Radeon Pro GPU main processor acceleration

[fotoflux]

AMD states the following on their Radeon Pro site: Radeon™ Pro Graphics on the MacBook accelerate workloads normally reserved for the main processor.

http://creators.radeon.com/radeon-pro/

Does that mean that there is baked in support in OS X to hand off computational tasks of compatible types to the GPU? Or is this the same stuff that has been around for years where developers would have to add GPU support individually in applications to perform non graphics related tasks?

If there is baked in support, does anybody know what things I would expect to see handed off to the GPU automatically?

 

[SoyCapitanSoyCapitan]

OpenCL (for a few years) and now Metal. But you don't see the benefits of GPGPU in an operating system alone. Not until we start have VR interfaces or something.

A good example of a well optimised GPGPU app is Final Cut Pro X.

 

[andrewj]

On the other hand, I haven't seen any speed improvements with Lightroom.

 

[jackoatmon]

as mentioned, it's app-specific

FCPX does a rly great job of it, hence seeing crazy numbers like it finishing tasks 7-12X faster than Premiere Pro. Adobe programs aren't super hot in this regard, though one assumes they'll get better and better.