Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers unlock the performance capabilities of Intel® Graphics components—in a visually oriented package.

Intel’s introduction of powerful, low-level performance analyzers—designed to eliminate bottlenecks and enhance performance for software operations with Intel® Graphics chipsets—simplifies tuning and boosts productivity for developers seeking a competitive edge. Available to Intel® Software Partner Program and Visual Adrenaline developer program members for free, the Intel® Graphics Performance Analyzers (Intel® GPA) were introduced in March 2009 and have already played an important role in helping game development companies better design their software for notebook and mainstream desktop machines.

Embraced by game companies for its detailed, precision view of graphics operations all the way down to the frame level, Intel GPA also has strong appeal to virtually any company looking for improvements to application performance when ubiquitous Intel Graphics chipsets are part of the target platform.

In an Intel® Software Network video, Aaron Davies, senior marketing manager in the Intel Visual Computing Software Development group, stated, “If you want to know what’s so compelling about running on Intel Graphics, here is your answer. Mercury Research showed that in 2008 for the first time integrated graphics chipsets outsold discrete. And in 2013 we expect to see integrated graphics outsell discrete by 3 to 1.” ¹



The two key tools—System Analyzer and Frame Analyzer—reside on a network-based architecture and provide remote data collection. DirectX* 9 implementations are currently supported, with DirectX 10 support scheduled for release Q4, 2009.

• System Analyzer produces an overall snapshot of system performance.
• Frame Analyzer offers developers a view of per-frame, draw-call level details, letting them examine and modify API-level interactions for each individual frame.

As explained by Aaron Davies, “The tool provides a performance delta between your original frame and your experimental frame, without recompiling code.” The capabilities of Intel GPA dovetail nicely with the goals and objectives of the Intel® Software Partner Program, which offers multiple ways for you to take advantage of platform tools and initiatives that help bring products to market more rapidly, as well as improving the quality and reliability of your applications.

The development team at Terminal Reality, nearing the release data for Ghostbusters: The Video Game, took advantage of the platform-leveling capabilities of Intel GPA to open up their highly anticipated game release to the maximum number of computing devices. Mark Randel, CEO and chief technologist at Terminal Reality, said, “The Intel GPA helped us mainly by reducing development time, since the tool provides a focus on specific problem areas. It also allowed our game to support the widest possible audience, by being able to run Intel Graphics. The benefit is mainly cost savings; the tool helps the engineer focus on the problem areas versus trial and error experiments. You can locate problem areas quicker than just turning visuals in the game on and off.”

Another high-profile game title, Empire*: Total War, was tuned and optimized by the development team at SEGA. Chris Southall, technical director at SEGA, commented, “We have mainly used the frame level of Intel GPA. We have made changes to the level of detail in the game, made some art changes, optimized some shaders, changed draw order, and reduced overdraw. Using the system-level debugger, we have found a few bottlenecks with the way we were filling vertex buffers, which have also been fixed.”

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Support for current graphics chipsets is extremely useful, but what does the future hold for the Intel GPA? Aaron Davies said, “In the future, GPA will also support upcoming Intel Graphics and many-core related products. There are some absolutely exciting features we are currently developing, which will change the way people think about performance tools, and which will allow developers to truly harness unbridled computing power.”

In the meantime, there are tremendous opportunities available from the performance-tuning capabilities of Intel GPA, providing a high-value method for ensuring optimal graphics behavior in applications ranging from notebook-oriented games to financial graphics applications. The possibilities are far ranging and the timing is perfect: Intel GPA is available now.

¹ Source: McCarron, Dean, 2008, for Mercury Research, PC Graphics 2008; Updated Edition 4Q2008 Report. Available at www.mercuryresearch.com.

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