The GPU beta launch will be on Monday Oct 2 in the afternoon (Pacific time). We have been doing extensive testing and, while all the bugs aren't worked out (this is a beta relase after all), there are no show stoppers so far and it's a good time to put this into a bigger release.
Just some heads up for people to keep in mind:
o The GPU code requires specific drivers and system software, so this will be a much more complex install than before (another reason for this being a beta release). Be prepared to potentially update your ATI driver version and/or Direct X version.
o At launch, we will only support X1900 class GPU's (X1900XT, X1900XTX, X1950, X1900GT), as they are the only GPUs which give reasonable performance with FAH. More GPU support will be forthcoming, starting with other ATI GPU's (most likely the X1800 and X1650), but we have no ETA on their support.
o People have been curious about the nature of the core in the GPU client. The GPU Gromacs core isn't a port of Gromacs, but rather we've taken key elements from Gromacs we need and enhanced them based on the unique capabities of GPU's. Thus, it's really a new and different core on the inside, but with wrapped Gromacs on the outside; the new core will be called Core_10. For example, Core_10 WU's can't correctly be run on non-GPU cores and vice versa (and thus it is impossible to run GPU WU's on non-GPU systems and vice versa). This enables some new and exciting science, but it's important to be clear that this isn't just a port. This is very similar to the inclusion of Gromacs in 2003 when FAH only ran Tinker. Gromacs' functionality is a subset of Tinker's, but Gromacs runs 20x to 30x faster than Tinker (for the parts we use Gromacs for). Since Gromacs wasn't a complete substitute for Tinker, we still use Tinker for certain key calculations. Similarly, the GPU core is faster than Gromacs, but on a limited (and somewhat augmented/altered) subset of Gromacs' capabilities.
We'll be giving the full scoop on Monday, but I wanted to try to give people some early warning so they know what to expect on Monday. This is definitely a BETA RELEASE, so don't expect something very polished. Also, we're preparing the final FAQ and HOWTO material and we will give more info as it makes sense to release it. I've even broken my own rules by releasing the info above, but I thought it was important as I want people who are interested in testing the beta to be prepared for all of what will be needed (which is unfortunately quite a bit, considering the need for driver updates, etc) to run the GPU client.
More info on Monday
