Metal in El Capitan - Gaming Performance Prediction Thread

[marksatt]

On of the big advantage of Metal is the possibility to use multiple CPU cores for graphics tasks (submit commands from multiple threads), something that is harder to achieve in openGL. I suppose the GFXBench doesn't especially take advantage of that.
In a session about Vulkan at Siggraph, they showed huge improvements over openGL, but they used demoes with thousands of objects, lots of particles, and optimisation for multiple cores. Quite different from the current GFXBench.

Parallelising the dispatch of calls to the 3D API can definitely be a win, especially if you spend a lot of time issuing calls on the CPU & under GL that was impractical to impossible. However, your engine has to be built for it as you note and Metal's most optimal way of parallelising isn't quite the same as DX12/Vulkan which makes things a bit trickier again.

They also said that Metal cannot enable the performance that DX12 and Vulkan can reach because it retains the openGL binding model (I don't know that that means specifically), but that also makes Metal simpler to use.

So in Metal, you bind resources as you need them to numbered slots (i.e. texture slots 0-n, buffer slots 0-n) but for DX12 & Vulkan the set of resources that may be referenced by a particular pipeline-state is itself a state object that can be reused. This eliminates even more validation but makes the API and usage more complex.

 

[marksatt]

As for the work of skilled engineers I mentioned, I was thinking primarily about the guys at Aspyr and Feral but also other companies developing for Macs that take into account the large numbers of them with integrated GPUs.

I was one of those guys at Feral remember - nothing is as soul destroying as trying to optimise a game for integrated GPUs on the Mac when you know it was never even supported on such GPUs by the original developer.

I've not escaped that with UE4 as we do support them but there is a limit. Integrated GPUs aren't expected to run a PS4/XBONE-level AAA game with all the bells and whistles on, but some users aren't as well informed as you folks.

Eventually the difference between the capability between integrated GPUs and the demands of AAA games will see integrated GPUs dropped off the bottom of the supported machines again. This will limit what projects we few Mac developers can ship, whichever company we work for as we aren't magicians.

 

[Dirtyharry50]

I was one of those guys at Feral remember - nothing is as soul destroying as trying to optimise a game for integrated GPUs on the Mac when you know it was never even supported on such GPUs by the original developer.

I've not escaped that with UE4 as we do support them but there is a limit. Integrated GPUs aren't expected to run a PS4/XBONE-level AAA game with all the bells and whistles on, but some users aren't as well informed as you folks.

Eventually the difference between the capability between integrated GPUs and the demands of AAA games will see integrated GPUs dropped off the bottom of the supported machines again. This will limit what projects we few Mac developers can ship, whichever company we work for as we aren't magicians.

I can appreciate what you're saying particularly as pertains to AAA titles that are demanding. I wouldn't buy a Mac that relied on an integrated GPU unless I also had either a gaming PC and/or console to go with it which is actually a setup I am considering next time around but I'll see what i want to then. It's a way off yet. I do love the top end iMacs and I can live with the performance level they offer but it is an expensive proposition for so often as they need replacement. I've said elsewhere as have others I wish Apple would offer a desktop system designed for full size expansion cards that were user accessible, etc. but I don't see that in the cards anymore than anybody else does unfortunately. They have a different agenda and it does not include being all things to all people.

If money was no object I would just buy all the toys I want and none of this stuff would be an issue. I could have the best of all worlds but no! My life is so hard I tell you!

 

[antonis]

I guess it remains to be seen if Apple actually brought Metal to OS X in order to push Mac gaming forward and open the road for more AAA titles, or in order to bridge OS X with iOS, making those iOS games easier to port.

Update for some bad news from MR frontpage (not relative to gaming but still Metal related)