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
Efficiency Gets Another Boon: Parallel Kernel Support
In GPU programming, a kernel is the function or small program running across the GPU hardware. Kernels are parallel in nature and perform the same task(s) on a very large dataset.
Typically, companies like NVIDIA don't disclose their hardware limitations until a developer bumps into one of them. In GT200/G80, the entire chip could only be working on one kernel at a time.
When dealing with graphics this isn't usually a problem. There are millions of pixels to render. The problem is wider than the machine. But as you start to do more general purpose computing, not all kernels are going to be wide enough to fill the entire machine. If a single kernel couldn't fill every SM with threads/instructions, then those SMs just went idle. That's bad.
GT200 (left) vs. Fermi (right)
Fermi, once again, fixes this. Fermi's global dispatch logic can now issue multiple kernels in parallel to the entire system. At more than twice the size of GT200, the likelihood of idle SMs went up tremendously. NVIDIA needs to be able to dispatch multiple kernels in parallel to keep Fermi fed.
Application switch time (moving between GPU and CUDA mode) is also much faster on Fermi. NVIDIA says the transition is now 10x faster than GT200, and fast enough to be performed multiple times within a single frame. This is very important for implementing more elaborate GPU accelerated physics (or PhysX, great ;)…).
The connections to the outside world have also been improved. Fermi now supports parallel transfers to/from the CPU. Previously CPU->GPU and GPU->CPU transfers had to happen serially.
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SiliconDoc - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Plenty hard, but they GOT HER DONE, and here is the pic of herhttp://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15762/1/">http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15762/1/
Yes, now about that fantasy paper anand was spewing on - yes he won't get one for two months, but AS I SAID, WE ALREADY KNOW IT BEATS the ati epic failure.
rennya - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Where can I get that GPU? At least at my place I can get a 5870 GPU if I want to, but not so for this GPU.SiliconDoc - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Well go get one.Now were down to the launch and paper lies in this article, were lies, as I've said. Bigger lies by the red texters. If I were Anand I'd be giggling at you fools.
rennya - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Newegg link please. Or any other online retailer websites for the matter.Did I already said to stop it with the paper launch already? That only exists in your dreams you know. Or maybe America. But such thing is not true here. Just because America doesn't have enough unit it doesn't mean it is true everywhere else.
SiliconDoc - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Oh, so sorry mi' lady, here is your newegg link, you'll see 2 greyted out 5850's and THAT'S IT.http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Sub...">http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...10679497...
Can't buy em. Paper, e-paper in this case, digital nothing.
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Now if we only could send you some money, and you could trot over to your imaginary shops.... gee if only someone gave you some money, you could HAVE A PICTURE, because veryone knows handy little cameras are BANNED there, huh.
Gee, all those walks to work.. and not ten seconds to take a pic, and now it's really, too late LOL
ahhahahahahaaa
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More of that wonderful "red rooster evidence".
ClownPuncher - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
I bought one, 5850 that is. They are popular, so they sell out. The same thing happened to me when the 8800GT's launched, bought 2 and they were sold out 15 minutes later.If people can buy them, it isn't a paper launch. Give it up. There were cards for sale from many etailers on launch day for the 5870 as well.
You're saying the 8800GT and 8800GTS g92 were paper launches also? They were selling out in minutes.
SiliconDoc - Friday, October 2, 2009 - link
Funny how you wait for the perfect post to claim your lie is true.You're a pure troll, nothing more, in every single post you've made here.
Of course I know you're lying.
rennya - Friday, October 2, 2009 - link
You are the one who are lying by claiming that 5870 is a paper launch, when availability at my place is pretty good. Then you claim that I do not actually come from a SE Asia country, but admins in this site can easily verify my IP and see where I come from. Accusing people of lying will not make you look good.SiliconDoc - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Neither does europe, nor africa, nor SA, nor the ME, apparently the only spot is your walk to work. Congratulations, you're at ground zero. Just think how lucky you are.rennya - Friday, October 2, 2009 - link
I am not the who claims GT300 is available, you do with your fudzilla link. And that picture may only have mock-ups because nVidia doesn't have any working demo.At least Intel with its Larabee did showcase their unimpressive raytracing demo with Larabee in IDF.