Project Denver (Nvidia)

[Edrick]

I am starting a new thread for this topic as I did not see one here already. (The Kepler & Maxwell thread got derailed.)

After reading about this project where Nvidia is going to put some sort of ARM CPU onto their Maxwell GPU core, I for one got quite excited. My initial thoughts would be how this would improve the compute ability for such GPUs. I go a lot of DC (BOINC) and this is a great interest to me. But I also started to think about how this would affect other aspects like gaming. I do not see (as of now with limited info) how this would really help gaming unless there are some major changes to the grahpic coding for such games. I could be wrong here so I would like everyones opinion.

Also, with news of Win8 supporting ARM, some tend to think that a "bootable" GPU is a possibility. I think it is too, but I would ask why? Why would someone want to when their new IB or Haswell or DB CPU (should) be much more powerful for interger based calculations.

Opinion welcome.

 

[96Firebird]

It may not be great for a desktop solution, but what about the smaller, more portable forms of computing?

 

[WelshBloke]

Shouldnt this go in the CPU forum?

 

[Edrick]

It may not be great for a desktop solution, but what about the smaller, more portable forms of computing?

True.

I just wonder why Nvida said they are incorporating ARM cores into their GPU designs. Rather than incorporating their GPUs into existing ARM designs (like they did with ION for example). Maybe I am reading too much into that.

 

[Edrick]

Shouldnt this go in the CPU forum?

When CPUs and GPUs start merging like this, the lines get a little blurry.

 

[WelshBloke]

When CPUs and GPUs start merging like this, the lines get a little blurry.

Yeah they do, I just thought the notable part was NV having a CPU.

 

[Edrick]

Yeah they do, I just thought the notable part was NV having a CPU.

I envision this as a super Maxwell GPU with thousands of Cuda cores with a few ARM cores acting as co-processors.

I could be way off.

 

[Wreckage]

Project Denver is a CPU. Here is the discussion from the CPU forum. It is based on the ARM architecture so it won't be "GPU" based. CPUs and GPUs are not merging.

Sandybridge and Fusion just moved the chip from the motherboard to the CPU die to save money. It's still a separate IGP.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2132836

 

[gorobei]

or the other thread
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2132879&highlight=denver

 

[tviceman]

Project Denver is a CPU. Here is the discussion from the CPU forum. It is based on the ARM architecture so it won't be "GPU" based. CPUs and GPUs are not merging.

Sandybridge and Fusion just moved the chip from the motherboard to the CPU die to save money. It's still a separate IGP.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2132836

But unlink Sandy Bridge and Fusion, I think Denver is going to be a more balanced part in terms of GPU/CPU performance. So project Denver may in fact be more of a GPU with an integrated CPU on it.

 

[nenforcer]

What I hope happens is a competing platform to WinTel.

If Microsoft makes a successful port of Windows 8 to ARM then you can buy that version of Windows for your Project Denver CPU. All of the gaming API's (DirectX, CUDA) will be ported to the new Windows as well so it completely cuts out the need for either and AMD or Intel x86 CPU.