Cray Announces AMD Bulldozer CPU and NVIDIA Tesla GPU Supercomputer Capable of 50 Pet

[Nemesis 1]

I remember the PH1 pre release hype . How did that cray research PH1 turn out cray announced much like this one?

 

[JFAMD]

John this comment catches me by surprise.

I thought AMD was, has been, pushing for a future-is-fusion vision in which their CPU's will incorporate APU's?

Your statement implies that APU's and the vision behind their creation are not applicable in the workstation/server/HPC environments which is confusing to me as Nvidia has shown that these are the very environments where APU's have significant utility.

On the client side you have an ecosystem ready to go because CPU+GPU already makes sense for 100% of the the client applications. And GPU compute is starting to catch the wave.

On the server side, GPU compute is something for HPC and other niches like specialized financial applications. Read: maybe 5-10% of the market. Plus, on the server side the jury is out on CPU to GPU ratio (many want more than 1:1 ratio.) The GPUs that customers want to use are the highest end, highest performance, so packaging is still a tricky issue. For the next few years, GPU compute on the server side will be through add-in cards until the ecosystem matures and there is more sw support, more application support, and the geometry of the transistors has come down.

That I have not read, before.

Will it be done using additional interface width?

I have said all I am cleared to say at this time.

 

[Joseph F]

But, Can it run Crysis?

 

[Idontcare]

On the client side you have an ecosystem ready to go because CPU+GPU already makes sense for 100% of the the client applications. And GPU compute is starting to catch the wave.

On the server side, GPU compute is something for HPC and other niches like specialized financial applications. Read: maybe 5-10% of the market. Plus, on the server side the jury is out on CPU to GPU ratio (many want more than 1:1 ratio.) The GPUs that customers want to use are the highest end, highest performance, so packaging is still a tricky issue. For the next few years, GPU compute on the server side will be through add-in cards until the ecosystem matures and there is more sw support, more application support, and the geometry of the transistors has come down.

Ah, that makes sense. Comes down to TAM, accounting, and practicality then. I should have known in advance I was simply missing the forest for staring to intently at just one tree

 

[AnandThenMan]

Ah, that makes sense. Comes down to TAM, accounting, and practicality then. I should have known in advance I was simply missing the forest for staring to intently at just one tree

But you asked an excellent question. I also think a large part of it is, Bulldozer was not designed from the start to include ATI technology. Not that it can't co-exist with it, and it will at some point.

AMD needs a "killer" app or game to show off the APU on the desktop, I mean something that will make everyone want it and able to run it effectively, even on their lower end devices. Yes a good GPU improves the overall experience, but it's not the wow factor.

 

[Nemesis 1]

By the time that killer App shows up IB will be here end game. Intels IGP will be like onto a APU lol.

 

[wahdangun]

But you asked an excellent question. I also think a large part of it is, Bulldozer was not designed from the start to include ATI technology. Not that it can't co-exist with it, and it will at some point.

AMD needs a "killer" app or game to show off the APU on the desktop, I mean something that will make everyone want it and able to run it effectively, even on their lower end devices. Yes a good GPU improves the overall experience, but it's not the wow factor.

physic will be its killer application, and maybe for post processing AA.

 

[Nintendesert]

By the time that killer App shows up IB will be here end game. Intels IGP will be like onto a APU lol.

Sorry, already got fooled with SB. Won't buy into that until I see it.

 

[Fayd]

John this comment catches me by surprise.

I thought AMD was, has been, pushing for a future-is-fusion vision in which their CPU's will incorporate APU's?

Your statement implies that APU's and the vision behind their creation are not applicable in the workstation/server/HPC environments which is confusing to me as Nvidia has shown that these are the very environments where APU's have significant utility.

APU's aren't meant for supercomputer environments, where dataflow is massively beyond APU's capabilities.

an APU has....1 graphics core? versus a GPU based system that can use 4 cards?

and that 1 core is hampered by slow access to system ram, instead of gram.

 

[JFAMD]

Bulldozer was not designed from the start to include ATI technology.

I would not say that is true. BD was designed as a modular architecture, GPU could could added in as a module in the future. And probably will be.