Upcoming Maxwell GPU pictured!!!!

[Cloudfire777]

I`m here again, with fresh leak. :thumbsup:

Gamersky.com just posted these spy photos.
What the pictures show is an upcoming Maxwell GPU, but it is known which.

The die is marked with "1421A1" which means the production date and revision. Year 2014, week 21 (May 19-25th), and A1 stepping, which is the final retail stepping. A2 will follow long after the first batch of new Maxwell GPUs are released.
"Taiwan" means manufactured by TSMC.

The VRAM capacity is said to be 8GB GDDR5.
One will also notice that the power supply is 8+6+6, which means that the total power supply it can deliver is 375W (75+75+75+150W).

The size of the die makes the gamersky to believe it could be GM210, but this is just speculation. The title of the article is GTX 880 though so who knows.

Source: http://www.gamersky.com/hardware/201407/378530.shtml

 

[utahraptor]

That power connector arrangement looks strange to me, but probably just because it is a prototype. I wonder if in the near future they can come out with a better connector for GPUs that delivers more power with less wires.

 

[frowertr]

What in holy hell is going on with that PCI-E power input?

 

[Cloudfire777]

That power connector arrangement looks strange to me, but probably just because it is a prototype. I wonder if in the near future they can come out with a better connector for GPUs that delivers more power with less wires.

Google translate of what the author said. I`m not sure what he exactly means

"This means that the maximum power supply capacity will reach new card 75 +75 +75 +150 = 375W, power consumption is still quite large.

In fact, two eight-pin power supply can achieve the same capacity, here is probably the decentralized power supply with three, one-way to reduce the load."

 

[96Firebird]

I'm sorta hoping this is an engineering sample and the retail board will not break PCI-SIG spec.

 

[Kenmitch]

Wonder what the button is next to the 6pin? Circuit breaker?

 

[NTMBK]

Wonder what the button is next to the 6pin? Circuit breaker?

Turbo

 

[Flapdrol1337]

I think I've seen those kind of power plugs before, maybe on review samples of some nvidia card. I think it's extremely unlikely this will be a 375W card.

 

[Cloudfire777]

Maybe the 6pin on top of the 8pin is just something they put there to test the GPU? While the consumer GPU itself will come with 6+8 that you see on the bottom?

 

[PPB]

In any case this is GM200, not 210.

 

[BrightCandle]

Unless they have cut down the Maxwell card to fit on 28nm then the big problem is going to be power consumption, its going to be a mighty big die. The power consumption might not be mad after all, people buy these out of spec dual cards so a single card that breaks the spec is just as viable if its fast.

 

[PPB]

In reality no one gives a fudge about power consumption in this segment (enthusiast gaming), only stockholders and shills when it's favorable to their agenda.

 

[Erenhardt]

h5GQ4H24MFR - density 4Gb (128Mx32) x 8 chips x2 sides = 8GB 7,0GHz GDDR5

 

[dangerman1337]

That GPU looks like far more GM204 if it is Maxwell, as it looks too small for GM200/Big Maxwell (compare GK104 and GK110 PCB shots). GM204 was rumored to be taped out in late March or early April by Eyrines at Beyond3D who has gotten details right so far.

Unless they have cut down the Maxwell card to fit on 28nm then the big problem is going to be power consumption, its going to be a mighty big die. The power consumption might not be mad after all, people buy these out of spec dual cards so a single card that breaks the spec is just as viable if its fast.

Power consumption is not a problem if it is on 28nm it is density and die sizes since die shrinks do not offer the majority of power consumption decreases.

h5GQ4H24MFR - density 4Gb (128Mx32) x 8 chips x2 sides = 8GB 7,0GHz GDDR5

Yeah it looks like that, I think the GM204 will have a 4GB VRAM and 8GB aftermarket versions.

 

[tviceman]

I doubt it's GM200/210. That won't be on 28nm. There just isn't enough die space left, unless Nvidia is willing to sacrifice outright performance at the top end. GM107 provides roughly 35% more perf/mm^2 than GK107 does. The flagship die has so much more die area devoted to compute that there just isn't any room left to increase the die size.

It's likely GM104/204. If Maxwell scales in performance with die size similarly to Kepler, and if Nvidia wanted GM104/204 to scale up similarly to what GM107 did over GK107, then we're looking at a 385-400mm^2 die size with ~70% more performance than GK104. Of course, that depends on ROP's and other things as well, so IMO it's all just speculation and guessing and nothing more.

 

[dangerman1337]

I doubt it's GM200/210. That won't be on 28nm. There just isn't enough die space left, unless Nvidia is willing to sacrifice outright performance at the top end. GM107 provides roughly 35% more perf/mm^2 than GK107 does. The flagship die has so much more die area devoted to compute that there just isn't any room left to increase the die size.

It's likely GM104/204. If Maxwell scales in performance with die size similarly to Kepler, and if Nvidia wanted GM104/204 to scale up similarly to what GM107 did over GK107, then we're looking at a 385-400mm^2 die size with ~70% more performance than GK104. Of course, that depends on ROP's and other things as well, so IMO it's all just speculation and guessing and nothing more.

This is second generation Maxwell (GM20x) so I wouldn't be surprised if scaling was better than your calculations though I don't expect a big performance jump between GK110 to GM200 (likely that has been taped out for a month according Eyrines at Beyond3D) as GF110 to GK110.

Most of these sites "reporting" "GM210" and "Maxwell 20nm" seem to have a weird idea that Maxwell will follow Kepler's release with 20nm die shrink refresh chucked ?

 

[RussianSensation]

In reality no one gives a fudge about power consumption in this segment (enthusiast gaming), only stockholders and shills when it's favorable to their agenda.

Ya seriously if there is a single Maxwell card with 780Ti SLI performance and uses 350-375W, it will fly off the shelves. People buy flagship cards not because of performance/watt but because of flagship performance. If an architecture is more efficient, it is a "free" bonus courtesy if AMD/NV's new design. Performance/watt matter more for sub-75W, sub-150W in desktop and mobile sector. For flagship desktop, I would love a 400W 550mm2+ card with double the performance of 780Ti; and if they have to use AIO to cool it, I am fine with that too.

 

[dn7309]

if Nvidia goes with 16 GB GDDR5 AMD will have 18 GB.

 

[BrightCandle]

if Nvidia goes with 16 GB GDDR5 AMD will have 18 GB.

Historically they have often run 50% more, which likely means it would 24GB. Then we'll watch as in almost all games 22GB of it sits completely idle. Even in the best games of the day it will be 20GB of idle VRAM, what a waste of resources for bigger is better marketing.

 

[Homeles]

Ya seriously if there is a single Maxwell card with 780Ti SLI performance and uses 350-375W, it will fly off the shelves. People buy flagship cards not because of performance/watt but because of flagship performance. If an architecture is more efficient, it is a "free" bonus courtesy if AMD/NV's new design. Performance/watt matter more for sub-75W, sub-150W in desktop and mobile sector. For flagship desktop, I would love a 400W 550mm2+ card with double the performance of 780Ti; and if they have to use AIO to cool it, I am fine with that too.

While true, power supplies are a limiting factor at that kind of power draw. I'd imagine the added cost of many users needing to upgrade their PSU would be a non-negligible deterrent to adoption.

What in holy hell is going on with that PCI-E power input?

Early Kepler engineering samples had the same setup.

Nevermind, doesn't look like they did. Anyway, it's an engineering sample, so there's no need to draw any conclusions.

 

[Grooveriding]

Looking at the full board shot it looks about right for the size GK110 has on a bare board. Easy to figure out. Those memory modules are a standard size. I forget the exact measurements, but look up the sizing on the memory chips, then use that length to measure the die size.

Easy to figure out the die size with this picture

 

[Cloudfire777]

My take on it:

GM107 vs GK107:
33% bigger die size because both is based on 28nm.

GM204 vs GK104:
30-40% bigger die because both is based on 28nm.
295mm x 1.4 = ~420mm2

Looks pretty close to what I see on the die pictures from videocardz
http://videocardz.com/50980/nvidia-geforce-gtx-880-pictured

The GPU pictured in OP is GM204, 28nm and right around the corner for launch.
Probably very wrong but what the heck

 

[Mand]

Easy to figure out the die size with this picture

You can also use the PCIe pin spacing as a ruler.

 

[skipsneeky2]

Love the geekpr0n, like the stacked connectors. All the techy chat is a bit over my head but if i am getting at it correct its gonna be a titanic of a gpu with a moderate increase in performance on 28nm tech?

 

[netxzero64]

we just have to wonder overall on how will the 880 performs. My speculation is that it will be a bit better or by the most 10-20% compared to the 780Ti with 200w power consumption. This is just my 2 cents. XD