Request for Clarification about Supported AMD GPUs

It seems that a lot of GPU problems revolve around specific versions of drivers. Though AMD has their own support structure, you can often learn from information reported by others who fold.

Moderators: Site Moderators, FAHC Science Team

Post Reply
holstien
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Apr 14, 2020 12:02 pm

Request for Clarification about Supported AMD GPUs

Post by holstien »

I have read a couple of places here that supported amd GPUs need double precision support, as noted by the columns in the wikipedia list of amd gpus.

Because AMDs branding and hardware IDs can be confusing to everyone*, I was wondering if there was a more specific indicator?

It seems like the a compatible card needs to support a specific double precision OpenCL extension for the GPU in question: cl_khr_fp64.

The presence of this extension can be checked a couple of ways: the output of clinfo in linux or windows, or using fahbench to execute a double precision benchmark.

Another line in clinfo that might be just as relevant is:

Code: Select all

Preferred / native vector sizes
...
double                                               1 / 1
I think if it's 0/0 it's not supported.

Is either of these an accurate descriptor? I guess it makes it easier for driver/card testing but harder for folks shopping for used cards because the driver/api feature documents aren't clear.

*(I spent a while thinking that an radeon hd 8670d was GCN 1, but it's terrascale! The 8670 and 8670M are GCN though. *facepalm*)
Image
Joe_H
Site Admin
Posts: 7936
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2009 4:41 pm
Hardware configuration: Mac Pro 2.8 quad 12 GB smp4
MacBook Pro 2.9 i7 8 GB smp2
Location: W. MA

Re: Request for Clarification about Supported AMD GPUs

Post by Joe_H »

Card needs to support OpenCL 1.2 or higher and Double Precision. In the desktop models it is fairly easy, Radeon HD 5800 series, HD 6900 series, Hd 7700 and above, and HD 8500 and above. For the R5/7/9 series it is 240 and up except for the Radeon 520 and 530 OEM GPUs we have no information on DP support.

For the mobile GPUs, most until the recent ones don't support DP except in the workstation line.

Most of the iGPU ones don't, except until some of the recent Vega designated ones.
Image

iMac 2.8 i7 12 GB smp8, Mac Pro 2.8 quad 12 GB smp6
MacBook Pro 2.9 i7 8 GB smp3
Post Reply