NVIDIA's Fermi: Architected for Tesla, 3 Billion Transistors in 2010
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 30, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
The graph below is one of transistor count, not die size. Inevitably, on the same manufacturing process, a significantly higher transistor count translates into a larger die size. But for the purposes of this article, all I need to show you is a representation of transistor count.
See that big circle on the right? That's Fermi. NVIDIA's next-generation architecture.
NVIDIA astonished us with GT200 tipping the scales at 1.4 billion transistors. Fermi is more than twice that at 3 billion. And literally, that's what Fermi is - more than twice a GT200.
At the high level the specs are simple. Fermi has a 384-bit GDDR5 memory interface and 512 cores. That's more than twice the processing power of GT200 but, just like RV870 (Cypress), it's not twice the memory bandwidth.
The architecture goes much further than that, but NVIDIA believes that AMD has shown its cards (literally) and is very confident that Fermi will be faster. The questions are at what price and when.
The price is a valid concern. Fermi is a 40nm GPU just like RV870 but it has a 40% higher transistor count. Both are built at TSMC, so you can expect that Fermi will cost NVIDIA more to make than ATI's Radeon HD 5870.
Then timing is just as valid, because while Fermi currently exists on paper, it's not a product yet. Fermi is late. Clock speeds, configurations and price points have yet to be finalized. NVIDIA just recently got working chips back and it's going to be at least two months before I see the first samples. Widespread availability won't be until at least Q1 2010.
I asked two people at NVIDIA why Fermi is late; NVIDIA's VP of Product Marketing, Ujesh Desai and NVIDIA's VP of GPU Engineering, Jonah Alben. Ujesh responded: because designing GPUs this big is "fucking hard".
Jonah elaborated, as I will attempt to do here today.
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SiliconDoc - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
The R600 was great, you idiot.Of course, when hating nvidia is your real gig, I don't expect you to do anything but be parrot off someone else's text and get the idea wrong, get the repeating incorrect.
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The R600 was and is great, and has held up a long time, like the G80. Of course if you actually had a clue, you'd know that, and be aware that you refuted your own attempt at a counterpoint, since the R600 was "great on paper" and also "in gaming machines".
It's a lot of fun when so many fools self-proof it trying to do anything other than scream lunatic.
Great job, you put down a really good ATI card, and slapped yourself and your point, doing it. It's pathetic, but I can;t claim it's not SOP, so you have plenty of company.
papapapapapapapababy - Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - link
because both ms and sony are copying nintendo...that means, next consoles > minuscule speed bump, low price and (lame) motion control attached. All this tech is useless with no real killer ap EXCLUSIVE FOR THE PC! But hey who cares, lets play PONG at 900 fps !
Lonyo - Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - link
Did you even read the article?The point of this tech is to move away from games, so the killer app for it won't be games, but HPC programs.
SiliconDoc - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
I think the point is - the last GT200 was ALSO TESLA -- and so of course...It's the SECOND TIME the red roosters can cluck and cluck and cluck "it won't be any good" , and "it's not for gaming".
LOL
Wrong before, wrong again, but never able to learn from their mistakes, the barnyard animals.
Zingam - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Last time I bought the most expensive GPU available was Riva TNT!Sorry but even if they offer this for gamers I won't be able to buy it. It is high above my budget.
I'd buy based on quality/price/features! And not based on who has the better card on paper in year 20xx.
SiliconDoc - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Well, for that, I am sorry in a sense, but on the other hand find it hard to believe, depending upon your location in the world.Better luck if you're stuck in a bad place, and good luck on keeping your internet connection in that case.
ClownPuncher - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Or maybe he has other priorities besides being an asshole.SiliconDoc - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Being unable, and choosing not to, are two different things.And generally speaking ati users are unable, and therefore cannot choose to, because they sit on that thing you talk about being.
Now that's how you knockout a clown.
Lord 666 - Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - link
That actually just made my day; seeing a VP of Marketing speak their mind.Cybersciver - Friday, October 2, 2009 - link
Yeah, that was cool.Don't know about you guys, but my interest in GPU's is gaming @ 1920X1200. From that pov it looks like Nvidia's about to crack a coconut with a ten-ton press.
My 280 runs just about everything flat-out (except Crysis naturally)and the 5850 beats it. So why spend more? Most everything's a consul port these days and they aren't slated for an upgrade till 2012, least last I heard.
Boo hoo.
Guess that's why multiple-screen gaming strating to be pushed.
No way Jose.