Snow Leopard H.264 Hardware Acceleration and OpenCL Requirements

[MacRumors]

Apple's Mac OS X Snow Leopard specs page also reveals a number of other details about hardware support for both H.264 acceleration and OpenCL.

MacRumors had previously reported that the latest MacBook Pros offered hardware acceleration for H.264 video playback. While Apple has previously included graphics cards that have contained hardware support for H.264 decoding, the company has only recently taken advantage of this hardware acceleration. Mac OS X Snow Leopard's specs officially acknowledge this support but it appears to be limted to the NVIDIA 9400M graphics processors found in recent Apple laptops and desktops. Unfortunately, it does not appear that this support will extend to older video cards. Hardware decoding of H.264 video improves the performance of video playback while leaving your computer's CPU free for other tasks.

Meanwhile, Apple also details which GPUs will be supported for their upcoming OpenCL API. OpenCL will allow developers to easily offload additional processing tasks to the computer's GPU. Some tasks may find greater benefit from this than others, but could potentially offer substantial performance boosts. The list of supported GPUs include:

- NVIDIA Geforce 8600M GT, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GTS, Geforce 9400M, GeForce 9600M GT, GeForce GT 120, GeForce GT 130.
- ATI Radeon 4850, Radeon 4870

In one specific example, one company found a 5-fold increase in video encoding when using OpenCL-like technology on the PC.

Article Link: Snow Leopard H.264 Hardware Acceleration and OpenCL Requirements

 

[superted666]

Hmm does this mean my recent purchase of a iMac 2.8ghz core 2 extreme does not support the new CL API?

Bit gutted

 

[wetrix]

The Rev B and C MacBook Air's have NVIDIA 9400Ms, not just MBPs.

 

[Merkuryy]

Glad I bought a Santa Rosa MBP with dedicated GPU. The integrated GPU　ｊｕｓｔ　ｐｒｏｖｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｂｅ　ｔｒａｓｈ　ｏｖｅｒ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｉｍｅ　ａｎｄ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｔｈｅ　ｈｕｇｅ　ｒｅｖｏｌｕｔｉｏｎ　ｔｏ　ｇｅｔ　ｇｒａｐｈｉｃｓ　ｂｅｔｔｅｒ

 

[talkingfuture]

H.264 Hardware acceleration - Cringely was right!

 

[iDarbert]

Aww, looks like my 7600 is not supported...

Glad I bought a Santa Rosa MBP with dedicated GPU. The integrated GPU　ｊｕｓｔ　ｐｒｏｖｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｂｅ　ｔｒａｓｈ　ｏｖｅｒ　ｔｈｅ　ｔｉｍｅ　ａｎｄ　ｗｉｔｈ　ｔｈｅ　ｈｕｇｅ　ｒｅｖｏｌｕｔｉｏｎ　ｔｏ　ｇｅｔ　ｇｒａｐｈｉｃｓ　ｂｅｔｔｅｒ

The GeForce 9400M is integrated, too.

 

[big_malk]

Glad to see my GeForce 8800 is supported
I wonder if we'll see a folding@home client for graphics cards now, like they've had on windows for a while.

 

[youyesyou]

I'm afraid

What about the GeForce 9400M of the 2009 iMac and uMacbook 2008 ?

 

[oingoboingo]

I'm afraid

What about the GeForce 9400M of the 2009 iMac and uMacbook 2008 ?

From the summary on the front page:

The list of supported GPUs include:

- NVIDIA Geforce 8600M GT, GeForce 8800 GT, GeForce 8800 GTS, Geforce 9400M, GeForce 9600M GT, GeForce GT 120, GeForce GT 130.
- ATI Radeon 4850, Radeon 4870

 

[wrldwzrd89]

Yarg, no support for the Radeon HD 2600 Pro?! This is in a previous-generation Intel iMac... sigh.

 

[eXan]

Sheet. I was hoping my 2400 would be supported...

Time to get a new MBP I guess

 

[milk242]

I'm afraid

What about the GeForce 9400M of the 2009 iMac and uMacbook 2008 ?

it said 9400m up there...

 

[stofferdk]

WTF!

ATI better make my HD 2400 card eligible for OpenCL - its not that old!

that iMac cost me everything I had

 

[BlizzardBomb]

No HD 2600 PRO? What the fudgemonkey? It's much more powerful than the 9400M so why not?

 

[risenphoenixkai]

Too bad the 8600M GT isn't getting h.264 acceleration, but honestly, my MBP has never had any stuttering issues with playback anyway. I could see it being useful if you're running multiple simultaneous window instances of HD video, but I've never done it.

I'm thrilled that it's supporting OpenCL though. I just hope that using the GPU more often for computational tasks doesn't mean the supposedly fail-happy 8600M GT will fry itself all the faster.

 

[edesignuk]

Oh splendid. The video card in my ~£2k Mac Pro from just over a year ago isn't supported.

I know things have to move forward, but it's still irritating.

 

[vendettabass]

In one specific example, one company found a 5-fold increase in video encoding when using OpenCL-like technology on the PC.

hope the handbrake dev team are gonna' up their game!

 

[Otaviano]

A shame my iMac (ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro) would be able to enjoy these added benefits.

 

[windywoo]

Whats this? Apple using new software features to make users upgrade their hardware? Sounds like something Microsoft would do

 

[youyesyou]

it said 9400m up there...

Earlier, the news on the frontpage said that was only the 9400M of the last updated Macbook Pro.

 

[twoodcc]

sound good to me. looking forward to snow leopard. even though none of my current macs support this, maybe i'll have a new one by then

 

[Andrew Henry]

Sure glad I just placed that order for a XFX Radeon 4870 1gb graphics card!

 

[MrZebra]

Too bad the 8600M GT isn't getting h.264 acceleration, but honestly, my MBP has never had any stuttering issues with playback anyway. I could see it being useful if you're running multiple simultaneous window instances of HD video, but I've never done it.

I'm thrilled that it's supporting OpenCL though. I just hope that using the GPU more often for computational tasks doesn't mean the supposedly fail-happy 8600M GT will fry itself all the faster.

word.

 

[TheNorthWaves]

what does this mean for average joe user such as myself? Should I upgrade before the masses find out that my white macbook with the intel X3100 graphics doesn't cut it? Or is this really not a big deal
edit: I use my macbook for the stuff that 90% of people out there use a computer for. I'm not a video editor/etc.

 

[jcwacky]

The list mentions the GeForce 8800 GT and the GeForce 8800 GTS but no sign of the GeForce 8800 GS in my 1 year old iMac!?

That can't be right!