New NVPerfKit 2.1 Suite of Tools Offers Advanced Debugging, Visualization and Profiling Capabilities for Improved Cross-Platform GPU-Based Software Development
NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in programmable graphics processor technologies, today announced NVPerfKit 2.1, a comprehensive suite of next-generation performance tools for the debugging and profiling of OpenGL and Direct3D software applications for Windows and Linux.
Developers working on 32- and 64-bit Linux or Windows platforms can now benefit from the same technology that powers the NVIDIA NVPerfHUD performance analysis tool, a robust profiling and visual debugging heads-up display (HUD) program for Direct3D applications supporting Microsoft DirectX 9.0c and Windows XP on select NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs). Developers using NVPerfHUD 4 experience an average performance improvement of 35%, and find an average of 11 rendering bugs.*
The NVPerfKit 2.1 suite of performance tools includes NVPerfHUD 4; shown here running on the Gamebryo game engine from Emergent Game Technologies.
Dan Speed, graphics engine programmer at CCP Games, relies on NVIDIA performance tools to streamline the development process and pinpoint problems in the creation of games such as Eve Online, a science fiction, Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG). "NVPerfHUD proved extremely easy to integrate, and has become an indispensable tool in telling us where we're being foolish, by giving us impressive performance gains for key content in Eve Online."
"At Emergent, we are constantly seeking ways to improve performance for our customers? games. Integrating NVPerfHUD, and our Gamebryo Element game engine and toolset, provides an invaluable tool for optimizing in-game performance," said Doug Kubel, vice president, Product Development at Emergent Game Technologies. "This integration provides our customers with in-depth data from the driver and GPU, allowing them to efficiently detect, analyze and remove performance bottlenecks."
By offering access to low-level performance counters inside the driver, as well as hardware counters inside the GPU, NVPerfKit 2.1 helps developers determine how applications use the GPU by identifying and confirming resolved performance issues for substantial time savings during application development.
NVPerfKit 2.1 offers the following enhanced components:
Instrumented Driver?Interfaces with the graphics API and GPU to provide performance counter data
NVPerfHUD?Offers advanced real-time analysis of Direct3D applications
NVPerfSDK?Includes an API for accessing GPU signals in applications, sample code and helper classes for OpenGL and DirectX applications, and an NVIDIA Developer Control Panel and instrumented driver
NVIDIA Plug-In for Microsoft PIX for Windows
GLExpert?Permits debugging of OpenGL usage errors and performance issues
Supports PerfMon, Intel VTune, gDEBugger and other analysis tools
NVPerfKit 2.1 supports Windows XP and Linux on NVIDIA GeForce 7 Series GPUs, NVIDIA GeForce 6 Series GPUs, and NVIDIA Quadro FX or more recent NVIDIA GPUs; older GPUs are supported with reduced functionality.
The NVPerfKit 2.1 suite of performance tools is available for download at http://developer.nvidia.com/NVPerfKit. A gallery of NVPerfHUD images spotlighting top game titles is available at http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nvperfhud-screenshots.html.
* In a recent survey, more than 100 NVPerfHUD 4 users reported an average performance improvement of 34.8% by using NVPerfHUD 4 to tune their applications. These users also reported that NVPerfHUD 4 helped them find an average of 11 rendering bugs during development. Results were obtained from individuals using a variety of system configurations and applications. Individual results may vary.