Arch Linux

kamahl

Member

Registered: 2007-09-16

Posts: 60

cuda - how to use it?

Hi,
I recently discovered that nVidia  GPU's can execute C code via CUDA interface (cuda package in AUR) and so improve my PS'c performance.

The question is: What should I do after installing the package - do I need to recompile software I want to use the interface, add some pramaters to compilation, is it used automatically, does the software need to be specially written to use the interface or what?

I own GeForce 9600 GS.

Megamixman

Member

Registered: 2008-05-04

Posts: 73

Re: cuda - how to use it?

There is nothing you can do to magically distribute CPU load to your GPU. CUDA is merely a set of libraries that programmers can use to directly do calculations on the GPU. Thus for software to take advantage of it, it has to be written specifically with CUDA in mind. CUDA is not focused at general PC performance but rather the scientific area where the Parallel Processing power of GPUs can be well harnessed.

kamahl

Member

Registered: 2007-09-16

Posts: 60

Re: cuda - how to use it?

Thanks for your answer - thats what i wanted to know.