Introduction
Initially, Intel GPA was created for developers targeting PC games running on Windows* OS. Many of the top-selling games use Intel GPA when analyzing and optimizing their games running on Windows* OS systems. Now you can also analyze OpenGL* ES workloads with Intel GPA.
You can download various versions of the product from the Intel GPA Home Page. Click the Download button on the page to see a popup dialog box which includes download links for the different platforms. Depending upon the target system your application runs on and the client system you develop on, select one of the following versions:
Intel® GPA Version | Analysis Platform | Target Application and Platform |
“Develop for Windows 7*, Windows 8*” | Windows* OS | Microsoft DirectX* applications for Windows* OS |
“Develop for Android* on Windows*” | Windows* OS | OpenGL* ES applications for Android* |
“Develop for Android* on OS X*” | OS X* | OpenGL* ES applications for Android* |
“Develop for Android* on Ubuntu*” | Ubuntu* OS | OpenGL* ES applications for Android* |
Details
For Windows* OS workloads, you can run one of three tools: Intel GPA System Analyzer (both HUD and Remote), Intel GPA Frame Analyzer, and Intel GPA Platform Analyzer. Each of these tools can help you quickly pinpoint performance issues with a different aspect of the graphics application, such as whether the game is CPU-bound or GPU-bound, or what portions of the rendering pipeline are responsible for performance bottlenecks within a specific frame.
For Android* workloads, you can use Intel GPA System Analyzer that supports game analysis for Android* phones and tablets based on the Intel® Atom™ processor. With this capability, you can get a real-time view of over two dozen critical system metrics covering the CPU, GPU, and OpenGL ES* API. In addition, the tool provides a number of graphics pipeline experiments that can help you quickly isolate graphics bottlenecks. If you are using a tablet based on the Intel® Atom™ processor, you can also run the Intel GPA Frame Analyzer to perform frame-based analysis and optimization of your application. Intel GPA is flexible to match the needs of the Android* user community, as the tools run on three different development platforms: Windows* OS, Apple OS X*, and Linux* Ubuntu*.
Intel GPA Installation Specifics
The Intel GPA architecture is quite adaptable, and is based upon communication via sockets between the target system (where your game runs) and the analysis system (where you run the Intel GPA tools). This extensible architecture enables the product to support the analysis of both Windows* OS platforms as well as mobile platforms -- you can analyze games on Intel® Atom™ phones and tablets running the Android* OS from a variety of development systems: Apple OS X*, Linux* Ubuntu*, and the Windows* OS.
Here is a chart showing the different platforms supported by Intel GPA, and some tips on installation of the product:
| Target Platform (where your game runs) | Analysis Platform (your development system) | Installation Information |
| Microsoft* Windows* 7/8/8.1 OS | Microsoft* Windows* 7/8/8.1 OS | Install the software on both the Target Platform and the Analysis Platform |
| Google* Android* 2.3, 4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 (Intel® Atom™ phones/tablets) | OS X* 10.7, 10.8 Microsoft* Windows* 7/8 OS Ubuntu* OS 11.10, 12.04 | Install the software only on the Analysis Platform |
A couple of notes regarding the table above:
- For the Windows* OS target platform, all Intel GPA tools can run on both the target platform and the analysis platform (that is, Intel GPA System Analyzer HUD, Intel GPA System Analyzer (client/server mode), Intel GPA Frame Analyzer, and Intel GPA Platform Analyzer). For the Android* OS target platform, only the Intel GPA System Analyzer (client/server mode) runs on the target platform. One exception is tablets based on the Intel Atom processor -- the Intel GPA Frame Analyzer can also be used for frame analysis of OpenGL* games and applications
- For the Microsoft* Windows* 8 OS, Intel GPA does not support the RT version of this OS.
- For more information about Intel GPA on the Android* OS platform, either read this article or see the Android* section of the Intel GPA Online Help.