NVIDIA GF100 & Friends speculation

[Novum]

42. Definitely 42.
Less seriously (what could possibly be more serious than 42?), I don't see how Fermi scales to anything not a multiple of 32 unless they spend more engineering resources on it than it's probably worth. As I said in the past (i.e. it wasn't likely then, it's less likely now, but that has never stopped me before!) I think it's more likely they scale the number of TMUs per block of 32 SMs to different multiples of 2.

Much likely NVIDIA scrapped the DP capabilities from Fermi for the smaller parts. In that process they would also need to change the schedulers etc. because the ALUs no longer need to work together together to process DP ops.

The rumors are 3*16 ALUs + 2 quad TMUs per SM. That sounds very plausible to me. Especially since the ALU:TMU ratio of your proposal (2*16 ALUs + 2 quad TMUs) would be much too TMU heavy.

 

[Rys]

No comment on SP count per SM, but I'm pretty sure DP is gone from all non-GF100 GF1xxs in hardware. I wouldn't be surprised to see it artificially disabled in other GF100 SKUs too in the future.

 

[mczak]

No comment on SP count per SM, but I'm pretty sure DP is gone from all non-GF100 GF1xxs in hardware. I wouldn't be surprised to see it artificially disabled in other GF100 SKUs too in the future.

Why? It is already partially disabled in all consumer SKUs. What would they gain by disabling this completely in some SKUs?

 

[xDxD]

So twice the TDP, and +20.6% in 3DMark Vantage...

it's a dektop replacement, who cares?

 

[aaronspink]

Why? It is already partially disabled in all consumer SKUs. What would they gain by disabling this completely in some SKUs?

They feel that they haven't shot their own feet enough and as such are remedying the situation.

 

[thatdude90210]

it's a dektop replacement, who cares?

Yep. Can't wait to see people dumb enough to actually put this on their lap and Easybake* their nads.

*same 100w as an Easybake oven.

 

[xDxD]

Yep. Can't wait to see people dumb enough to actually put this on their lap and Easybake* their nads.

*same 100w as an Easybake oven.

because it's a desktop replacement, i see people gaming with it...on a desk, not at the airport, for example...

 

[ShaidarHaran]

I still don't believe they can effectively dissipate 100W from a single chip in a laptop. I need to see actual power draw numbers before I'll believe it.

 

[Alexko]

it's a dektop replacement, who cares?

And it's a desktop replacement precisely because it draws to much power for it to be anything else. Granted, the Mobility Radeon HD 5870, with its 50W TDP, isn't exactly netbook material, but it's still much better.

But mostly, if a "mobile" GF100 can only outperform a mobile Juniper by about 20%, and with twice the power draw, what chance does it stand against a mobile Cypress?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Interestingly that mobile GTX 480 might give some hints about lower end Fermi derivatives, and it's not looking good if that's how it compares to basically mobile version of Juniper (half Cypress). I didn't look at it closely enough but first glance Mobile GTX 480 looked like 3/4 Fermi.

Regards,
SB

 

[Picao84]

Interestingly that mobile GTX 480 might give some hints about lower end Fermi derivatives, and it's not looking good if that's how it compares to basically mobile version of Juniper (half Cypress). I didn't look at it closely enough but first glance Mobile GTX 480 looked like 3/4 Fermi.

Regards,
SB

It would be much much less than 3/4 Fermi.. Beyond only having 352 shaders has radically reduced clocks. Although I agree it might mean Fermi derivatives might not look good. If a GF104 in a laptop would beat a Juniper, i think that they would go for it. Or maybe not

 

[leoneazzurro]

So twice the TDP, and +20.6% in 3DMark Vantage...

With a much more powerful CPU, too.

 

[Tchock]

because it's a desktop replacement, i see people gaming with it...on a desk, not at the airport, for example...

The reason why it's important is because for 100W you can... crossfire 2 5870Ms instead. They might even stand a chance in Unigine Heaven. Ta-da!


Light note: Some people *are* okay with carrying heavy laptops as long as battery life is still existent. There's a huge difference between usability of a laptop with battery life of 90 mins and one with 20.

 

[Picao84]

The reason why it's important is because for 100W you can... crossfire 2 5870Ms instead. They might even stand a chance in Unigine Heaven. Ta-da!


Light note: Some people *are* okay with carrying heavy laptops as long as battery life is still existent. There's a huge difference between usability of a laptop with battery life of 90 mins and one with 20.

You mean with that battery life, normal productivity or internet usage? Or gaming? Remember that nVIDIA has Optimus Technology, with which a GTX480M is compatible.

 

[BRiT]

Remember, the Laptop with the GTX480M previewed does not support Optimus Technology as the i7 940 CPU does not have integrated video.

 

[Erinyes]

Interestingly that mobile GTX 480 might give some hints about lower end Fermi derivatives, and it's not looking good if that's how it compares to basically mobile version of Juniper (half Cypress). I didn't look at it closely enough but first glance Mobile GTX 480 looked like 3/4 Fermi.

Regards,
SB

I didnt get you there, what hints would a mobile version of GF100 give you about its derivatives? GF100 being such a power hog they had to clock it down massively(along with cherry picking dies i suppose) to fit in a usable thermal envelope. As such this has no relation to whatever derivatives are in the pipeline

You mean with that battery life, normal productivity or internet usage? Or gaming? Remember that nVIDIA has Optimus Technology, with which a GTX480M is compatible.

GTX480M is pretty much restricted to desktop replacements, probably only on 17" monsters and above. Most of those laptops use Lynnfield processors(i7-720QM/820QM) which do not have an IGP and hence Optimus cant be used. Unless someone decides to stuff a 9 cell battery in one of these machines, they are more like a mobile UPS. And even with a 9 cell battery we're looking at ~100 minutes of usage best case

 

[Malo]

But mostly, if a "mobile" GF100 can only outperform a mobile Juniper by about 20%, and with twice the power draw, what chance does it stand against a mobile Cypress?

Isn't a Mobile 5870 a Juniper?

 

[Tchock]

You mean with that battery life, normal productivity or internet usage? Or gaming? Remember that nVIDIA has Optimus Technology, with which a GTX480M is compatible.

Normal use, of course. Booting up the system to even check something without it turning off at the 10% battery level etc...

Not convinced that Optimus is going to make it on "enthusiast" class laptops.
Most Optimus notebooks are 310M, a few 330M, extremely scarce 335M, nothing for 350/360M.

Some perspective: A HP Envy 17 with a 40W 5850 and i7 720QM doesn't go past 80 mins. Not sure about battery capacity but it's either 6/9cell.

 

[Scrat]

http://hothardware.com/News/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-480M-Powered-Notebook-Sneak-Peek/

So twice the TDP, and +20.6% in 3DMark Vantage...

it's a dektop replacement, who cares?

Did you notice the desktop replacement uses a CPU 1.33GHz faster (and with 2MB more cache) than the one with the Mobility Radeon?

 

[KimB]

Not convinced that Optimus is going to make it on "enthusiast" class laptops.

I'm sincerely hoping that laptop manufacturers work on this. It should be a win-win marketing-wise: advertise long battery life and high-end 3D graphics performance at the same time!

Granted, I wouldn't want to go for the highest-end 3D graphics cards, but it would seem to me that the lower-end desktop replacements should definitely have Optimus tech (e.g. a 230M on a 17" screen). There's not much point in making the larger ones have long battery life, as they just aren't very portable anyway.