Introduction With Intel CPUs making up nearly 80% of the CPU market and 66% of computers using integrated graphics one can easily argue that integrated graphics devices represent one of the greatest markets for GPU-accelerated computing. Here at ArrayFire, we have long recognized the potential of these devices and offer built-in support for Intel CPUs, GPUs, and AMD APUs in the OpenCL backend of our ArrayFire GPU computing library. Yet one common theme for debate in the office has been how the hardware performs on different operating systems with different drivers across hardware revisions. To answer these questions (and, perhaps, to win some intra-office geek cred) I decided to write a series of blog posts about Intel’s GPU OpenCL performance. In this first installment I will compare the performance …
Using zero-copy buffers on integrated GPUs
One of the most powerful aspects of parallel program on integrated GPUs is taking advantage of shared memory and caches. The best example of this is sharing common data between the CPU and GPU via. zero-copy buffers. This technique permits your program to avoid the O(N) cost of copying data to/from the GPU. This feature is particularly useful for applications that deal with real-time data streams, like video processing.
OpenCL on Intel HD / Iris graphics on Linux
Under Windows and Mac the Intel GPU drivers include OpenCL support; however, on Linux OpenCL on Intel GPUs is implemented through an open source project called Beignet (pronnounced like “ben-yay”, a type of French pastry akin to a what we would call a “fritter” in English). Below I have written a step-by-step guide on how you can get Beignet running on an Ubuntu 14.10 system which has an Intel 3rd, 4th, or 5th generation Intel processor. Instructions for other variants of Linux will be similar, except for the commands to install the prerequisite packages. There are several little caveats which need to be discussed up front. Foremost, the Beignet project supports the following hardware: There are also a few noteworthy …