CIS 565: GPU Programming and Architecture

Fall 2012

University of Pennsylvania
Computer Graphics @ Penn

Course Overview • FAQ • Schedule • Student Work • Previous semester

Can I attend class if I am not registered?

Anyone interested in GPUs and real-time rendering can attend lectures. However, we don't have the bandwidth to review work for those not registered for the course. The slides and audio for lectures are also available on the schedule page for the benefit of the entire graphics community.

Can I take this course if I don't have a graphics background?

This semester the focus is on real-time rendering. For a student to do well, they most likely will have taken CIS 460/560 and done very well.

Is this a computer architecture course?

Not really. We study GPU architecture and see its influence on languages like CUDA and APIs like OpenGL, but this is not an architecture course for GPUs in the same manner that CIS 501 is an architecture course for (mostly) CPUs. We are concerned with writing high-performance code that runs on GPUs using high-level languages and APIs, not designing the GPU itself.

What kind of GPU do I need to do the projects?

Both the Moore and SIG labs have systems with suffient GPUs. For a personal system, anything capable of OpenGL 3 is suffient (NVIDIA GeForce 8 series or AMD Radeon HD 2000 series). OpenGL 4 is even better (NVIDIA GeForce 400 series or AMD Radeon HD 5000 series). Make sure your graphics drivers are up to date. Some projects use CUDA, which requires an NVIDIA GPU; however, an AMD GPU is fine for most projects, and their drivers are very good now.