Thanks for the kind words. On when you can expect something similar for mobile GPUs: mid-March if you're lucky, but then again I was hoping for early/mid-December for this article so that doesn't mean much. I also remember I promised an article about Icera 'early next week' nearly 2 years ago(!) so maybe I'll try to finally deliver on that first!
I think when I decide to write anything about mobile GPUs also depends on the announcement times for the next-generation architectures (the CUDA-capable GPU in Tegra3, IMG's PowerVR Series 6, Qualcomm's next-gen, etc.) - I don't need to be able to do in-depth analysis of any of them, but at least some public info and quick intelligent speculation based on that would help. So we'll see what happens there.
Tahir2 said:
Perhaps the article could have mentioned the PSP2 and Nintendo 3DS? Also NVIDIA is becoming a player with aspirations of hitting the smartphone market with its Tegra2 and finally I am sure AMD is positioning Bobcat for shrinks to counter not only Atom but ARM.
I was thinking of mentioning the PSP2, but it wasn't official when I wrote 99% of the article, and I forgot to make a last-minute addition. So I suppose that's what this thread is for: do you think the PSP2 being quad-core will help legitimise quad-core as an advantage in handhelds as well? As for NVIDIA, obviously except for Project Denver (which I mention on Page 2 and 4), they're using the same ARM11/Cortex-A9/Cortex-A15 cores that are described on Page 1.
DavidC said:
Wait, TSMC doesn't use double patterning? Really? What about their IEDM presentation? Intel actually used DP since 65nm, its not like 32nm changes that.
Little know fact, I know! Mind you it's not the only one in the article
Here's the source for my original claim:
http://www.edn.com/blog/Practical_Chip_Design/37542-No_TSMC_28_nm_is_not_late_they_are_on_the_record.php said:
Another aspect of conservatism is that TSMC has stayed with single-pattern lithography even at the most critical layers. They are using the latest ASML 1950i immersion steppers on some of these layers, however.
This article dates from August 2009 and TSMC could have changed plans since then, but I believe they haven't because it's really quite expensive (GlobalFoundries once singled out as one of their most expensive additions on 28nm iirc) and TSMC has emphasised that 28nm was barely more capital intensive than 40nm in their financial CCs. So yes, I'm pretty confident they are indeed reserving double immersion for 20nm.
DavidC said:
There's also TDP figures for Lincroft chip in Moorestown and Oak Trail.
Yes, unfortunately that's for the full chip including multimedia and other things, so it's even less comparable than the numbers for the original Atom chip. I think the synthesis is basically identical anyway, so I doubt the numbers would be noticeably different.
convergedw said:
I had thought that Qualcomm had simply stated that this chip was going to sample "in 2011", which usually means it will be late in the year
. Have you heard something different about the timeline for sampling?
Hmm, FWIW, some time ago I had heard 'first half' for Qualcomm's first 28nm chip sampling, and I can find several websites that mention 'early 2011' so I had assumed they were just repeating what Qualcomm said, but it turns out they might just be speculating so maybe my info is outdated. Personally I still think it makes sense they'd be sampling to lead customers in Q2 2011, so I won't edit the article just yet, but we'll see if Qualcomm says anything about the timing at MWC. Here's hoping they do more than that and we actually get some architectural info!