Future of GPU's - Multi core too?

[Aurhinius]

I wonder if this has been discussed a lot but I really think with the current nvidia/ATI trend not forgetting AMD/Intel I think the days of the single core GPU are done with.

I think perhaps crossfire/SLI has been the birth of what will eventually be multi core GPU's. I suspect they are hitting the same wall CPU manufacturers are and have come to the conclusion that multi core is the way forward.

As we all know this will only truely come to fruition when developers start to write multi threaded code, both graphics engines and AI etc. So I am glad in part that ATI/nvidia are pushing dual gpu solutions because this will eventually force the hand of developers and by the time we see true multi core GPU's the engines will be there to take good advantage of it.

thoughts?

 

[Rackerz]

It's going that way I think, if they are hitting similar walls such as Intel/AMD.

 

[TheOtherOption]

That seems the way it's going, maybe AMD can at some point come up with a dual core 4870 type card rather than 2 cores on the one pcb - which is still far better imho than nvidias dual pcb efforts!

 

[reflux]

--ignore--

 

[silversurfer]

nvidia have done dual cores on one pcb before now

I thought modern gpu were multi core anyway

 

[Richdog]

Nvidia have done dual-GPU, but never dual core on a single PCB. They use the "bodge two cards together" approach. The first dual-core GPU ever crated was the ATI Rage Fury Maxx if I remember rightly.

 

[Aod]

the ATI Rage Fury Maxx if I remember rightly.

which was pants, if i remember rightly

 

[chaparral]

which is still far better imho than nvidias dual pcb efforts!

Even my old voodoo5 5500 had two cores on one PCB
(I guess it used a little less power and gave out a little less heat then todays gpu cores )

 

[TheOtherOption]

Nice little card - was there a cooler on top of those cores or was it completely passive

Nvidia need to catch onto AMDs approach and go for dual cores on one pcb or even dual core in the future, their dual pcb must weigh a fair bit more than a 3870x2 surely ?

All that extra pcb to heat up ... can't be good for the other stuff in your case ...

 

[Jokester]

I thought modern gpu were multi core anyway

Yep, GPUs are already massively parrallel and have been for years.

 

[platinum87]

quad core

 

[chaparral]

was there a cooler on top of those cores or was it completely passive

Yes there was a little heatsink and fan on each core...

 

[HighlandeR]

Yeap its all about multi everything now adays, tech seems to have slowed down last year or so and intel/amd/nvidia realised they just gotta concentrate on going multi....

Only thing that disapointed me was we couldnt just get no dual socket 775 or dual socket AM2 boards and throw 2 cheap £150 quid something Quad core chips and enjoy some 8 Core performance.... or we couldnt get no mobos with 4 X pci express slots and they should just ditch PCI slots keep one pciexpress 1x slot.....just shove on 4 3870X2 cards...


Crysis would proberly still run poop

 

[Crashgate3]

Wasn't the Voodoo 2 just two Voodoo 1s in parallel, with a 2D chip bodged on as well?

 

[drunkenmaster]

Yep, GPUs are already massively parrallel and have been for years.

gpu's have been multicores since the 2 pipeline card was out. each pipeline was essentially a 2nd gpu unit. they've always been massively parralel. the single reason crossfire and SLI don't work flawlessly is that load balancing across 2 cores not on the same die = latency hits. Added to when one core is overworked for that frame and needs the other core to do some more work, not only does it have to tell the other core mid frame to do more work, but that other core might have to page some new info into memory before it can do that extra work(less likely but possible).

THe situation we need is for "multi" gpu's in the CPU sense to happen, IE two dies on one core with a shared store of commands to better keep it running smoothly with load balancing. THe issue of normal gpu's vs multiple normal gpu's on one die is any core eventually gets complicated and large enough to a degree that it becomes difficult to manufacture. Its better to make 2 small cores and smack them together after, than multiple much larger cores, not only because you can produce one item and stick cores together or not based on market needs, IE they need more midrange cards, send out single cores, or they need more high end, stick them together to up the power and then ship them out. But also because one small failure in production will normally mean far less cores end up failed overall and yields increase significantly.

You could easily make 2 R680's on one "die" package with a little extra logic onboard and a properly designed interconnect have a much better more seamless "crossfire" experience. Up till now the need hasn't been there though, so it would have mostly been wasted. Even now very few people even need a X2, most people don't game at 1920x1200, and most people don't play every lastest game at max settings. but the increase in 24" lcd's is starting to change that. ATi could probably easily have made a R680 thats simply twice as big, but its yields would have been far lower, and require an entirely separate new taping out of cores and separate production and design and its just a waste of money, it would have increased the cost dramatically.

Next gen ATI is supposed to be multicore and i hope to christ that means multiple cores on one die stuck together with some decent logic to really make them work well. Not sure if Nvidia's nearest next gen is going that way yet but i'm sure they've said they will in the future.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

Nvidia have done dual-GPU, but never dual core on a single PCB.

http://www.ocworkbench.com/2004/gigabyte/gv-3d1/g2.htm from 2004

 

[Jokester]

Pretty sure that was a custom design, rather than something Nvidia did.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

as far as i can remember only gigabyte implemented it. must have been difficult to manufacture back in 2004 or something.

but it goes to show 2 nvidia gpus have been on a single board before not like the lies Richdog is spredding in his above post.

 

[Jokester]

Asus did something similar at one point (may have been a Crossfire on a card, can't remember). But Richdog is right, Nividia have never provided a dual core, single PCB design. Gigabyte and Asus' efforts were entirely off their own back and were designed in house, that's why they weren't mass marketed by anyone other than themselves.

 

[helmutcheese]

The above Gigabyte was a joke, it only ran on the Gigabyte Mobo made for it.

@ Richdog, Asus have made plenty Dual Core on 1 PCB Nvidia cards, the 6800GT was 1st then 2 or 3 more models after it.

Dont matter a monkeys if it was done without Nvidia say so, it was also Asus who gave you full 2x16 SLI on Nvidia Mobos, Nvidia said it was only to be on the Intel mobos but Asus made their SLI-32 models (939 back then I think), then Abit and DFI followed suit.

Dont mean its not a real Nvidia NF4 does it ?.

So its been done.