News New open source GPU is free to all - FuryGPU runs Quake at 60fps, supports modern Windows software

[Admin]

An open-source fully custom GPU has come out of stealth after four years in development. FuryGPU has been a one-man effort from games software developer Dylan Barrie, who says he put together this extremely complex hardware and software project in his spare time. It can run Quake at 60fps.

New open source GPU is free to all - FuryGPU runs Quake at 60fps, supports modern Windows software : Read more

 

[TechLurker]

Would be kind of neat if this results in a collaborative effort to make and maintain a functional low-to-mid-range, open-source GPU, funded in batches similar to Massdrop or Indiegogo, and refined and maintained by the open-source community at large. Then we can see if the open-source community can get better drivers and stability out faster than AMD or Intel.

Yeah, I know it's not intended to be a serious project, but with new rivals like Intel and Moore's Threads entering the legacy space, it'd be neat to see yet another entrant even if they only ever target the low-middle end. Maybe those dedicated Voodoo GPU fans who make limited batches of the last planned Voodoo card using salvaged chips from previous-gen Voodoo cards could utilize this to make new Voodoo GPUs from the ground-up as part of their continuing passion project.

 

[passivecool]

This reminds me...

when i was a kid, i remember reading a book (probably a fictional story funded by Colgate) about some kids who decided it was cheaper to make their own toothpaste. The story continues with their exploration of economics and economy of scale (don't ask me why i thought this was interesting when i was 13, about 100 years ago)

those 100 years later, there are many DIY toothpaste recipes on the web. And it seems there will soon be GPU recipes as well. Except, unfortunately, by the time the fruit is ripe, equivalent GPU will be CPU embedded everywhere. But CUDOS and respect to the developer!! the world needs fewer politicians and more nerds who do stuff because they want to try it out.

 

[Eximo]

Would be kind of neat if this results in a collaborative effort to make and maintain a functional low-to-mid-range, open-source GPU, funded in batches similar to Massdrop or Indiegogo, and refined and maintained by the open-source community at large. Then we can see if the open-source community can get better drivers and stability out faster than AMD or Intel.

Yeah, I know it's not intended to be a serious project, but with new rivals like Intel and Moore's Threads entering the legacy space, it'd be neat to see yet another entrant even if they only ever target the low-middle end. Maybe those dedicated Voodoo GPU fans who make limited batches of the last planned Voodoo card using salvaged chips from previous-gen Voodoo cards could utilize this to make new Voodoo GPUs from the ground-up as part of their continuing passion project.

Using an FPGA for a GPU is never going to be cheap enough to be viable for any low to mid range contemporary card. Maybe a mid-range card from 15 years ago.

As you say the fully recreating a 3DFX chip is an option. Though we have gotten to the point where emulating an entire Voodoo card is viable, so the market would be quite small.

Though I will point out that many of those new voodoos are actually using new old stock GPUs that were already produced. There are still trays of them available and they were used in more than just expansion card GPUs, many arcade machines used integrated 3DFX chips. Memory chips seems to be the most harvested components if I remember correctly.

 

[bit_user]

If he's using an API that's non-standard (i.e. not OpenGL, Direct3D, or Vulkan), I wonder how much more work it would've been to implement the old 3dfx GLiDE API, and how many games out there it would then potentially be able to run.

 

[Eximo]

Now I want to fire up my Voodoo 5 5500 just to see if it still works. Might need capacitors at this point.

 

[Speeddymon]

This reminds me...

when i was a kid, i remember reading a book (probably a fictional story funded by Colgate) about some kids who decided it was cheaper to make their own toothpaste. The story continues with their exploration of economics and economy of scale (don't ask me why i thought this was interesting when i was 13, about 100 years ago)

those 100 years later, there are many DIY toothpaste recipes on the web. And it seems there will soon be GPU recipes as well. Except, unfortunately, by the time the fruit is ripe, equivalent GPU will be CPU embedded everywhere. But CUDOS and respect to the developer!! the world needs fewer politicians and more nerds who do stuff because they want to try it out.

The story was required reading in my school. I remember reading it too. The kids made it in baby food jars and ended up on TV in the story.

 

[thisisaname]

The project is far more than the hardware, though, with Barrie admitting that the most painful aspect of this graphics card’s design was creating the Windows drivers.

Aye just ask Intel and AMD now easy drivers are to write.

 

[coolestcarl]

Aye just ask Intel and AMD now easy drivers are to write.

This is why Nvidia has more software engineers than hardware engineers. Which is absolutely why their drivers are better (they are just better resourced in this crucial area) and they have such a big gap to the competition when it comes to the corporate space. Their driver integration teams are second to none at the moment.

 

[bit_user]

I just noticed that he called it "Fury GPU". He really should've found another name for it, since it's too easily confused with AMD's Radeon R9 Fury.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/9421/the-amd-radeon-r9-fury-review-feat-sapphire-asus
​

 

[NinoPino]

Impressive work in all aspects, one man, spare time, no hardware experience and so quick to complete the job.

 

[FR33L35T3R]

Quake already run a lot more 60 fps without gpu, so this article doesnt make sens.

 

[Notton]

This looks like a fun project.
But if you want practical, I think it would be cheaper to buy a single slot LP Arc A310

 

[evdjj3j]

All kinds of lies in that headline. The GPU is not open source and it only achieves 44 fps in quake.


Why not make the headline Totally free GPU achieves 10,000 FPS in Cyberpunk with full RT.

That headline has just as much truth.

If you're going to tell lies you might as well make them good ones.

 

[bit_user]

All kinds of lies in that headline. The GPU is not open source

He said he is trying to open source it, but wants to get his legal ducks in a row.

The FuryGPU is set to be open-sourced. “I am intending on open-sourcing the entire stack (PCB schematic/layout, all the HDL, Windows WDDM drivers, API runtime drivers, and Quake ported to use the API) at some point, but there are a number of legal issues,” Barrie wrote in a Hacker News post on Wednesday.
​

and it only achieves 44 fps in quake.

The article says the Quake Timedemo video is about 1 month old. In the linked HackerNews thread, he explains:

"For hitting 60Hz in FuryGpu, I actually render at 640x360 and then pixel-double (well, pixel->quad) the output to the full 720p."
​

Since headline didn't state what resolution that framerate was at, it's absolutely correct. The subtitle ("FuryGPU is currently capable of running Quake at 720p and 60fps.") is misleading, but also not wrong, since it used the word "and", not "at".

Why not make the headline Totally free GPU achieves 10,000 FPS in Cyberpunk with full RT.

That headline has just as much truth.

If you're going to tell lies you might as well make them good ones.

If you're going to critique articles, you might as well make your criticisms accurate ones. I find plenty to criticize about the articles on this site, but I thought this one was pretty well-written.