Intel Driver Integrates BRW Assembler

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Intel Driver Integrates BRW Assembler

The xf86-video-intel driver has picked up thousands of lines of new code today with the integration of a BRW assembler in order to compile shader programs on the fly and to remove inefficiencies and mistakes from current Intel shaders...

http://www.phoronix.com/vr.php?view=MTE0OTc

[clavko]

And that's the way the cookie crumbles, AMD

[Gusar]

One word: Whoa!

[1c3d0g]

Man, I'm just in awe of the amazing progress Intel is making. Say what you want, their drivers are improving at breakneck speeds by the day! This is awesome!

[Zorael]

...with BRW being an abbreviation for what, exactly?

[FireBurn]

Michael doesn't know and in his rush to push out a half finished story didn't bother to find out or for that matter proof read his article

[Kayden]

...with BRW being an abbreviation for what, exactly?

"Broadwater"---the codename for the original Gen4 graphics found in the G965 chipset (also called GMA X3000). Broadwater was Intel's first GPU to support a fully programmable shader pipeline. All of the later systems are based on this design. That's also why the 3D driver is called i965.

[Veerappan]

"Broadwater"---the codename for the original Gen4 graphics found in the G965 chipset (also called GMA X3000). Broadwater was Intel's first GPU to support a fully programmable shader pipeline. All of the later systems are based on this design. That's also why the 3D driver is called i965.

Thanks for the confirmation. I was scanning the source to try to figure it out, and figured it was an abbreviation of a codename for a prior chipset given the sections which followed this pattern:

if (p->gen >= 70) {
 //do something
} else if (p->gen >= 60) {
 //do something else
} else {
 //do something with BRW in the name 
}

So, a new assembler for some legacy intel chipsets that helps to work around poorly written shaders and also when using the SNA architecture?

[bridgman]

"Broadwater"---the codename for the original Gen4 graphics found in the G965 chipset (also called GMA X3000). Broadwater was Intel's first GPU to support a fully programmable shader pipeline. All of the later systems are based on this design. That's also why the 3D driver is called i965.

Thanks. I was wondering about that too

[Veerappan]

Thanks. I was wondering about that too

The only other possibility that I had come across was Broadwell, and I figured it was a bit early to have code ready for that one (it's what's coming after Haswell). Also, the code that I was reading didn't seem to agree with that possibility.