Moore Threads GPUs with Vulkan Support
Some great news from China, more specifically on Moore Threads GPU development.
There is a lot going on right now with domestically produced GPUs. Recently, Loongson announced its first GPU chip, the 9A1000, which should compare to AMD’s older Radeon RX 550. While that does not sound impressive, it is still a sign that China is entering a new stage, with a path toward faster GPUs.
We also got an update from Lisuan Tech, which says its GPUs should be able to compete with NVIDIA’s XX50, and to some extent XX60-class cards. More importantly, the company confirmed DirectX 12 support, which suggests a more modern software stack than earlier efforts.
Moore Threads also released a new driver (320.130) just before the holidays. The update reportedly adds OpenGL 4.5/4.6 and Vulkan 1.3 support. This appears to be the first Moore Threads driver to expose Vulkan, which would improve compatibility with a wider library of games.
Source: Moore Threads
Geeks3D, which reported the update and also makes FurMark 2, tested the new GPUs and confirmed FurMark 2 works through both OpenGL and Vulkan.
Moore Threads GPU in OpenGL and Vulkan Furmark test, Source: Geeks3D
Vulkan support – PES v320.130.0
This driver exposes Vulkan 1.3.290 and 94 device extensions for a MTT S80 on Windows 10 22H2. This is the first Moore Threads graphics driver that exposes the Vulkan API.— Geeks3D
It’s worth noting that Moore Threads’ MTT series already supports Direct3D 12. It appears that the MTT issues are no longer compatibility-related, but rather limitations in terms of power efficiency and architecture performance. The card still seems to consume a lot of power even when idle (114W):
Moore Threads GPU in Shark2, Source: Geeks3D
Source: Geeks3D
