AMD Refreshes Math Library to Include 128-bit Barcelona Support

[malware]

Today, AMD released the first of what will be two major upgrades to their AMD Core Math Library (ACML) in the coming year. This first includes support for Barcelona's native 128-bit SIMD engine. It works with Windows, Linux and Solaris, and doubles the floating point operations per clock to 8 on Barcelona, up from 4. The major upgrade next year will include direct support for heterogeneous processing using their recently announced FireStream 64-bit stream processor. The refresh brings ACML up to version 4.0. The library is available for free download and includes enhancements to their base math algorithms. These include Level 1, 2 and 3 Basic Linear Alegbra Subroutines (BLAS), Linear Algebra (LAPACK) routines, Fast Fourier Transforms (FFTs) in single, double, single-complex and double-complex data types, scalar, vector, array and transcendental math functions. A pseudo-random number generator is also included with both single and double precision generation. AMD has worked with PathScale, PGI and Sun, as well as Microsoft and the Linux community at large, to include special optimizations and native library support in their products. AMD also has a CodeAnalyst tool, which is similar in function to intel's VTune, though with a lesser set of comprehensive abilities. It is also available for free download.

Source: TG Daily

[WarEagleAU]

Very cool. My question is, is this like an upgrade from 64 bit to 128 bit like Windows did from 32bit to 64 bit? Or is this a different ball of wax altogether?

[WarEagleAU]

anyone?

[kwchang007]

Originally Posted by WarEagleAU

Very cool. My question is, is this like an upgrade from 64 bit to 128 bit like Windows did from 32bit to 64 bit? Or is this a different ball of wax altogether?

Different, this isn't true 128 bit support. I think this means you can send two 64 bit operations and fuse them for better floating point. But I'm pretty sure K10 is 64 bit compatible not 128 bit.