AMD & Microsoft Collaborate To Bring TensorFlow-DirectML To Life, Up To 4.4x Improvement on RDNA 2 GPUs

TensorFlow-DirectML, one of the accessible machine learning (ML) tools that are designed to work across a broad spectrum of hardware, specifically GPUs, has been released for Windows PCs in conjunction with AMD RDNA 2 technology. This new ML from AMD shows an initial 3.7x improvement on inference performance and up to 4.4x improvement on overall AI Benchmark Alpha scores.

This was tested on AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT and RX 6600 XT graphics hardware. The largest improvement was seen on device training scores, showing an increase of 4.4x improvement.

To solve the world’s most profound challenges, you need powerful and accessible machine learning (ML) tools that are designed to work across a broad spectrum of hardware. This can range from datacenter applications for scientists and researchers to desktop and notebook PCs used by students and professionals looking to develop ML models on the hardware they already own.

The feedback from our customers is their desire to better leverage the power of their existing Windows® PC hardware for their machine learning workflows. To help address this need and make ML tools more accessible to Windows users, last year Microsoft announced the preview availability of support for GPU-accelerated training workflows using DirectML-enabled machine learning frameworks in Windows and the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL).

This GPU-accelerated training works on any DirectX® 12 compatible GPU and AMD Radeon™ and Radeon PRO graphics cards are fully supported. This provides our customers with even greater capability to develop ML models using their devices with AMD Radeon graphics and Microsoft® Windows 10.

[...]These updates will let you benefit from all the performance improvements that both Microsoft and AMD have enabled throughout the development of TensorFlow-DirectML and will take your Windows machine learning workflows when using AMD graphics to the next level!

Computer users that own DirectX 12 compatible AMD Radeon graphics hardware, such as the aforementioned RX 6900 XT and RX 6600 XT graphics cards, and utilizing the most recent AMD Radeon Software Adrenalin drivers, you can start using TensorFlow-DirectML right now. It is offered on the AMD company support website here. Microsoft also has additional information on their blog, located here.

Source: AMD, Microsoft