PowerVR demonstrate x2 to x16 core GPU chip for mobile devices!

Mr Paul · 16 Feb 2011 at 13:36

For the love of god Pottsey, please use the Quote button. It makes this so much easier to read.

It's here in case your not sure

Dark_Angel · 16 Feb 2011 at 14:38

Agreed.

It's a frustrating chore to read posts like that.

Worse, because you could mis-quote and no one will check.

sarge78 · 16 Feb 2011 at 15:50

Pottsey said:
That's correct. PowerVR are just graphics well a little more than that. hrrm you got me thinking now. Are the Mhz speeds posted for Tegra 2 the whole chip speed or the GPU part speeds?

Anyone know if the GPU part is running at the same speed at the rest of the chip? It's too late to research now I have to look into it tomorrow.

Tegra 2's UPV GeForce is running at ~300Mhz (for phones)

Pottsey said:
Well its looking even worse for Nvidia who just announced the Tegra roadmap and it looks like they have nothing to compete against PowerVR.

Why? They can push new silicon to partners faster than anyone else, look what happened to kyro 2, 3DFX etc.

Wow, a referance quadcore ARM A9 offers similar performance to a T7200 Core2Duo... :eek:

Pottsey · 16 Feb 2011 at 16:01

sarge78 said “Why? They can push new silicon to partners faster than anyone else, look what happened to kyro 2, 3DFX etc.”
I don’t understand your question. How can they push silicon any faster? How does a Tegra SoC get out faster then a SoC with a PowerVR chip? Both seem to take the same amount of time to me. What has the Kyro 2 got to do with anything?

The Tegra roadmap looks bad as they don’t have anything to compete against PowerVR series 5 refresh for 2 years and worse nothing to compete against series 6 until 2014.

Thanks for the Tegra info so it’s an 8 core GPU that’s running at 300Mhz. Before I thought it was a 1ghz single core.

sarge78 · 16 Feb 2011 at 16:08

^ Quote nicked from Anandtech

The intention is to out execute its competitors frequently enough that they are either forced out of the market or into making a mistake trying to keep up. It's the same strategy that NVIDIA used to compete with 3dfx almost fifteen years ago

Mr Paul · 16 Feb 2011 at 16:29

Pottsey said:
sarge78 said “Why? They can push new silicon to partners faster than anyone else, look what happened to kyro 2, 3DFX etc.”
I don’t understand your question. How can they push silicon any faster? How does a Tegra SoC get out faster then a SoC with a PowerVR chip? Both seem to take the same amount of time to me. What has the Kyro 2 got to do with anything?

The Tegra roadmap looks bad as they don’t have anything to compete against PowerVR series 5 refresh for 2 years and worse nothing to compete against series 6 until 2014.

Thanks for the Tegra info so it’s an 8 core GPU that’s running at 300Mhz. Before I thought it was a 1ghz single core.

It's really quite simple

Pottsey · 16 Feb 2011 at 17:07

I still don't get it or see how it's that simple. How is any of that related to what happened to 3DFX or the kyro? How is related to mobiles? I still do not see how NV can push silicon faster, if anything NV way is slower to get to silicon.

sarge78 · 16 Feb 2011 at 17:40

What are the new Motorola phones/tablets running Pottsey?

Pottsey · 16 Feb 2011 at 17:51

The last few I looked at was a PowerVR SGX540 so Motorola are lagging behind a bit. But I have not been keeping uptodate on Motorola .
EDIT: I found one new Motorola tablet with a Tegra 2 but it didn't look that impressive compared to the new PowerVR tablets. The Tegra benchmarks are just not comeing out that good.

Jono8 · 16 Feb 2011 at 18:20

This whole subject is entirely illogical...

Pottsey · 16 Feb 2011 at 18:28

Whats illogical about all this?

Gerard · 16 Feb 2011 at 18:29

Mr Paul said:
For the love of god Pottsey, please use the Quote button. It makes this so much easier to read.

It's here in case your not sure

Pottsey has yet to discover the power of quote-button-Fu. Even though it takes longer for him to do it his way...

Jono8 · 16 Feb 2011 at 18:35

Pottsey said:
Whats illogical about all this?

Because if this technology is genuinely amazing and offers eleventy billion times the power that existing desktop gpu's can produce it WILL ( there is no argument against this) make it into your house, desktop and TV.

Pottsey · 16 Feb 2011 at 18:39

I already explained why it will most likely not make it into desktops. It has made it into cars and TV's. My reasons for the technology not making it into desktops, is perfectly logical and makes sense so there is very much an argument against.

Jono8 · 16 Feb 2011 at 18:42

Pottsey said:
I already explained why it will most likely not make it into desktops. It has made it into cars and TV's. My reasons for the technology not making it into desktops, is perfectly logical and makes sense so there is very much an argument against.

Why would anyone leave such a gaping whole in the market :confused:

Oh right yeh..they wouldnt.

Pottsey · 16 Feb 2011 at 18:49

Ok then just who would bring the technology to the desktop? I don't see AMD or Nvidia doing it as it would be too embarrassing to have someone else make a GPU for them.

The few others I can think off like ST Micro wouldn't as they dont care about such a small market. Who does that leave? Who would bring the technology to the desktop?

Jono8 · 16 Feb 2011 at 18:52

Pottsey said:
Ok then just who would bring the technology to the desktop? I don't see AMD or Nvidia doing it as it would be too embarrassing to have someone else make a GPU for them.

The few others I can think off like ST Micro wouldn't as they dont care about such a small market. Who does that leave? Who would bring the technology to the desktop?

What?

This is business, not a high school playground

TheRealDeal · 16 Feb 2011 at 19:12

Jono8 said:
What? This is business, not a high school playground

Yea this is true, if someone offers you the technology to make loads of money along with sticking one to your nearest rival you would take it. The embarresment would soon fade when your bank balance and business were doing great.

Pottsey · 16 Feb 2011 at 19:28

No it's not a playground but if Nvidia did what you suggest the image they send out would be very bad. People would lose confidence in the company and so would the share holders. It's sending out a message pretty much saying they can no longer design and compete with their own GPU's.

You're a GPU's design company that cannot design GPU's and licence out GPU's from another company. That does not spark confidence.

Not to mention the knock on effect it would have to other areas. If Nvidia started using PowerVR in the desktop other companies would wonder why they should buy an Nvidia mobile or console licence.
It would be kind of like Intel going to AMD and getting AMD to make the next gen Intel processor.

Pottsey · 16 Feb 2011 at 21:37

The PowerVR Series 6 die size has been reviled to be manufactured using a 28nm geometry. Also the chip is set to sample late 2011.

http://www.itproportal.com/2011/02/16/powervr-rogue-gpu-crank-out-350m-real-polygons-5gpx-fill-rate/

EDIT:
http://www.itproportal.com/2011/02/16/qualcomm-may-lose-sony-ericsson-htc-soc-exclusivity/
The above link might not seem related at first but the OMAP's are all PowerVR based. More good news ST-Ericsson are switching over to PowerVR at the high end. Soney Ericsson are saying they are going to switch over to use ST Ericsson hardware which should mean PowerVR just won another contract.

It's also hinted strongly that HTC are switching over to PowerVR as well.

EDIT2:
"Believe it or not, but Imagination Technologies are back in the PC graphics business although in a very roundabout way and is definitely not doing a mainstream graphics card solution for now"
Very interesting, apparently their first retail ready product for ray tracing is only two months away! No details on who it's for but I would assume not for games. The last paragraph is also an interesting read. See for more http://www.semiaccurate.com/2011/02/15/business-usual-caustic-graphics/