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Anandtech: AMD's Mantle PC API is the same as the Xbox One low level API

Oh Jesus, this dumb shit again. According to this logic every graphics card except the singlemost powerful one is 'outdated'. Sure, let's ignore the price factor. Hurrr durrrr.

And yet you quoted it, at the top of page no less.

The elephant in the room is 'will Mantle support Linux?'

Because I cannot fathom either console company doing this if Mantle is going to be supported by Linux/Steambox, unless this is all an AMD's Montreal Screwjob of copying as much of both console's API for their own.
Yeah, this is where the question has turned to. Interesting developments in the last hour.
 
God!!

There is no Secret Sauce, this is nothing to do with Consoles.

This more like a hark back to the old PC days when you could choose to run the game under DX/Open_GL or Glide, it never lasted and will not again.

Even though it is lower level that DX it will still not be like the Console API, the hardware and architecture in a PC are just 2 varied, Even IF you have the R290x card you could have a AMD board, Nforce, Intel what ever chipset..god knows what CPU and Ram blah blah there is just TOO much to factor in, this is just having the option for Programming teams to allocate Memory and program the shaders themselves (IF) they choose too, only Big companies will be able to push that kind of single focus in, the BF4 update will be the litmus test and Nvidia will release such optimised drivers to negate this it could be dead in the water within the next 12 months.

PC WILL NOT be the lead platform, most Console AAA games are made for Console first and then MAY get converted (Look at the Division/MGS/GTA et al for Proof) aside all the first party stuff. These consoles are not simply PC's this is a misconception spread by the media and non-techy posters, they are more PC like that is all.

My 2 pence!
 

DieH@rd

Banned
MS probably dont even have resources to create low level API for every single generation of AMD/Nvidia hardware. Low level API needs to be customized very closely to target hardware.

GCN series lasted 2 years, GCN2.0 will most likely last 2 more years with possibly only "downport to 20nm" arriving in late 2015 [and lasting 1-2 years more]. That is 5-6 years of Mantle-compatible Radeon GPUs on the market. Good plan by AMD, they need to provide long term consistency.
 

DieH@rd

Banned
I guess that whole console 'coding to the mantle' wasnt bs afterall?

:D :D

It was "coding to the metal", and no, it was not BS. Consoles have much more optimized rendering because they have fixed hardware. Now, AMD is offering optimized game rendering for their fixed hardware, but this time in PC space. This used to happen all the time few decades ago, but at the turn of the century, AMD and Nvidia remained only large surviving GPU vendors, with MS uniting them with DirectX on Windows [and OpenGL on everything else].
 

Chobel

Member
I guess that whole console 'coding to the mantle' wasnt bs afterall?

41397-Picard-clapping-applause-gif-vX3R.gif
 

satam55

Banned
God!!

PC WILL NOT be the lead platform, most Console AAA games are made for Console first and then MAY get converted (Look at the Division/MGS/GTA et al for Proof) aside all the first party stuff. These consoles are not simply PC's this is a misconception spread by the media and non-techy posters, they are more PC like that is all.

My 2 pence!
EA & Ubisoft have both confirmed that they're developing their games on PC than down-porting them to the consoles. I expect this to be the case with other publishers.
 
I still can't get a clear answer so I'll ask in case there's an AMD quote somewhere that I'm missing. Does Mantle run on SteamOS or only on Windows?
 
I still can't get a clear answer so I'll ask in case there's an AMD quote somewhere that I'm missing. Does Mantle run on SteamOS or only on Windows?

They said it is cross-platform, but it's being rolled out on Windows first. No official affiliation with SteamOS is announced, but Mantle could find its way to both Linux and OSX.
 

NervousXtian

Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
That's unlikely going to happen, I know a ton of buddies with consoles that would gladly have a box designed for gaming by steam because of the entire back catalog of when they used to PC game. Also a buddy of mine that has an older gaming PC doesn't have the time and money to build a new power machine so having steam do it for him at an affordable price is killer. Steam Machine is going to be a huge step forward this generation.

I think you are overstating what the cost of just removing windows is to a PC build. If your friend doesn't have the time or money to build a gaming PC, this Steam announcement isn't going to change that.
 

Chobel

Member
They said it is cross-platform, but it's being rolled out on Windows first. No official affiliation with SteamOS is announced, but Mantle could find its way to both Linux and OSX.

How will MS react to this?

--------
Apple is very bad when it comes to GPU drivers, so I don't think Mantle coming any time soon to OSX.
 

nbthedude

Member
And yet you quoted it, at the top of page no less.

Yeah, this is where the question has turned to. Interesting developments in the last hour.

AMD and MS sittin in a Windows tree?

Nvidia and Valve Linux BFFs?

I think in the long run, if true, this arrangement is bad news for SteamOS and good news for Windows based PC gaming.

And I guess I don't care that much because I am fine using Steam inside Windows just like I would have been fine with Steam OS. Whatever gets me the best performance and best options.
 
Last I checked, it's a revised version of libGCM that's used in the PS4. That might have changed, but do you have a source that it's a completely new API?

I think we could say that conceptually GNM is a descendant of LibGCM, but the underlying hardware for each is so dissimilar that I'd expect GNM is largely built from the ground up and not a "revision" of anything from PS3.
 
Sounds completely reasonable to expect AMD's work to be integrated with both MS' and Sony's own platform-specific software. Why wouldn't it? Obviously, they'll have to be different due to customizations each has built into their hardware.
 
If this spreads fast, I'm torn on building a new PC in the next 2 years or buying a steambox. Man so much stuff is happening with the gaming space.
 

evlcookie

but ever so delicious
It's anand, it's my favourite tech site for a reason.

They tend to know their shit and if they speculate about something, It's usually right on the money.

It was a great read too. Next gen ports should *hopefully* be something of beauty on the PC.
 

nib95

Banned
I would generally trust Anand over any other source in the tech (especially PC orientated) domain. I mean Eurogamer has people like Leadbetter running the show at DF, hardly credible. Wonder if this will give the Xbox One an advantage in ports, and whether it'll also just lead to PC versions of multiplatform games having an even bigger discrepancy in quality and visuals?
 
Not in this specific... saying it's a good introduction isn't necessarily an endorsement of what Anandtech admits is speculation.

That is also true. Can anyone just tweet AMD and ask?

Thats not confirmation. There is more to anandtech article than just speculation of API origins.
Why would they use 'excellent summary' if it contained any errors? Especially if it were something as massive as the origin of the API being completely wrong.
 
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