Comparing devices - Current state A core feature of all my GPU databases (Vulkan, OpenCL, OpenGL and OpenGL ES) is the possibility to compare reports. This lets you quickly see how the implementations differ, e.g. regarding extension support or api limits. For this you check the reports (or devices) to compare from the currently visible list: And after pressing “compare” you’ll get a side-by-side comparison of the selected reports: But the current implementation has an annoying limitation that has been bothering users (and me) for years now: You can only ever select reports (to compare) from the currently visible list of reports. [Read More]

New client application

Version 3.27 of the Vulkan Hardware Capability Viewer is now available for all platforms (Windows, Linux, Android, Mac OSX).

New extensions

This version has been updated to Vulkan Headers 1.3.230 adding support for reading new features and properties provided via VK_KHR_GET_PHYSICAL_DEVICE_PROPERTIES_2 for the following extensions:

• VK_EXT_descriptor_buffer (proposal)
• VK_ARM_shader_core_builtins
• VK_NV_copy_memory_indirect
• VK_NV_memory_decompression
• VK_NV_ray_tracing_invocation_reorder

New client application Version 3.26 of the Vulkan Hardware Capability Viewer is now available for all platforms (Windows, Linux, Android, Mac OSX). New extensions This version has been updated to Vulkan Headers 1.3.230 adding support for reading new features and properties provided via VK_KHR_GET_PHYSICAL_DEVICE_PROPERTIES_2 for the following extensions: VK_EXT_opacity_micromap VK_EXT_extended_dynamic_state3 VK_EXT_device_fault VK_EXT_device_address_binding_report VK_EXT_pipeline_protected_access VK_EXT_legacy_dithering VK_EXT_mutable_descriptor_type VK_EXT_rasterization_order_attachment_access VK_NV_present_barrier VK_NV_optical_flow Changes and bugfixes Updated Vulkan profiles library to the latest version Added detection for Windows 11 (was showing up as Windows 10 in older versions) Fixed a bug with large values for maxTimelineSemaphoreValueDifference Database I also did some minor tweaks and bugfixes to the database: [Read More]

Some background More than 6 years ago (time flies!) I released the Vulkan Hardware Database and Capability Viewer along with the first public release of Vulkan 1.0. Traffic on the database has been rising steadily and is approaching 1,000,000 hits per month. 2021 more than 3,000 reports have been uploaded to the database, a number that also has been steadily increasing since launch. This makes it my mostly used database (compared to OpenGL and OpenGL ES) and judging by the feedback it seems to be a widely and often used feature among Vulkan developers. [Read More]

Vulkan profiles Along with Vulkan 1.3, Khronos also introduced Vulkan Profiles into the Vulkan ecosystem: “The new Vulkan profile mechanism enables the precise specification and management of sets of API capabilities. Each profile specifies a core version of Vulkan plus a set of required extensions, with supported limits, features, and formats. Profiles provide a way to precisely communicate functionality requirements and device capabilities between participants in the Vulkan ecosystem to streamline the development and deployment of portable applications. [Read More]

New Vulkan version Vulkan 1.3 has just gone public, adding some recent features into the core to establish a new baseline for the api. You can find more information in this blog from Khronos and additional resources in this one. There’ll also be a special Vulkanized webinar on February 1st that’s dedicated to the new version. As with previous releases I added support for the new core version to the Vulkan Hardware Capability Viewer and the database day-one. [Read More]

Release

Version 3.05 of the Vulkan Hardware Capability Viewer is now available for all platforms (Windows, Linux, Android, Mac OSX).

New extensions

This version has been updated to Vulkan Headers 1.2.200 (from 1.2.195), adding support for reading new features and properties provided via VK_KHR_GET_PHYSICAL_DEVICE_PROPERTIES_2 for the following extensions:

• VK_ARM_rasterization_order_attachment_access
• VK_KHR_dynamic_rendering
• VK_EXT_border_color_swizzle
• VK_EXT_image_view_min_lod
• VK_EXT_depth_clip_control

Bugfixes

This version als includes a few fixes:

• Proxy settings are now properly applied
• Proxy type has been changed to http (from socks) to increas compatibility
• Updating reports with missing extensions is now proplery working

I recently gave a talk on texture compression in Vulkan using Basis Universal and the KTX 2.0 format during this years Vulkanised online event. The short (15 minutes) talk contains some information on texture compression general, using texture compression in Vulkan and why a universal supercompressed format like Basis Universal is important. The presentation and a video recording of all the presentations from day 2, including mine, are now available: [Read More]

Release Version 3.04 of the Vulkan Hardware Capability Viewer is now available for all platforms (Windows, Linux, Android, Mac OSX). New extensions This version has been updated to Vulkan Headers 1.2.195 (from 1.2.189), adding support for reading new features and properties provided via VK_KHR_GET_PHYSICAL_DEVICE_PROPERTIES_2 for the following extensions: VK_KHR_maintenance4 VK_EXT_rgba10x6_formats VK_KHR_shader_integer_dot_product VK_EXT_primitive_topology_list_restart VK_EXT_pageable_device_local_memory VK_KHR_shader_integer_dot_product Support for PowerVR texture compression image format support This version also finally adds support for the PowerVR texture compression formats provided by the VK_IMG_format_pvrtc. [Read More]

Intro The Vulkan Hardware Database just got another large update, bringing some substantial new features, quality-of-life improvements and bugfixes. A large part of the code has been reworked to make it easier to maintain and expand, and also more secure. Reworked format support views The biggest change in functionality are the reworked format support views. Instead of a single view that would only tell coverage for “is a format supported linear/optimal tiling or buffers”, the listings have been split into separate listings for linear tiling, optimal tiling and buffer format support and now list device coverage by format and flag. [Read More]