Microsoft has released a new Agility Software Development Kit that provides new features. Agility SDK 1.613 includes Shader Model 6.8 and support for Work Graphs API. The latter is an important feature that will facilitate the use of rendering on GPU drivers, offloading the CPU. GPUs will be able to generate work for themselves «on the fly». This idea was promoted by Epic developers, who advocated for GPUs to be able to perform more tasks on their own.
Now, in order to get the final image, part of the work is done by the CPU, and part — by the GPU. But sometimes the CPU spends too much time deciding what the GPU should do next. Work Graphs is a system that helps the CPU and GPU work together more efficiently, reports Videocardz.
They allow the CPU to schedule work in advance and organize tasks for the GPU. Instead of waiting for each block, the CPU can provide a list of what needs to be done in advance, so the GPU doesn’t have to wait for the next task to arrive. The CPU and GPU, working together, can manage memory faster, keep everything organized, and allow complex tasks to run smoothly.
The updated Shader Model 6.8 also includes new features such as Start Vertex/Instance Location, which allows shaders to get parameters from an API call. This can be useful for custom computations independent of fixed function data. In addition, there is a Wave Size Range function that allows developers to define the desired wave size in shaders. This can help reduce the number of shaders needed or even eliminate the need for multiple shaders. Finally, there’s an Advanced Comparative Sampling feature that should help ensure better cross-platform shaders.
A new feature called GPU Upload Heaps allows you to quickly copy data from the CPU to the GPU. This eliminates the need to use the PCI bus to transfer data from VRAM to the CPU. This feature utilizes ResizableBAR, which allows the CPU to write data to VRAM with low latency.
You can start using the new SDK with the help of AMD and NVIDIA, who have released the first version drivers for the new SDK. Work Graphs is supported by NVIDIA Ampere and Ada GPUs with drivers 551.76 or later. AMD only confirms that Work Graphs works on RX 7000 GPUs with RDNA3 architecture (for now). Intel has not yet released new drivers.