how to read metal feature set table?

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Created Dec ’22

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The Metal feature set tables list features for each GPU family. I assumed that if a feature is present in a family, then it must be supported for the GPUs in the family, otherwise what's the point of specifying families? But I see exceptions to this assumption, so I'm confused how to make sense of this table.

For example, I assumed that features listed for the Metal 3 family must be supported on all GPUs in the Metal 3 family. The Metal 3 family includes A13, which is the Apple 6 family. But I see features available for Metal 3 not available for Apple 6. (Could it be that a feature available for A13 is not available for Apple 6?) For example, see "SIMD-scoped reduction operations."

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Answer 1

Graphics and Games Engineer OP

Apple

Dec ’22

Accepted Answer

So "Metal 3" is mostly marketing terminology for a set of the latest Metal features. In the case you're describing you should just use the Apple n or Mac2 families to determine if a feature is supported.

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Answer 2

josephljohnston OP

Dec ’22

Does this mean 'Metal3' can indeed be relied upon (with that correction)? For example, could I target Metal3 features rather than Apple7, Apple8, Mac2 features? which GPU's supporting Metal3 don't support Apple7, Apple8, and Mac2? There must be some, as some Metal3 features don't exist for Mac2 (eg indirect compute commands).

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