R520 for notebooks: M58 when and what?

[Geo]

Well, NV seems to be ahead in this area; what did they do? So far as I can tell, their three domains are physically contiguous per domain. Is that not right?

Edit: Now I'm trying to figure out why I think that, and my best guess is that in addition to being fast as a speeding bullet, I can also leap tall assumptions in a single bound. What I recall of the die shot was "good grief". I think I got there just based on the different numbers of units involved VS-PS-ROP and then assumed they'd be grouped physically by type.

 

[Jawed]

Yes, there's a "crossbar" between the pairs of domains.

Also, the count of "units" in each domain is distinct from the other domains.

Which is similar to how RV530/R580 have a 3:1 shader:texture ratio - the "crossbar" between the two being an opportunity to run them at independent clocks.

It's curious, though. Supposedly ATI has moved to designing its GPUs as mobile GPUs, first, so that all the power-saving/heat-reduction stuff is in there from the beginning.

If all that is true, we'd have heard about this stuff in R520/RV530.

Unless ATI's keeping its powder dry. Can't think why, particularly as the X1800s are reportedly running very hot. Indeed that's the best reason to infer that mobile R5 isn't very exciting in terms of discrete-clocking.

Alternatively, it may be that R520 leaves out these concepts and it may be the reason R520 is not destined for a mobile variant.

Jawed

 

[Jawed]

I should add, I can't remember seeing a die shot of G70.

Jawed

 

[Geo]

I should add, I can't remember seeing a die shot of G70.

Jawed

If you hunt thru the "8 quad?" thread there was one linked there. Frightful. Try searching for "Elvis".

Edit: Still there. Still bloody slow and butt ugly to boot. http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showpost.php?p=507732&postcount=113

Errm, the above is a reference to the host/die shot, rather than the poster/forum!

 

[Jawed]

It's curious, though. Supposedly ATI has moved to designing its GPUs as mobile GPUs, first, so that all the power-saving/heat-reduction stuff is in there from the beginning.

Or was that NVidia?

Jawed

 

[trinibwoy]

Or was that NVidia?

Nvidia.

 

[Jawed]

If you hunt thru the "8 quad?" thread there was one linked there. Frightful. Try searching for "Elvis".

Edit: Still there. Still bloody slow and butt ugly to boot. http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showpost.php?p=507732&postcount=113

Errm, the above is a reference to the host/die shot, rather than the poster/forum!

Ah, that's why, when it originally came up I couldn't be bothered to deal with such grotty responsiveness on the server.

The pic itself is pretty useless. Nice pic of the pads, but erm...

Anyway, thanks!

Jawed

 

[Geo]

The pic itself is pretty useless. Nice pic of the pads, but erm...

I suppose if you liked you could attach some significance to the fact that this is the only die shot of G70 that we have.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Sorry, but when were graphics chips not designed with mobile in mind? The low and mid-range have always had the same targets of mobile and desktopn and since R420/NV40 even the very high end have had the necessary requirements for both - thinking anything different is just buying marketing fluff.

 

[kemosabe]

Sorry, but when were graphics chips not designed with mobile in mind? The low and mid-range have always had the same targets of mobile and desktopn and since R420/NV40 even the very high end have had the necessary requirements for both - thinking anything different is just buying marketing fluff.

Better reach for a larger frying pan, Wavey, because something just isn't adding up.

As far as ATI is concerned, I agree that they have always designed with mobile in mind. But as per your confirmation, since R520's performance was always intended to depend on very high clocks and not more quads, does it not follow that ATI would/could/should not have expected to release a successful mobile version of this core? Mobility X800 had already lost high-end mobile mind/marketshare to the 6800Go, and now we are left to conclude that ATI never really had its sights on regaining the lead in this segment with this architecture (despite mobile being the clear growth market going forward). Either that or they badly underestimated the raw performance that G70 would deliver.

*ducks as the T-Fals start to fly*