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10.16 Texturing Quick References

10.16.1 Hardware Capabilities

Hardware Limits

Capability	SM 1.x	SM 2.x
Maximum width – 1D CUDA array	8192	32768
Maximum width – 1D device memory	2²⁷
Maximum width and number of layers – 1D layered texture	8192×512	16384×2048
Maximum extents for 2D texture	65536×32768
Maximum extents and number of layers – 2D layered texture	8192× 8192× 512	16384× 16384× 2048
Maximum extents – 3D CUDA array	2048×2048×2048
Maximum extents for a 2D surface	n/a	8192×8192

Queries – Driver API

Most of the hardware limits listed above can be queried by calling cuDeviceGetAttribute() with the following values.

Attribute	CUdevice_attribute value
Maximum width – 1D CUDA array	`CU_DEVICE_ATTRIBUTE_MAXIMUM_TEXTURE1D_WIDTH`
Maximum width of 1D layered texture	`CU_DEVICE_ATTRIBUTE_MAXIMUM_TEXTURE1D_LAYERED_WIDTH`
Maximum number of layers of 1D layered texture	`CU_DEVICE_ATTRIBUTE_MAXIMUM_TEXTURE1D_LAYERED_LAYERS`
Maximum width of 2D texture	`CU_DEVICE_ATTRIBUTE_MAXIMUM_TEXTURE2D_WIDTH`
Maximum height of 2D texture	`CU_DEVICE_ATTRIBUTE_MAXIMUM_TEXTURE2D_HEIGHT`
Maximum width of 2D layered texture	`CU_DEVICE_ATTRIBUTE_MAXIMUM_TEXTURE2D_LAYERED_WIDTH`
Maximum height of 2D layered texture	`CU_DEVICE_ATTRIBUTE_MAXIMUM_TEXTURE2D_LAYERED_HEIGHT`
Maximum number of layers of 2D layered texture	`CU_DEVICE_ATTRIBUTE_MAXIMUM_TEXTURE2D_LAYERED_LAYERS`
Maximum width – 3D CUDA array	`CU_DEVICE_ATTRIBUTE_MAXIMUM_TEXTURE3D_WIDTH`
Maximum height – 3D CUDA array	`CU_DEVICE_ATTRIBUTE_MAXIMUM_TEXTURE3D_HEIGHT`
Maximum depth – 3D CUDA array	`CU_DEVICE_ATTRIBUTE_MAXIMUM_TEXTURE3D_DEPTH`

Queries – CUDA Runtime

The following members of cudaDeviceProp contain hardware limits as listed below.

Capability	`cudaDeviceProp` member
Maximum width – 1D CUDA array	`int maxTexture1D;`
Maximum width and number of layers – 1D layered texture	`int maxTextureLayered[2];`
Maximum extents for 2D texture	`int maxTexture2D[2];`
Maximum extents and number of layers – 2D layered texture	`int maxTextureLayered[2];`
Maximum extents – 3D CUDA array	`int maxTexture3D[3];`

10.16.2 CUDA Runtime

A texture object is created with cudaCreateTextureObject() from a cudaResourceDesc whose resType is given below, together with a cudaTextureDesc; it is released with cudaDestroyTextureObject().

1D Textures

Operation	Device Memory	CUDA Arrays
Allocate with…	`cudaMalloc()`	`cudaMallocArray()`
Free with…	`cudaFree()`	`cudaFreeArray()`
Resource type…	`cudaResourceTypeLinear`	`cudaResourceTypeArray`
Texture with…	`tex1Dfetch()`<T>()	`tex1D()`<T>()

2D Textures

Operation	Device Memory	CUDA Arrays
Allocate with…	`cudaMallocPitch()`	`cudaMalloc2DArray()`*
Free with…	`cudaFree()`	`cudaFreeArray()`
Resource type…	`cudaResourceTypePitch2D`	`cudaResourceTypeArray`
Texture with…	`tex2D()`<T>()	`tex2D()`<T>()

* if surface load/store is desired, specify the cudaArraySurfaceLoadStore flag.

3D Textures

Operation	Device Memory	CUDA Arrays
Allocate with…	(not supported)	`cudaMalloc3DArray()`
Free with…		`cudaFreeArray()`
Resource type…		`cudaResourceTypeArray`
Texture with…		`tex3D()`<T>()

1D Layered Textures

Operation	Device Memory	CUDA Arrays
Allocate with…	(not supported)	`cudaMalloc2DArray()`- specify cudaArrayLayered.
Free with…		`cudaFreeArray()`
Resource type…		`cudaResourceTypeArray`
Texture with…		tex1DLayered<T>()

2D Layered Textures

Operation	Device Memory	CUDA Arrays
Allocate with…	(not supported)	`cudaMalloc3DArray()`- specify cudaArrayLayered.
Free with…		`cudaFreeArray()`
Resource type…		`cudaResourceTypeArray`
Texture with…		tex2DLayered<T>()