Nvidia's CUDA 1.0

Nvidia CUDA 1.0 is a C-compiler and Software Development Kit (SDK) for developing computing applications on Nvidia Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). GPU Computing with the CUDA SDK is a new approach to computing where hundreds of on-chip processors simultaneously communicate and cooperate to solve complex computing problems. The GPU is ideally suited for computationally intensive applications such as seismic processing for oil and gas exploration, computing in bioscience, and financial modeling. The introduction of CUDA technology made the parallel computing power of the GPU accessible to virtually any developer through standard C programming language.

Nvidia has recently released a plug-in example that allows Matlab programs to use standard GPU libraries to speed up their applications. The plug-in example also shows users how to write their own versions, enabling them to take the performance critical piece of their code and harness the capabilities of the GPU through the Nvidia CUDA software environment.

The combination of GPU computing technology and the CUDA software environment delivers a flexible, massively parallel computing platform for today’s most demanding data-intensive applications. While a typical Matlab simulation of 2D isotropic turbulence at a resolution suitable for scientific publications (1024x1024) would typically take a couple of days, such a simulation with the plug-in takes as little as four hours.

CUDA 1.0 includes new C compiler optimizations and performance enhancements along with additional functionality and C code examples. CUDA Blas and FFT libraries have been further optimized and include additional functionality and new C code examples relevant to areas such as computational finance and medical imaging are installed with the SDK.

Nvidia's CUDA technology is available in GeForce® 8800 graphics and future Nvidia Quadro® Professional Graphics solutions. Developers can download the beta version of the CUDA Software Developers Kit (SDK) and C-compiler for Windows XP and Linux (RedHat Release 4 Update 3) from the Nvidia Developer Web site at http://www.developer.nvidia.com/.