AMD, NVIDIA, and Developers Weigh In On GameWorks Controversy 80
Dputiger writes: "Since NVIDIA debuted its GameWorks libraries there's been allegations that they unfairly disadvantaged AMD users or prevented developers from optimizing code. We've taken these questions to developers themselves and asked them to weigh in on how games get optimized, why NVIDIA built this program, and whether its an attempt to harm AMD customers. 'The first thing to understand about [developer/GPU manufacturer] relations is that the process of game optimization is nuanced and complex. The reason AMD and NVIDIA are taking different positions on this topic isn't because one of them is lying, it’s because AMD genuinely tends to focus more on helping developers optimize their own engines, while NVIDIA puts more effort into performing tasks in-driver. This is a difference of degree — AMD absolutely can perform its own driver-side optimization and NVIDIA's Tony Tamasi acknowledged on the phone that there are some bugs that can only be fixed by looking at the source. ... Some of this difference in approach is cultural but much of it is driven by necessity. In 2012 (the last year before AMD's graphics revenue was rolled into the console business), AMD made about $1.4 billion off the Radeon division. For the same period, NVIDIA made more than $4.2 billion. Some of that was Tegra-related and it's a testament to AMD's hardware engineering that it competes effectively with Nvidia with a much smaller revenue share, but it also means that Team Green has far more money to spend on optimizing every aspect of the driver stack.'"
Re:Wrong target of blame. (Score:4, Funny)
The part of the driver which is compiled as a kernel module to serve as adapter against the binary blob?
You thought that it wanted the linux-headers package just for the fun of reading it on its own time?
Likely a faulty chair to keyborad interface. (Score:2, Funny)
It reminds me of some glitchy 1990s spam ladened chat program.
Sounds to me like you are using a 1990's card too, AFAIK "catalyst" is no longer supported and it's certainly not bundled with recent cards. I updated my NVIDIA driver just the other day, sure the driver is enourmous (250MB) but it installed flawlessly in the background without a reboot. I play WoT regularly at maximum detail on an i7 and have no issues other than the 200ms round trip from Oz to the US but it stays playable until that hits ~350ms. I've also been mucking around with CUDA for a few months, the developer resources are excellent and free for non-commercial use. If you really want to squeeze every last flop out of the card NVIDIA provide free resources such as the online book "CPU Gems" and the white papers that accompany some of the demo source, such as the optimised n-body example.
Stop creating new cards I can cook and egg on
My $150 GE Force 750 maxes out at just over a terraflop, significantly faster than ANY super computer that existed pre-Y2K. It uses less wattage than an old fashined light bulb, sure it can fry an egg, even scramble it with the on-card fan, but why is that a problem if it remains within its operating specs, is it that difficult to keep your eggs away from the video card. If your chickens are attracted to the heat then move the chickens outside where they belong.
In my professional opinion, I think the problem on your system is the chair to keyborad interface, it has nothing to do with NVIDIA or AMD's trully amazing technology since there is absolutely no need to fddle with default driver settings just to watch a movie. Listen to your wife and save yourself two headaches, forget about the PC drivers and just pay for the damned cable.
Re:Optimizing the driver stack... (Score:2, Funny)
...Stop creating new cards I can cook and egg on...
I think I've found your problem. What you are looking for is called a skillet, and it does not go in the computer.