I have a hard time believing that this is likely to be a higher-end part. I'm definitely expecting nVidia to fill out the low-mid range next.
I had a thought that one major reason for the supply drought is because they're stockpiling GK104's for the 690 but I doubt that since I presume the 690 would be sold in vastly lower quantities than the 680.If this is the 690 it seems odd to launch it now when the 680 isn't exactly readily available.
From looking at past dual GPUs and asking elsewhere, they could likely get a dual-GPU consisting of two 680s into 375 W. Assuming linear scaling, two 680s at 875 MHz, 1344 CCs, and 4.57 GHz memory would get 289 W and that's before any other power savings the dual GPU provides. Considering the 5870 ran at 188 W and a lower clocked version of it formed the 5970, it shouldn't be too hard for a 195 W 680 to do the same. However I think they will go straight to a 375 W dual GPU, (among other reasons) so the 7990 won't beat it when it comes out (or if the 7990 wins, then not by much). There could even be two dual-GPU models with two different sets of specs (like the 3850 X2 and 3870 X2) but that would be a first for NVIDIA.Where will it be clocked? Would 850-900 keep it under 300W?
I had a thought that one major reason for the supply drought is because they're stockpiling GK104's for the 690 but I doubt that since I presume the 690 would be sold in vastly lower quantities than the 680.
This would appear more likely in a vacuum, but the tone of the marketing campaign suggests something big.
That's about the same drop in TDP, percentage-wise, as the GTX 450 was over the GTX 460 [1 GB] and the GTX 550 Ti was over the GTX 560 Ti. If that's the case I hope the 660 has a higher increase in clock speed over the 680 than the 550 Ti had over the 560 Ti….Google Translate said:the GK104 [should say GK106??] core area of about 210 mm2, support DirectX 11.1, PCI-E 3.0, configured with two sets of four groups of the GPC, the SMX, a total of 768 stream processors , 64 texture units, 24 raster units, with 192-bit GDDR5 memory capacity of 1.5 / 2GB (also mix and match?), the thermal design power of the whole card is about 130W.
Actually there is some nice details in there if you read past the first three paragraphs:Well that was a whole lot of words to say very little. It seems to be a trend in corporate blog posts.
Kepler is manufactured using TSMC’s 28nm high performance (HP) process
Using TSMC’s 28nm HP process enabled us to reduce active power by about 15 percent and leakage by about 50 percent compared to 40nm, resulting in an overall improvement in power efficiency of about 35 percent
For Kepler, we began working with TSMC three years before our product tape-out. Together we created a Production Qualification Vehicle (PQV) to allow the TSMC process engineers and our internal design engineers to optimize the process before the product tape-out. Through repeated prototyping, we were able to optimize both the process and design, creating a more efficient Kepler design rather than simply a chip in a standard 28nm process.
We continue to improve on what we developed and continue our collaboration with TSMC. In fact, we recently received our first version of an enhanced PQV for 20nm from TSMC. That process will yield even greater efficiency for NVIDIA’s next next-generation GPUs.
Actually there is some nice details in there if you read past the first three paragraphs:
I don't think you are part of the main target audience of that article.Alexko said:I did, and the figures are interesting if somewhat misleading while the rest is pretty much expected.
Explain?Those numbers look so low...
That is a fantastic number. Most of the time leakage increases when going to a new node.28nm reduced leakage by about 50 percent compared to 40nm
Explain?
That is a fantastic number. Most of the time leakage increases when going to a new node.
Are you saying we are advancing all too quickly ? should we research more before announcing a new node ?It follows that leakage improved so much with the jump to HKMG, which provides an initial improvement. Without additional technologies, the next node would have an increase again (Intel keeps adding new process tech nodes ahead of the others, and enjoys serious benefits, for a reason).