CUDA 3.0 released

The CUDA Toolkit 3.0 Beta is now available to GPU Computing registered developers.

Highlights for this release include:

• CUDA Driver / Runtime Buffer Interoperability, which allows applications using the CUDA Driver API to also use libraries implemented using the CUDA C Runtime.
• A new, separate version of the CUDA C Runtime (CUDART) for debuggingin emulation-mode.
• C++ Class Inheritance and Template Inheritance support for increasedprogrammer productivity
• A new unified interoperability API for Direct3D and OpenGL, withsupport for:
  • OpenGL texture interop
  • Direct3D 11 interop support
• cuda-gdb hardware debugging support for applications that use the CUDADriver API
• New CUDA Memory Checker reports misalignment and out of bounds errors,available as a debugging mode within cuda-gdb and also as a stand-alone utility.
• CUDA Toolkit libraries are now versioned, enabling applications to require a specific version, support multiple versions explicitly, etc.
• CUDA C/C++ kernels are now compiled to standard ELF format
  
• Support for all the OpenCL features in the latest R195.39 beta driver:
  
  • Double Precision
  • OpenGL Interoperability, for interactive high performance visualization
  • Query for Compute Capability, so you can target optimizations for GPU architectures (cl_nv_device_attribute_query)
  • Ability to control compiler optimization settings, etc. via support for NVIDIA Compiler Flags (cl_nv_compiler_options)
  • OpenCL Images support, for better/faster image filtering
  • 32-bit Atomics for fast, convenient data manipulation
  • Byte Addressable Stores, for faster video/image processing and compression algorithms
  • Support for the latest OpenCL spec revision 48 and latest official Khronos OpenCL headers as of 11/1/2009
• Early support for the Fermi architecture, including:
  
  • Native 64-bit GPU support
  • Multiple Copy Engine support
  • ECC reporting
  • Concurrent Kernel Execution
  • Fermi HW debugging support in cuda-gdb

For more information on general purpose computing features of the Fermi architecture, see: www.nvidia.com/fermi.

Windows developers should be sure to sign up for the Nexus beta program, and test drive the integrated support for GPU hardware debugging, profiling, and platform trace/analysis features at: www.nvidia.com/nexus

Please review the errata document for important notes about using this beta release.

Special Notice for MacOS X Developers

• Use the cudadriver_3.0.0-beta1_macos.pkg driver with all NVIDIA GPUs except Quadro FX 4800 and GeForce GTX 285 on MacOS X 10.5.6 and later (pre-SnowLeoard)
• Use cudadriver_3.0.1-beta1_macos.pkg driver with Quadro FX 4800 and GeForce GTX 285 on MacOS X 10.5.6 and later (pre-SnowLeoard).
• Use cudadriver_3.0.1-beta1_macos.pkg driver with all NVIDIA GPUs on MacOS X 10.6 SnowLeopard and later.