Multicore and GPU Programming for Video Games

Multicore and GPU Programming for Video Games

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This is the archival webpage for the Fall 2007 version of the class.
Look
here for the Fall 2008 webpage.


When and where: Fall 2007, MWF 1:05-1:55, Van Leer C241


Instructors:
Aaron Lanterman (ECE) and
Hsien-Hsin “Sean” Lee (ECE)
(with guest lectures on the Cell processor by Seunghwa Kang and Kamesh
Madduri).


TA:
Yimin
Zhang (ymzhangcn__at__gmail__com) (Klaus 2341).


Prereqs:
ECE3035: Mechanisms for Computation or CS2110: Computer Organization
and Programming. Students must be comfortable with C programming.
To be widely accessible to ECE students, no background in computer
graphics will be required.


Goals: This class covers the the
architecture and programming of multicore
processors and graphical processing units (GPUs), using examples
from the algorithmic needs of modern 3-D games (rendering,
collision detection, physics engines, and artifical intelligence),
as well as techniques for adapting
such architectures
for use in scientific applications, as in the GPGPU (General-Purpose GPU)
movement.
The class will focus on inexpensive consumer hardware,
particularly the Playstation 3,
the Xbox 360, and NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards. The
trade-offs between asymmetric
multicore architures (such as the STI Cell BE
used in the Playstation 3) and symmetric
multicore architectures
(such as the triple-Power PC used in the Xbox 360) will be discussed.


Grading will be primarily
based on a series of five programming assignments. There will
also be a final quiz, which will be weighted the same as one of the
assignments.

Further information

Assignments

Schedule