Question: Nvidia vs AMD shader count.

[itsmydamnation]

Because I want to know why and how things are achieved. If Amd has better performance per sq mm, then why do they not have a single gpu card that can match the 580?

because they have performace targets, you know 580/G110 is around 550mm sq and cayman is around 380mm sq. AMD use a VLIW architexture NV uses some kind of MIMD desigin. its justs design trade offs. you then have things like bandwidth/memory MTU's and ROP's which make a big difference not just shaders.

so the big differenece yuo can see here is that VLIW relies on a good compiler for performance, MIMD relies on a good scheduler for good performance.

 

[Borealis7]

rather than FPS/mm^2 i think you should look at FPS/Watt, while its true that engineers have to stay within reasonable limitations in both categories. (make a big chip = make less money. make a hot,power hungry chip = have to limit performance in other areas, spend more on cooling, etc)
the category you should be interested in is FPS/$ and FPS/Watt combined. it means how much are you getting for your buck (unless money is no object), and midrange cards are FPS/$ kings. i think the GTX 460 and 6850 offer the best value right now.

 

[Arkadrel]

Because I want to know why and how things are achieved. If Amd has better performance per sq mm, then why do they not have a single gpu card that can match the 580?

Because costs rise exponetionally with bigger sq mm sizes.

Its called profits... they make smaller cheaper chips, that are more effecient.
AMD use 2 of these smaller cheaper chips, to fight nvidias bigger 1 chip's.

AMD uses more money on designing cards, to make them smaller/more effecient.
Then they earn back profits, by makeing the chips cheaper than Nvidia does.

Nvidia use less money on designing cards, they make them big to compensate.
They dont earn back profits, by makeing them smaller/faster, but they use less money on R&D.

They have differnt statagies as companies, thats all.
In the end all that matters is their profitable.

 

[wahdangun]

Because I want to know why and how things are achieved. If Amd has better performance per sq mm, then why do they not have a single gpu card that can match the 580?

because its easier and cheaper to make two small GPu and combine it than build big, hungry and hot GPU

 

[tincart]

Because I want to know why and how things are achieved. If Amd has better performance per sq mm, then why do they not have a single gpu card that can match the 580?

Because they are not targeting that market. AMD's strategy involves making smaller chips, which cost less to manufacture and have higher yields (e.g. more chips per manufactured wafer are good if you are making smaller chips) and then using two of those chips to make an enthusiast class product (4870x2, 5970, 6990).

Presumably, AMD could throw a bunch more transistors on the Cayman architecture and come up with something to beat the GTX 580. The question someone in a business position would ask is "Sure we could, but why should we?" As die size increased, you run up against the law of diminishing returns. Your chips become more expensive to produce and you have a much smaller market of people who want to buy them. AMD's approach is simply to avoid the headaches and try to focus on spots just below the top single-chip.

It is a business decision. I imagine they think they can make more money by avoiding building the best single-GPU card than they can if do try to build it. Whether that is a good business decision is a different matter.

 

[MentalIlness]

Here, I googled it for you.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Why+is+Nvidia+so+much+better+than+AMD/ATI+?

LOL @ the first search result.

 

[Idontcare]

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