Unified Memory Architechture

[lastcenter]

Hello,

I'm new here, just registered! I just wondered, can you help me out as well? Nowadays we happened with APU's but if Maxwell's GPU happens with ARMv8 does it mean it is integrated or something? Is it like an APU(ARM + Maxwell combo?)?

And if it is a CPU/GPU connected to main memory how does it work out as explained here : yes/no?

What we do know about the Maxwell family of chips so far from the official sources is that they will integrate general-purpose Denver ARMv8-compatible cores in addition to graphics stream processors and that they will be able to support unified virtual memory technology with microprocessors from Intel or AMD, a rather big deal for many applications. It is also logical to expect higher horsepower in general, which will boost video games, the main driver for Nvidia’s GeForce business.

“Number one for Maxwell, that is likely something that we are doing that breaks new ground in visual capability, something that is even more beautiful. […] Number two, it is likely that Maxwell breaks new ground in programmability, ease of programmability, because we want to expand the general purpose nature of the processor without sacrificing its speedup relative to a microprocessor. […] The last thing, the energy efficiency of Maxwell, it is going to crush Kepler. […] We know exactly how to measure it now and we know what it means to be good,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, chief executive officer of Nvidia, during a Q&A session at the company’s investor day conference.

Nvidia: Next-Generation Maxwell Architecture Will Break New Grounds.

[Nvidia Proclaims Three Pillars of Maxwell Architecture]


So is this an APU that will require a motherboard or will it be a add-on card using PCI-Express 3.0?

 

[Jaydip]

Tbh Maxwell looks like a soc to me rather than a graphics chip.I'm not sure how much die size will be reserved for arm cores.It will also be difficult to cool this thing.

 

[lastcenter]

Nvidia Maxwell Graphics Processors to Have Integrated ARM General-Purpose Cores.

 

[Jaydip]

I saw that but it has hardly any information.