A Cycle-Accurate Simulation Environment for Shader Architecture

Shader architecture is one of the fastest growing fields in the ever advancing 3D graphics, and massive amounts of ideas and technologies are being introduced to the market continuously. In this paper, we present a flexible cycle-accurate simulation environment to accelerate and alleviate the process of developing and verifying these ideas and technologies. Combination of 3D graphics API and hardware simulator allows OpenGL applications to be emulated off-the-shelf for a given shader micro-architecture. Easily modified parameters allow the simulation environment to be tailored to specific demands or requirements.