R700 nice read

[biostud]

Originally posted by: munky

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: munky
An interesting theory, but I dont buy that the r600 or the g80 are the last of the discrete high end gpu's. What the Inq is basically saying that the r700 will be integrated with the cpu, but you cant just pop in a cpu/gpu unit in a mobo and expect to get the equivalent performance of a high end video card. This requires a whole system designed and built with this goal in mind - something along the lines of modern game consoles. In the long run, this may be where AMD and PC's in general are headed - designing and selling a whole platform geared for specific tasks, but I dont expect such PC systems to show up as early as 2008.

Uhh, that's not what the inq is saying.

Not yet, anyways. But that's where I see the technology is headed. I believe AMD's fusion is more than just a one-off project, and this seems like the next step for integrating the gpu and the cpu.

I don't think the merger of GPU and CPU will happen for anything but low end for a long time. The CPU's would have to be made for different target groups. One type of CPU for low end, one for mid end, one for high end, different clock speeds etc. Some would need a fast processor without a fast video card. CPUGPU's will be used only for low cost/low power solutions. AMD might make R700 video chips compatible with Torrenza/HTX.

 

[Creig]

Sounds like a cost saving plan to me. Smaller cores means fewer transistors wasted if a GPU tests faulty. If they can do this while increasing performance over single GPU cards, so much the better. Hopefully that means the reduced cost will be reflected in the MSRP.

If they're going to be running multiple GPUs, I wonder if they'll take the cost savings idea even further and make only one PCB design necessary. Manufacturers would simply add the number of GPUs and amount of memory they want for each different model number from entry level right up to flagship performance.

 

[biostud]

One problem with using several smaller cores can be seen using Quad SLI and the lack of linearity when adding more cores. But such problems can probably be managed by engineers and driver programmers

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: munky
An interesting theory, but I dont buy that the r600 or the g80 are the last of the discrete high end gpu's. What the Inq is basically saying that the r700 will be integrated with the cpu, but you cant just pop in a cpu/gpu unit in a mobo and expect to get the equivalent performance of a high end video card. This requires a whole system designed and built with this goal in mind - something along the lines of modern game consoles. In the long run, this may be where AMD and PC's in general are headed - designing and selling a whole platform geared for specific tasks, but I dont expect such PC systems to show up as early as 2008.

Maybe R600/G80 are the last MONSTER sized GPU's. What they say ATI is planning would be fantastic. All they have to do is make 1 single type of GPU core, and add them corresponding to how powerful they want the card to be. Sort of a modular design.

Budget: 1 core
Value: 2 cores
Midrange: 4 cores
Performance: 8 cores
Super Enthusiast: 9 bazillion cores.

Sounds like a great idea to me.

So a little something like 3DFX tried to do, except instead of multi-chip, multi-core