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Is macOS Dynamic Caching similar to Windows hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling[1]? That feature purports improve latency and GPU scheduling efficiency. Is the
by AaronFriel 3y ago
Is macOS Dynamic Caching similar to Windows hardware-accelerated GPU Scheduling[1]? That feature purports improve latency and GPU scheduling efficiency. Is the feature here that the OS is delegating more scheduling to the M3's ASC coprocessor[2] - assuming it's similar to the M1?
It seems to me that every explanation of dynamic caching in terms of memory is "wrong" - as seen here and in several articles written by folks more familiar with PC hardware.
I think where some folks might get it wrong is thinking of Apple silicon as being like PC hardware, where VRAM and RAM are distinct pools of memory and using the CPU to move data between them (or other devices) is very inefficient. PCI bus attached devices having separate pools of memory has given rise to a plethora of technologies to allow directly read from RAM (DMA), or to enable a GPU to read from NVMe (DirectStorage on Windows), and so on.
The patent from the article seems to describe unified memory, part of the M1's architecture, not whatever "Dynamic Caching" is; but I'll admit Apple makes it a bit hard to understand what exactly is the case.
There's only one person I'd trust to describe what this feature actually is - I'll wait for Asahi Lina to break down what dynamic caching is and whether this is a hardware or OS feature.
[1] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/hardware-accelerated-gpu-scheduling/ https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/hardware-accelerated-...
[2] https://asahilinux.org/2022/11/tales-of-the-m1-gpu/ https://asahilinux.org/2022/11/tales-of-the-m1-gpu/
- userbinator 3y agoI think where some folks might get it wrong is thinking of Apple silicon as being like PC hardware, where VRAM and RAM are distinct pools of memory and using the CPU to move data between them The patent basically describes using a page table to dynamically map pages of RAM between the GPU and CPU, something that Intel's integrated GPUs have been doing for 20 years.
- photonerd 3y agoIt’s more than that. That’s just shared memory. As you say, if it was just that they it wouldn’t be noteworthy at all
- helf 3y ago[dead]
- withinboredom 3y agoIf it quacks like a duck, looks like a duck, it's probably a duck.
- userbinator 3y agoUnless it's from Apple, in which case they call it a peacock and everyone gets all hyped about it.
- jayd16 3y agoDo we know its noteworthy? Its not like everything apple names is really that interesting. Liquid Retina Display, Dynamic Island, etc.
- bdowling 3y ago> The patent basically describes ... Almost EVERY patent is basically something that has been done for many years, plus some improvement. Improvements are usually inconsequential, but sometimes they are very valuable.