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Announcing Radeon Pro Settings for VMware and the Unified Enterprise Driver for Virtualization

deneffe
Staff
Staff
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Radeon-Pro-MxGPU-unified-driver-blog-title-image.jpg

[Originally posted on 04/04/17]

Effortlessly run professional applications on both physical and virtual machines with the unified Radeon Pro Software Enterprise Driver and manage AMD MxGPU’s at the host and datacenter level with Radeon Pro Settings for VMware.

Today’s professionals don’t want their creativity constrained by where they are or what device they are working on, and want the freedom to work remotely without compromise. In parallel, businesses are looking for solutions that improve productivity by making their IT easier to manage and more secure, all with a lower total cost of ownership.

AMD’s MxGPU (Multiuser GPU) virtualized graphics addresses all these needs, delivering workstation-class graphics from the data center to virtually any device, virtually anywhere. In addition, virtualization helps ensure that sensitive IP remains secure in the data center, rather than residing outside the firewall on devices that could potentially be compromised.

Radeon-Pro-MxGPU-infographic_1920-1176x700.jpg

AMD’s MxGPU, the world’s first hardware virtualized GPU solution, is built on industry standard SR-IOV (Single-Root I/O Virtualization) technology and allows up to 16 virtualized users per physical GPU to work remotely. Unlike software virtualization offerings, AMD’s scalable VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) technology better protects valuable data by using a dedicated share of local memory for increased security.

Deterministic Performance and Unified Driver

In combination with Radeon Pro Software, AMD MxGPU virtualized graphics has deterministic performance – delivering the same performance across multiple virtual desktops with the SPECapc® SOLIDWORKS benchmark, while the performance difference between virtual machines using a competing solution is up to 68%1.

Bringing the power of a physical GPU to virtual environments, AMD MxGPU virtualized graphics uses the unified Radeon Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q1.1 which lets users effortlessly run professional applications on both physical and virtual machines. That means there are virtually no limits what can or can’t be done in VDI, with full OpenGL®, DirectX®, and OpenCL™ acceleration and full ISV certification for Dassault Systèmes SOLIDWORKS®, PTC Creo®, Siemens® NX™, and more.

AMD MxGPU virtualized graphics delivers superior performance over the competition in these applications too, with up to 35% faster performance in SOLIDWORKS2, up to 38% faster performance in PTC Creo3, and up to 156% faster performance in Siemens NX4.

Radeon Pro Settings for VMware vCenter

With support for VMware® vSphere® 6.0 and higher, system admins will love how easy AMD MxGPU virtualized graphics is to set up. The new Radeon Pro Settings for VMware seamlessly integrated into VMware vCenter allows for management of physical GPUs at the host and datacenter level with a simple and intuitive interface.

Admins can quickly set up a VDI environment, rapidly deploy virtual GPUs to existing virtual machines, and enable hundreds of professionals with just a few mouse clicks depending on the number of GPUs in the system configuration.

Pure Virtualized Graphics

AMD MxGPU enables pure virtualized graphics, keeping it simple, secure and easy to set up with predictable performance. When combined with the unified Radeon Pro Software Enterprise Driver and Radeon Pro Settings for VMware, AMD makes it easy for IT to choose one flexible, scalable solution to meet a business’s virtualization needs. The best part is there are absolutely no hardware user licensing fees.

The unified Radeon Pro Software Enterprise Driver 17.Q1.1 is available here.

Radeon Pro Settings for VMware vSphere Client is available here.

To learn more, go to www.amd.com/vdi

FOOTNOTES

1. With driver 16.50, FirePro™ S7150 x2 MxGPU delivers same performance across VMs on SPECapc SOLIDWORKS benchmark, while the performance difference between VMs on Nvidia GRID for Tesla M60 is up to 68%. Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of January 10th, 2017, under following configuration: Host: VMware ESXi 6.5.0. Virtual Machine: Intel Xeon E5-2650 v3 @2.30 GHz, 4 Logical Processors, 8 GB Physical Memory, 120 GB Storage, Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bits SP1 Build 7601, 16.50 graphics driver for AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2 and 369.17 for Nvidia Tesla M60. For both AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2 and Tesla M60, only one physical GPU was involved for the benchmark. Tesla M60 was configured to use the 2Q profile. S7150 x2 MxGPU virtual GPU number was set to be four. In both configuration, one of the physical GPU is split into four virtual GPUs and assigned to four independent VMs. Another physical GPU is remained unused. The configurations for Tesla M60 and AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2 are equivalent. Benchmark Application: SPECapc SOLIDWORKS benchmarks under M60-2Q profile/AMD FirePro™ 7150 x2 MxGPU – 4 virtual GPUs configurations. AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2: Highest graphics composite in four VMs: 2.43. Lowest graphics composite in four VMs: 2.43. Performance difference: 2.43/2.43 = ~0%. Tesla M60: Highest graphics composite in four VMs: 2.67. Lowest graphics composite in four VMs: 1.59. Performance difference: 2.67/1.59 = ~67.92% difference. PC and server manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. FP-211

2. AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2 delivers up to 35% faster performance on SPECviewperf 12.1 SOLIDWORKS benchmark than Nvidia Tesla M60. Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of January 10th, 2017, under following configuration: Host: VMware ESXi 6.5.0. Virtual Machine: Intel Xeon E5-2650 v3 @2.30 GHz, 4 Logical Processors, 8 GB Physical Memory, 120 GB Storage, Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bits SP1 Build 7601, 16.50 graphics driver for AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2 and 369.17 for Nvidia Tesla M60. Benchmark Application: SPECviewperf 12.1 SOLIDWORKS test under single GPU pass-through. AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2 graphics composite: 68.05. Tesla M60 graphics composite: 50.4. Performance Differential: 68.05/50.4 = ~35.02% higher score on AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2. PC and server manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. FP-208

3. AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2 delivers up to 38% faster performance on SPECviewperf 12.1 PTC Creo benchmark than Nvidia Tesla M60. Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of January 10th, 2017, under following configuration: Host: VMware ESXi 6.5.0. Virtual Machine: Intel Xeon E5-2650 v3 @2.30 GHz, 4 Logical Processors, 8 GB Physical Memory, 120 GB Storage, Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bits SP1 Build 7601, 16.50 graphics driver for AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2 and 369.17 for Nvidia Tesla M60. Benchmark Application: SPECviewperf 12.1 Creo test under single GPU pass-through. AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2 graphics composite: 42.64. Tesla M60 graphics composite: 30.8. Performance Differential: 42.64/30.8 = ~38.44% higher score on AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2. PC and server manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. FP-210

4. AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2 delivers up to 156% faster performance on SPECviewperf 12.1 Siemens NX benchmark than Nvidia Tesla M60. Testing conducted by AMD Performance Labs as of January 10th, 2017, under following configuration: Host: VMware ESXi 6.5.0. Virtual Machine: Intel Xeon E5-2650 v3 @2.30 GHz, 4 Logical Processors, 8 GB Physical Memory, 120 GB Storage, Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bits SP1 Build 7601, 16.50 graphics driver for AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2 and 369.17 for Nvidia Tesla M60. Benchmark Application: SPECviewperf 12.1 Siemens NX test under single GPU pass-through. AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2 graphics composite: 40.48. Tesla M60 graphics composite: 15.83. Performance Differential: 40.48/15.83 = ~155.72% higher score on AMD FirePro™ S7150 x2. PC and server manufacturers may vary configurations, yielding different results. Performance may vary based on use of latest drivers. FP-209

SPEC® and the benchmark name SPECapc® are registered trademarks of the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation. For more information about SPECapc, see https://www.spec.org/gwpg/apc.static/sw2015info.html.

About the Author
Michael DeNeffe is AMD’s Director of Cloud Graphics and has over 25 years of experience in network computing, and client device technologies. He has also held senior management positions at NVIDIA, Teradici, Wyse, Transmeta, and NEC. Over the last ten years, Michael has focused on the emerging and dynamic desktop virtualization market. Prior to is position at AMD, he led the worldwide product marketing effort for NVIDIA GRID technology. Prior to that he was Vice President of Marketing and Business Development for Teradici Corporation and was instrumental in bringing to market the innovative PC-over-IP technology and protocol. And before that, he led the product management and marketing teams for Wyse Technology. There, he launched numerous thin computing products and earned a U. S. patent for the innovative design which is still in the market today. Michael has both undergraduate and master’s degrees from Santa Clara University.