day instead of hitting up some random forum to find out why his new game doesn't run and learning he needs a GPU.

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