iT Rumors: problem

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<span id="intelliTXT" name="intellitxt" style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Nvidia Gameworks" class="attachment-full wp-post-image" height="353" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Nvidia-GW-640x353.png" style="border-style: none;" width="640" /><br /><div style="margin-bottom: 24px;">
Over the past few months, Nvidia has made a number of high-profile announcements regarding game development and new gaming technologies. One of the most significant is a new developer support program, called GameWorks. The GameWorks program offers access to Nvidia’s CUDA development tools, GPU profiling software, and other developer resources. One of the features of GameWorks is a set of optimized libraries that developers can use to implement certain effects in game. Unfortunately, these same libraries also tilt the performance landscape in Nvidia’s favor in a way that neither developers nor AMD can prevent.</div>
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Understanding libraries</h3>
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Simply put, a library is a collection of implemented behaviors. They are not application specific — libraries are designed to be called by multiple programs in order to simplify development. Instead of implementing a GPU feature five times in five different games, you can just point the same five titles at one library. Game engines like Unreal Engine 3 are typically capable of integrating with third party libraries to ensure maximum compatibility and flexibility. Nvidia’s GameWorks contains libraries that tell the GPU how to render shadows, implement ambient occlusion, or illuminate objects.</div>
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<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/GameWorks.jpg" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Gameworks presentation" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-173289" height="357" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/GameWorks.jpg" style="border-style: none;" width="639" /></a></div>
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In Nvidia’s GameWorks program, though, all the libraries are closed. You can see the files in games like <em>Arkham City</em> or <em>Assassin’s Creed IV</em> — the file names start with the GFSDK prefix. However, developers can’t see <em>into</em> those libraries to analyze or optimize the shader code. Since developers can’t see into the libraries, AMD can’t see into them either — and that makes it nearly impossible to optimize driver code.</div>
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Is GameWorks distorting problems in today’s shipping games?</h3>
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To answer this question, I’ve spent several weeks testing <em>Arkham Origins</em>, <em>Assassin’s Creed IV</em>, and <em>Splinter Cell: Blacklist</em>. The last is not a formal GameWorks title, but Nvidia worked with Ubisoft to implement the game’s ambient occlusion, and early benchmarks showed a distinct advantage for Nvidia hardware when running in that mode. Later driver updates and a massive set of game patches appear to have resolved these issues; the R9 290X is about 16% faster than the GTX 770 at Ultra detail with FXAA enabled. <em>Assassin’s Creed IV</em> is more difficult to test — it’s engine is hard-locked to 63 FPS — but it showed the R9 290X as being 22% faster than the GTX 770 as well, roughly on par with expectations.</div>
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<em>Arkham Origins’</em> performance is substantially different.</div>
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Like its predecessor, <em><a href="http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/106635-holy-headache-batman" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;">Arkham City</a></em>, it takes place in an open-world version of Gotham, is built on the Unreal 3 engine, and uses DirectX 11. Both games are <a href="http://www.nvidia.com/object/nv_gdc2k2_02.html" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;">TWIMTBP</a> titles. I’ve played both games all the way through — many of the animations, attacks, and visual effects of <em>Arkham City</em> carry over to <em>Arkham Origins</em>. Because the two games are so similar, we’re going to start with a comparison of the two games side-by-side in their respective benchmarks; first in DX11, then in DX9.</div>
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<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ArkhamOrigins-DX111.png" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="Arkham Origins vs. Arkham City - DX11" class="size-full wp-image-173298 alignnone" height="509" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ArkhamOrigins-DX111.png" style="border-style: none;" width="571" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ArkhamOrigin-DX92.png" style="color: #b1700a; text-decoration: none;"><img alt="ArkhamOrigin-DX9" class="size-full wp-image-173299 alignnone" height="514" src="http://www.extremetech.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/ArkhamOrigin-DX92.png" style="border-style: none;" width="574" /></a></div>
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Previous <em>Arkham</em> titles favored Nvidia, but never to this degree. In <em>Arkham City</em>, the R9 290X has a 24% advantage over the GTX 770 in DX11, and a 14% improvement in DX9. In<em>Arkham Origins</em>, they tie. Can this be traced directly back to GameWorks? Technically, no it can’t — all of our feature-specific tests showed the GTX 770 and the R9 290X taking near-identical performance hits with GameWorks features set to various detail levels. If DX11 Enhanced Ambient Occlusion costs the GTX 770 10% of its performance, it cost the R9 290X 10% of its performance.</div>
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The problem with that “no,” though, is twofold. First, because AMD can’t examine or optimize the shader code, there’s no way of knowing what performance <em>could</em> look like. In a situation where neither the developer nor AMD ever has access to the shader code to start with, this is a valid point. Arkham Origins offers an equal performance hit to the GTX 770 and the R9 290X, but control of AMD’s performance in these features no longer rests with AMD’s driver team — it’s sitting with Nvidia.</div>
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<i>Via:<a href="http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/173511-nvidias-gameworks-program-usurps-power-from-developers-end-users-and-amd"> ExtremeTech</a></i></div>
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Nvidia’s GameWorks program usurps power from developers, end-users, and AMD

Over the past few months, Nvidia has made a number of high-profile announcements regarding game development and new gaming technologie...

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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apple's landmark deal with China Mobile gives it access to more than 700 million new cell phone customers -- a staggering number. But it still has a long way to go before it's a power player in the world's biggest market for smartphones.</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That's because <span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Apple </span>continues to fight the smartphone battle in China with one hand tied behind its back. The problem is its expensive products.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Apple also lacks the app store advantage in China that it holds in most other countries around the world. The government censors many of the offerings on Apple's iTunes App Store, and Chinese customers haven't proven willing to spend money on top-tier apps when they can get free knockoffs.The iPhone 5C, which many analysts had expected would be a cheaper iPhone for China, turned out to be an expensive version with a plastic shell. In China, where wireless carriers don't subsidize phones, the iPhone 5C costs 4,488 yuan ($733). That prices out a large part of China's population.</span></div>
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<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/22/technology/apple-china-mobile/index.html?iid=EL" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #004276; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Related: Apple inks China Mobile deal</span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">All that said, the deal with <span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">China Mobile</span> <span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(<span class="inlink_chart" style="background-image: url(http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/.element/img/5.0/buttons/assorted_icons.gif); background-position: -200px -160px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px 19px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">CHL</span>)</span> is expected be a lucrative one for Apple.</span></div>
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<a class="summaryImg" href="http://money.cnn.com/video/technology/2013/12/23/iphone-apple-china-smartphone-mobile.cnnmoney?iid=EL" id="vid0" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #004276; display: block; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img alt="Will the iPhone succeed in China?" border="0" height="348" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/assets/131223115022-iphone-apple-china-smartphone-mobile-00013315-620x348.jpg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="620" /></span><span class="video_playbtn" style="background-image: url(http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/.element/img/5.0/buttons/video_play_button_big.png); background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; height: 120px; left: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; width: 120px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Will the iPhone succeed in China?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Until now, Apple had sold the iPhone there through China Mobile's much-smaller competitors, <span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">China Unicom </span><span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(<span class="inlink_chart" style="background-image: url(http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/.element/img/5.0/buttons/assorted_icons.gif); background-position: -200px -160px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px 19px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">CHU</span>)</span>and <span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">China Telecom</span> <span style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">(<span class="inlink_chart" style="background-image: url(http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/.element/img/5.0/buttons/assorted_icons.gif); background-position: -200px -160px; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 2px 19px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline;">CHA</span>)</span>, which have about 425 million subscribers between them.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apple is in a distant fifth place, trailing Samsung, Lenovo, Yulong and Huawei, according to Canalys. It has just a 6% share of the Chinese smartphone market.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unlike many rival phones, the iPhone 5S and 5C are 4G devices, giving China Mobile customers their first chance to use the company's brand new 4G network.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the iPhone is already a somewhat proven commodity on China's biggest cell network: As many as 40 million China Mobile customers are using an unlocked iPhone on the network, according to Brian White, an Apple analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wall Street analysts expect Apple to sell an additional 20 million to 30 million iPhones next year as a result of the deal. That's still a sliver of the Chinese smartphone market of 200 million phones -- but it's no small number either. Apple sold 150.2 million iPhones last year, and analysts expect it to sell between 165 million and 180 million next year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So the deal could give Apple as much as a 20% boost in iPhone sales.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another way to look at it: Many analysts expect China Mobile to be the only source of iPhone sales growth next year.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Apple CEO Tim Cook has discussed gaining a stronger foothold in China as a major priority for the company. The China Mobile deal will help Apple accomplish that.</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Via: <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2013/12/23/technology/mobile/apple-china-mobile/index.html">CNN</a></span></i></div>

Apple still has a China problem

Apple's landmark deal with China Mobile gives it access to more than 700 million new cell phone customers -- a staggering numbe...

Nvidia’s GameWorks program usurps power from developers, end-users, and AMD

Apple still has a China problem

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