AMD Mantle API [updating]

http://semiaccurate.com/2013/12/30/happened-eas-battlefield-4-mantle-patch/

 

Seems to be a good idea. If you want to have a showcase title for a new technology, it's not great if that showcase title is losing reputation fast, or once you've implemented Mantle, the game will be fast but unstable. Also, it could send a message that Mantle is being implemented instead of fixing the bugs.

 

So, S|A thinks there will be Mantle demos all over CES. That's fine. Hopefully Nixxes will show up and showcase Thief.

 

StarSwarm benchmark to be released this Month

Stardock's Brad Wardell talks Nitrous engine, Mantle, and their collaboration with Oxide to make Nitrous engine ready to license to third parties. http://forums.elementalgame.com/451041

Plus, Star Swarm benchmark to be released on Steam later this month.
http://forums.elementalgame.com/451041/get;3430480

 

Stardock's CEO also mentioned that the Star Swarm demo will be highly moddable. He hopes that someone will make opening battle from Revenge from the Sith with it.

Im interested to see what did he meant exactly when he said that their engine works like Renderman.

 

They actually shade the sample points before rasterization phase, how they render the scene is unknown. (micropolygons, point splatting, something else?)

 

Two more slides.

 

A crapload more of slides: http://imgur.com/a/Yzo8L

 

It'd be nice if marketing people used average figures instead of the utterly useless "up to" once in a while.

 

Am I reading the StarSwarm-slides correctly - Mantle is performing just like the game would perform without any API overhead?
And that if Intels HD-graphics would work with Mantle as well as GCN does, it would outperform A8-Kaveri in StarSwarm CPU-limited scenarios, too?

 

I read it as: No API overhead = Mantle

 

Performance wise, sure, but the 1st slide which says "No API overhead" can't be Mantle, since it has Core i7 result on it too, and HD Graphics doesn't support Mantle - if it was using separate GCN card on both, A8-7600 only results on next slide would surely have to be different?

 

Slide with system config is missing. I'm guessing Haswell is paired with AMD discrete GPU.

 

T_T album is empty? Did anyone snatch images?

 

http://imgur.com/a/oZQ7R

Even more slides this time, got this one saved, too (forgot to download the last one)

 

Yes. The performance numbers are even the same (8, 12, 30, 30+). They are just plotted differently of presentation purposes.

A8 numbers are probably with a discrete GPU as well, to level the field.

 

Unlikely, if it was Mantle and discrete GPUs used, surely it would say Mantle, and in the next slide why would they state only A8 if it was A8+discrete, when they clearly state in other slides if discrete GPU is used?

 

Is the BF4 Mantle update really supposed to happen this month? It seems likely to be pushed into February at this point, although I would love to be surprised

I have 2 nearly identical and fairly high-end systems, one (my primary rig) running a GTX670 and the other (for my brother) a HD7950. Right now the 670 is a bit faster in most games but if Mantle really improves performance by >15% on the 7950 I will put that in my primary rig. Nice to have the option

 

There is nothing that suggest that BF4 Mantle will slip into February. We have to wait and see.

In any case, StarSwarm demo is also announced for January.

 

And Thief is IIRC coming on 1st half of February regardless of possible BF4-delays