Interview with Tamas Miklos, Lead Developer of AIDA64

[Fottemberg]

I think that this interview could be interesting for the XS community. AIDA64 is one of the most used diagnostic and benchmarking software in the world. Enjoy the reading!

http://www.bitsandchips.it/7-softwar...aida64?start=2

[El Mano]

Q:Today ARM is everywhere, we even start to have notebooks with ARM chips. Will we see AIDA64 for Android or Windows RT in the future? Do you think that the results of the two different platforms (x86 and ARM) are comparable when using the same benchmarking software (3D Mark, for example)?

TM: Currently, we have no plans for an ARM port, since we believe Windows RT is already dead and buried.

Mwa ha ha ha ha

I like this guy.

[s1nykuL]

Mwa ha ha ha ha

I like this guy.

RT was never alive it was stillborn

[STaRGaZeR]

I think this review is golden. He puts into words what any sane person would think. The best IMO:

Libraries are definitely not the way to go. HSA is an interesting concept, but it has a number of drawbacks which are rarely advertised. The major issue is latency: it is simply impossible to issue a short compute task and get the results without a considerable overhead caused by the OpenCL framework and the video driver. Then there?s the issue of the whole OpenCL approach: all video and CPU drivers have to include an OpenCL compiler, which is very convenient for developers, but it also means that expected performance and latencies can greatly vary between driver updates and between manufacturers. Things that work with the current video driver will not necessarily work with the next video driver release. With direct architecture programming ? the way AIDA64 CPU and FPU benchmarks work ? there are no drivers and latencies to worry about, so you can use extreme optimizations and utilize the latest technologies at their full potential.

With video games, as John Carmack suggested in an interview, we would have to go back to direct programming to eliminate the huge latencies caused by video drivers and DirectX. The original Doom was a perfect example of how you can utilize the full potential of the hardware to ensure maximum video experience ? you simply cannot do that today, since it?s not possible to program the GPU directly. But, in my opinion, this will not change unless a major change happens in video rendering, or one of the big video companies comes up with a feasible direct programming solution, and stops revamping the whole GPU architecture at every second or third GPU generation update.

The AIDA64 OpenCL GPGPU benchmarks are already under development. We haven't specified a release date yet, simply because with those benchmarks we keep running into new issues, virtually every day. OpenCL compilers and video drivers, and even the underlying GPU hardware aren?t as mature and bulletproof as one would expect from such big companies as AMD, Intel or nVIDIA. The current set of AIDA64 GPGPU benchmarks are already capable of revealing such dirty secrets that the manufacturers would prefer to keep concealed. Overheating and throttling video cards, very slow and buggy OpenCL compilers are just a few examples

Currently, we have no plans for an ARM port, since we believe Windows RT is already dead and buried. With Haswell Intel continues closing the gap in power efficiency, and they will keep delivering better and better products this year (Silvermont) and especially next year (Broadwell). If you look back on the past 30 years, Intel and x86 have beaten almost everything out there, including DEC Alpha, MIPS, Motorola m68k, and put many companies ? like Cyrix, Harris, NEC, SiS, TI, Transmeta, UMC ? out of the CPU business. Thanks to the 64-bit extensions developed by AMD, x86 has even killed IA-64 and Itanium, although Intel will never admit it. Many people hate Intel for x86, and try to make it look like an outdated, previous-century technology, but there?s still a lot of potential in it, and millions of guys stick to x86 for backwards compatibility. ARM may just become the next Alpha, or live next to Intel and x86 ? we?ll see in the coming years

[Fottemberg]

Direct programming should be a very good thing, but it's hard to write if you want to realize a big job (Like an AAA video game), imho.

[kuroikenshi]

I still remember Zophar's (i believe written mainly by zsKnight) Zsnes,

that piece of code was written in Assembler (gotta love the uses of machine code), main reason why console emulation through that emulator was successful even using on-board S3 video back in the late 1990's.

I am not well versed on this side of the industry, but from the software expenditure side of the house I can see how spending more budget on coding and development might not always be an attractive approach for gaming companies, also this would slow down the frequency in which games coded this way would be released.

[STaRGaZeR]

Direct programming should be a very good thing, but it's hard to write if you want to realize a big job (Like an AAA video game), imho.

What GPUs really need is an ISA. Everything that relies on drivers fails sooner or latter, and until it fails, it has performance and stability issues. The problem? They wouldn't be able to completely change the underlying architecture every 2-3 years.

[Fottemberg]

The problem? They wouldn't be able to completely change the underlying architecture every 2-3 years.

When videocards were only 2D the situation was simplier. With 3D GPUs, it's complicated keep the same architectures for a long time. A lot of features have to be implemented by hardware. We have to choose if the today GPUs are enough or not, in my opinion.

[PatRaceTin]

haha Windows RT is suck

[Fottemberg]

haha Windows RT is suck

What Miklos says is more complex, and could be recapitulated with this verdict: ARM is not the best architecture for the advanced productivity software/systems.
Windows RT is a good entertainment O.S., but today Android defeats it wherever.