We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.
It has been officially announced now, so Vulkan API it is! We are entering a new era of graphical performance.

The good news, is that Vulkan will be able to work on any chip that supports OpenGL ES 3.1 and upwards. So, it looks like it could work on cards as old as the Nvidia 400 series, but we still need to wait and see what cards the official proprietary drivers and open source drivers actually support before people with older cards get too excited.
I can't imagine them leaving it to only the newest generation of chips, as that would lock out too many people.

image

It may be a while before we see support for it in drivers, as the API probably isn’t completely finished just yet, and the open source drivers don’t have full OpenGL support just yet either.

Here's a choice quote from Gabe Newell, Valve:
QuoteIndustry standard APIs like Vulkan are a critical part of enabling developers to bring the best possible experience to customers on multiple platforms. Valve and the other Khronos members are working hard to ensure that this high-performance graphics interface is made available as widely as possible and we view it as a critical component of SteamOS and future Valve games.


It will be interesting to see what demos they have in store for us later at GDC!

See the official press release here.

There’s also the official Vulkan site here as well.

And finally, there’s the slides to look over that give you an overview. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
0 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
24 comments
Page: «2/3»
  Go to:

Orkultus Mar 3, 2015
Quoting: SkullyJust because it means Volcano, doesn't mean it they did that on purpose. Maybe they picked it cause it sounded cool or something.

Most likely cause it's going to erupt with amazing performance and kill DirectX (we all hope anyway)..lol ;)
fedso Mar 3, 2015
View PC info
  • Supporter
They did a lot more work than I expected! At page 8 of the slides there is a screenshot of the Vulkan debugger developed by Valve and LunarG with some API calls. I wonder how close the names are to Mantle API although at low level the actual calls are probably very similar to each other.
The Vulkan working group is also interesting, it seems all relevant industry and more is onboard. Just discovered that Continental is also in the working group... they must be using graphics API for tires tassellation... (...stupid joke, I couldn't resist, sorry!)
Shmerl Mar 3, 2015
What is the earliest Intel chip that supports OpenGL ES 3.1?
Bumadar Mar 3, 2015
the Logo so brings back my 3DFX memories, and I know its different but still... can't help it :)
fedso Mar 3, 2015
View PC info
  • Supporter
Quoting: ShmerlWhat is the earliest Intel chip that supports OpenGL ES 3.1?

Compute shaders were introduces with OpenGL 4.3 so Haswell or newer if I remember correctly
MayeulC Mar 3, 2015
Quoting: fedsoThey did a lot more work than I expected! At page 8 of the slides there is a screenshot of the Vulkan debugger developed by Valve and LunarG with some API calls. I wonder how close the names are to Mantle API although at low level the actual calls are probably very similar to each other.
The Vulkan working group is also interesting, it seems all relevant industry and more is onboard. Just discovered that Continental is also in the working group... they must be using graphics API for tires tassellation... (...stupid joke, I couldn't resist, sorry!)

Yeah, moreover, this screenshot is taken on X :P
I wonder how close Mesa (Gallium) IR and SPIR-V are ?
fedso Mar 3, 2015
View PC info
  • Supporter
Here is an excellent article about SPIR-V:
http://www.g-truc.net/post-0714.html#menu
Maelrane Mar 3, 2015
API Calls look similar to Mantle... looks like Vulkan is about an open Mantle. Great move that AMD ditches Mantle as well :)

Too many organizations try to ride a dead horse in this business.
Shmerl Mar 4, 2015
Did anyone address the issue of one thread bottleneck? According to this diagram, Vulkan doesn't offer the ability to submit GPU commands from multiple threads and requires one dedicated thread to do it (Mantle and DX12 allow it).
STiAT Mar 5, 2015
@Shmerl you're mistaken by that one. The important part is, that the command buffers (objects/materials) are done in seperate threads. Mantle we don't know - they never told us for sure, but I guess they did it the same way as Vulcan now (Vulcan is highly inspired by Mantle), but I'm sure that DX12 has a command queue as well, out of msdn blogs:
The only serial process necessary is the final submission of command lists to the GPU via the command queue, which is a highly efficient process.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.