none (none@none.com) on 11/9/09 wrote:
---------------------------
>This article:
>http://www.ddj.com/cpp/207200659
>
>has a link to this:
>http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/vmd/publications/siam2008vmdcuda.pdf
>
>At least that is something not coming directly out of nVidia
>marketing department.

I'm still a little skeptical, since the software stack for the GPU and CPU aren't disclosed - although they mention what hardware is used.

Also, UIUC is being funded to do this stuff and is evangelizing CUDA, so it's in their best interest to make the GPUs look good.

I'm not saying the numbers are wrong, but I don't know what they represent. You want to know things like:

1. What algorithms are used? Do they favor CPU or GPU?
2. What compiler/libraries?
3. What HW (obviously)?
4. How well tuned is the app on each stack?

It's really important to know the details when making claims like this. A lot of papers that I've seen do a really poor job of this, but they tend to be miles ahead of NV's technical marketing.

In contrast, when I see benchmarks from Intel or AMD on CPUs, they tend to tell you how the comparison is done - so you can find out if they are playing games.

David