GK104 / Tahiti die size comparison

[BallaTheFeared]

Are they using 79xx drivers, or 6xxx drivers?

 

[AtenRa]

There's no indication that their new architecture is less efficient per mm2 or per w than VLIW, infact, its more efficient.

So the caveat that somehow they redesigned for GPGPU means its inefficient. In terms of overall gaming load, VLIW was very inefficient, not using 25-33% of its shaders.

If the game is coded for VLIW architectures, the GCN has Less performance efficiency per transistor count (2.64B Cayman vs 2.8B Pitcairn) and operational core frequency (880MHz vs 1000MHz) than Cayman.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7850_HD_7870/1.html

Also in some older DX-9 games like COD

 

[Homeles]

To be fair, it's a bit difficult to claim an architecture is less efficient when the drivers are (likely) not mature yet.

 

[Silverforce11]

If the game is coded for VLIW architectures, the GCN has Less performance efficiency per transistor count (2.64B Cayman vs 2.8B Pitcairn) and operational core frequency (880MHz vs 1000MHz) than Cayman.

That's true, VLIW can be very good if the games are specifically coded for it, otherwise its very inefficient and performance is bad.

This is why GCN cards are the future since they do well in every game like NV's architecture, no need for devs to try harder to optimize their engines.