AMD Pioneers Stream Computing on Graphics Processor Units
Stream computing allows AMD's graphics processors to
accelerate complex computations working in concert with today's
high-performance, low-latency CPUs.
Along with leading companies and academic institutions
worldwide, AMD is working to build a complete stream computing ecosystem, one
that delivers the performance, applications, software and tools necessary to
turn AMD's low-cost stream computing vision into reality.
Fortune 1000 companies, leading software developers, and
academic institutions are demonstrating today that stream computing is the key
to tremendous performance in a number of applications.
What is Stream Computing
Stream
computing harnesses the tremendous processing power of graphic processors for
high-performance, data-intensive computing in a wide range of scientific,
business and consumer applications, providing organizations the ability to
process massive amounts of information in significantly less time.
Stream Computing Applications
The
accelerated processing associated with stream computing has implications for a
number of fields now and in the future, as the ecosystem around stream
computing matures:
Life Sciences & Scientific Research
AMD's
stream computing efforts are contributing to the life sciences by enabling
faster results in areas such as disease research, giving organizations the
opportunity to do more granular studies in the same amount of time as in the
past.
Climate research is another area of interest with stream
computing. Analysis of large data sets for storm and hurricane forecasting can
be done faster or in more detail, potentially resulting in the issuing of
severe weather warnings further in advance, and ultimately resulting in a
better understanding of the world's climate.
Enterprise Applications
Stream
Computing is being used in a wide range of compute-intensive enterprise
applications to deliver increased return on R&D investment and to
ultimately improve profitability for the organization.
Enterprises in financial services, manufacturing, energy
(oil and gas), content creation, mining, construction, and defense, and
governments will greatly benefit from the power of AMD's stream computing
products.
Major institutions have been using server farms to do risk
assessment using
Simulations conducted by PeakStream, Inc. (now owned by
Google) using AMD hardware show that stream computing can provide these
companies with more detailed answers in significantly less time, letting them
make faster business decisions, giving them a competitive advantage.
Simulated processing of risk assessment models similar to
those used by financial institutions were completed 16 times faster than
traditional methods (1).
Oil and gas companies are using stream computing to
analyze more data in shorter periods of time to more quickly and reliably
discover where resources lie, speeding discoveries of crude oil deposits. AMD
graphic processors on PeakStream's software platform are allowing oil and gas
companies to achieve 20 times faster seismic data modeling (1).
In homeland security, communications analysis and facial
recognition can be drastically improved using stream computing, with
implications for airport security, as well as photograph and video analysis.
For web search companies with incredibly large databases
to organize and sort through, stream computing may offer a compelling business
case providing increased processing power in less space.
AMD's Stream Computing Software Stack
AMD
has developed a comprehensive software stack for stream computing.
Download the stream computing software stack. Please note
that the SDK requires Windows XP.
(1)
Based on simulations performed by PeakStream, Inc. using traditional processing
models vs. using AMD’s ATI processors.