Khronos launches Vulkan: the next, low-level version of OpenGL

[Scorpus]

The Khronos Group has been preparing Next Generation OpenGL (GLnext) for some time now, but at GDC 2015, they're ready to officially release details of the API and give it a new name: Vulkan.

Vulkan, like AMD's Mantle and Microsoft's DirectX 12, is a low-level 3D graphics API, allowing it to get more out of a device's hardware by being 'closer to the metal'. As well as having less overhead, Vulkan gives developers control of tasks typically left to drivers, such as thread management, memory management and error checking.

Many of the changes in Vulkan are geared towards making the CPU side more efficient, which in turn allows more draw calls per frame and (at least in some cases) better frame rates. This is also the case with DirectX 12 and Mantle, however unlike these APIs, Vulkan is GPU vendor- and OS-agnostic, allowing it to run on any platform including mobile devices. And yes, this does mean Vulkan is replacing OpenGL ES, the mobile variant of OpenGL.

Vulkan also brings changes to the way shader programs are compiled, introducing a new intermediate language called SPIR-V which shader programs must now be compiled to by developers. This removes the need for a full shader program compiler in display drivers, which simplifies them for better performance.

SPIR-V is also the intermediate language used for Khronos' OpenCL 2.1, which was announced today alongside Vulkan. This means that SPIR-V is now the language used for both compute and graphics shaders, which in turn means that drivers only need to support one shader language. Previous versions of OpenCL used SPIR, which differed from the language used for OpenGL.

OpenCL 2.1 also supports writing compute applications in a special subset of C++. Nvidia already supports C++ code in CUDA, but this is the first time C++ can be used for cross-platform computing applications.

Vulkan will be available from today as a preview, with Khronos expecting to ship a final version later this year alongside supporting drivers. OpenCL 2.1 is also available from today as a provisional specification, with no word on when it'll be finalized.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/59927-khronos-launches-vulkan-next-low-level-version-opengl.html

 

[noel24]

Seriously, AMD should think about replacing their legal departement. every time they get little advantage over the competition, they give it away without a fight. Today they let M$ and OpenGL cannibalise their Mantle, what next? It should be AMD Direct X, AMD Vulcan. They should give up semiconductors already and start branding stationary...

 

[Puiu]

Seriously, AMD should think about replacing their legal departement. every time they get little advantage over the competition, they give it away without a fight. Today they let M$ and OpenGL cannibalise their Mantle, what next? It should be AMD Direct X, AMD Vulcan. They should give up semiconductors already and start branding stationary...

it's not like nvidia is doing any better. freesync ruined their plans. both mantle and g-sync did their job. I'm more than happy at how fast things are changing.

 

[Stash]

I think that AMD are the future. I honestly feel that these guys actually care about the consumer. They don't try to make a profit and milk us dry at every turn. Admittedly, this has crippled them to a certain extent, but the fact that they are still able to remain relevant in the graphics market tells us that there definitely is some method to their madness. I have owned an Nvidia card twice; currently my laptop, but on my desktop I always go AMD because I feel they care. Keep it up AMD, underdogs that seem to care about us.