CS4803 Design Game Consoles
Spring 2009
|
Course Description
In this course, we will explore game console architectures, parallel
processors and GPU architectures. The course will provide background
knowledge of programming in a game console architecture to better
understand the hardware. The course will cover architectures in Xbox,
playstation3, NVIDIA GPUs and Intel Larrabee architectures.
The course focuses on the microarchitecture level of both traditional
architectures and game console architectures. We will learn the
details of how processors will work through programming assignments. 2
assignments will cover GPGPU programming (programming using graphics
processors) and 3 assignments will cover the microarchitecture level,
which will implement cycle accurate simulators for simplified versions
of traditional architectures and GPU architectures.
Topics:
- Game console architectures (Xbox360, playstation3, NVIDIA GPU, Intel Larrabee, ARM processors)
- GPU architectures
- GPGPU programming (CUDA programming)
- Microarchitecture, parallel architecture
Pre-requisite:
CS2200 or an equivalent course
Good knowledge of C/C++ programming
Textbooks: There is no required textbook for the course.
Suggested books:
- [H&P]Computer Architecture: AQA, 4th Edition by Hennessy and Patterson
- [RTR] Read-time rendering, 3rd edition, by Tomas Akenine-Moller, Eric Haines, Naty Hoffman
- [SIMD]SIMD programming manual for Linux and windows by Paul Cockshott, Kenneth Renfrew
- [PCELL] Programming the Cell Processor: For Games, Graphics, and Computation by Matthew Scarpino
- Other papers and websites (please see the class homepage)
Course Home Pages: TBA
(The tentative class homepage: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~hyesoon/spr09/index.html)
Grading
Exams (60%)
- 17.5% midterm-I
- 17.5% midterm-II
- 20% Final
- 5% Pop Quizzes and participations
Assignments (40%)
- Assignment #1 (5%)
- Assignment #2 (10%)
- Assignment #3 (5%)
- Assignment #4 (5%)
- Assignment #5 (15%)
Final grade algorithm
80 ~ 100 (out of 100): A
65 ~ 80: B
50 ~ 65: C
40 ~ 50: D
~40 : F
Programming assignments: I encourage you to study in
groups. However, examinations and your work on all programming
assignments must be your own individual work. Collaboration with other
students or other persons is prohibited. Submitting any work other
than your own is a violating of the Academic Honor Code. If you are
not sure what you can discuss or not, please contact the instructor.
Assignment late Policy: All programming assignments are due on
the day specified by the assignment description and posted online. To
account for short-term unexpected events like computer crashes,
submission problems, and clock skew, we will allow 5 hours of slack
and accept projects until exactly (due time + 5 hr).
Projects received after the due date will lose 10% of the grade on the
first late day, 20% on the second, 40% on the third, 80% on the forth,
and 100% on the fifth day. Weekend days are counted in exactly the
same way as weekdays (e.g., if the project deadline is Friday and you
turn it in Sunday, that's two days late).
Assignment submission rules: You must follow the submission
guidelines specified in the assignment description. We will use
T-squares. Wrong file names, broken file formats, missing files will
lose 20% of grade. For reports, you must turn in a hardcopy of your
report during the class time.
Exams: Absolutely no collaboration at all. Copying or receiving any
other information from another person or their exam, with or without
their consent, is unethical and unacceptable. Cheating is a direct
violation of the GT Academic Honor Code and will be dealt with
accordingly.
Regrades: Regrades are obtained by submitting a written
explanation to the instructor within 48 hours of when the work was
returned in class. Regrades will only be discussed after submitting
the work in this manner. In order for a test to be re-graded, you must
neatly state in writing the reason that you would like your test to be
re-graded. If a test is submitted for a re-grade, I have the right to
re-grade the entire test-so keep it mind that it is possible to
lose additional points. Therefore, it is strongly recommended that you
do not ask for a re-grade unless you have substantial reason to
believe that I made a mistake when originally grading the test.
Student honor code: Zero tolerance toward a violation of the
student honor code. Any misbehavior will be reported to Dean of
Students directly.
Class Room Policies: No cell phones and no computers during the
class time.
Office Hours: Please respect the office hours of the instructor by
planning ahead. Other times are possible by appointments.
Newsgroup: It is your responsibility to check the
newsgroup. Discussions in the newsgroup are also considered as class
discussions.
|