http://www.techspot.com/news/54134-amd-unveils-revolutionary-mantle-api-to-optimize-gpu-performance.html

Normally the GOG crowd isn't interested in GPU announcements, but there are two extra bits today. One is a new audio system that looks like a useless and (mostly) harmless marketting gimmick. The other could be *very* bad news.

For those that remember the stream of games in the 90s that only work (properly or even at all) with Glide, you will understand the problem. Going back further Mech Warrior 2 almost had a different build for every video card on the market.

I like AMD GPUs, but I really hope this fails hard.

The $139 R7 260X will most likely be my next graphics card.

That said, yes market fragmentation will be a potential problem. Games will have to be made with Direct X and OpenGL in mind, now you have this. Then if Nvidia wants to counter, something from them also.

Ironic as the two main consoles are fairly similar in design now, PC gaming is going to become more fragmented.

...........

Console gaming everyone?

Unfortunately this is why it might work. OpenGL is on everything now (phones, web, and OS, any GPU, any non-xbox console). If you want to port to XB1 you need something and have two options:

DirectX - Arguably maybe a bit faster. Only works on Windows and Xbox

Mandle - Supposedly much faster. Works on XB1/PS4 and any PC with an AMD GPU.

Given this, I can't see many people picking DirectX. Of couse I would love it if MS responded by supporting OpenGL on the XB1 to kill this.

Then, if you are committing to Mandle, this covers your PS4/XB1 ports, which is the main thing publishers care about. To work on the PC you just have to do a half-assed OpenGL port such that it basically works.... and welcome back to the 90s.

Theoretically Nvidia could allow this on their cards: Mantle is open and Nvidia allow OpenCL on their cards even if they are accused of making it a 2nd class citizen compared to CUDA. So it may not be too bad if they do that ... although I think a lot of the benefits aren't even for every AMD GPU - just the high end ones if I'm reading right. They say crossplatform, so I wonder if that this will work on Macs too?

Fair enough True, but it could slow adoption - especially if Nvidia doesn't support it or supports it badly. I wonder about support by the newly announced SteamOS ... Meh, Apple tends to be a bit ... well ... slow when it comes to implementing graphics drivers (I believe Apple tends to write their own). Of course that would be Apple's problem, not AMD's.

It's just Linux. If they are even half way serious it will definately support it (as will any other Linux). They don't write their own (though they may have a hand in it). The drivers are slow/behind just because a caring user base isn't there. I doubt AMD will prioritise MacOS at all, but it will probably be available at some stage in some form.

I don't know I think Apple usually decides for instance what level of OpenGL they will support - for instance the OS and applications were stuck on running OpenGL 2.X for years despite Apple shipping OpenGL 3, even 4 capable graphics cards during that time. And I believe that was an Apple, not Nvidia or AMD decision and I think I've heard from others that Apple writes or has a heavy-hand in the drivers. I dunno I'm really tired right now, so I may be mixing stuff up in my head :)

got interested, found this thread:

http://phoronix.com/forums/showthread.php?72641-Linux-Isn-t-Alone-With-OpenGL-Driver-Issues&p=278240#post278240

(sorry for derailing the thread a tad)

I'm buying a new video card next week or so, but I just can't consider ATI. I've been into nVidia a long time and am just used to it, and the one time I tried an ATI card it underperformed the card I replaced, which was shocking.

Sorry fans :(

I think the OP is more worried that AMD's new API will reintroduce the bad old days of device fragmentation in graphics for games than proclaiming AMD cards to be the future. :) Myself, I am pretty much GPU agnostic.

I know, my upgrade was just on my mind so I turned it into that.

Segregation... yes. And companies don't care, all about the bottom line.

Back in the '90s many games supported multiple renderers, e.g. Deus Ex supported 3dfx Glide, Direct3D, OpenGL and S3 MeTaL in addition to a software renderer; having two renderers in 2014 onwards seems simple by comparison.

This could actually be the opposite, the situation now is that most games require Microsofts Direct3D, which doesn't work on other OS'es without going through loopholes.

I wouldn't put too much thought into it. AMD are the sick old man of computer hardware, I will be surprised if they even exist (at least in their current form) in a few years. I'm not even a nVidia/Intel fanboy either, but the fact is that everything AMD make nowadays is literally a decade behind everything from nvidia and intel.