[wccf] NVIDIA Maxwell Based GeForce Graphic Cards Reportedly Shipping In March 2014

[blastingcap]

No. I haven't looked. Things may have changed, or may have not.

I imagine talking publicly about it is not good business either, which is likely why nothing more recent has come to surface.

/Don't bite the hand that feeds you.

Oh I forgot--there was one HUGE change since that article, but if anything it makes live even more difficult for GPU companies: http://thenextweb.com/apple/2013/06...er-finally-meeting-speed-and-power-standards/

Apple has way deeper pockets than NV or AMD so they can afford to pay top dollar. Apple and Qualcomm presumably ate up a HUGE portion of 20nm and thus drove prices up for everyone else, in addition to leaving less capacity for everyone else.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Can't wait for something more substantial, after I got my OCd GTX580 life was good, and 680 didn't add anything appreciable to that. Titan came along and was awesome but too expensive, then we got a mroe reasonably priced 780, but it worked out cheaper to simply add a 2nd hand 580 in SLI.

So all these years on and really no decent upgrade path, hopefully a drop to 20nm will allow for some new seriously high end GPUs that dwarf this setup without needing to spend £1,000...feels like the 28nm to 20nm drop has been riddled with problems, is this a sign of moores law becoming much harder to sustain?

 

[NTMBK]

feels like the 28nm to 20nm drop has been riddled with problems, is this a sign of moores law becoming much harder to sustain?

That, and big hot chips aren't where the innovation is these days. There's a reason that 20nm SoC is the only process that TSMC are bringing- because smartphones and tablets are where the market is right now.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Still the primary way to get power usage and temps down on these chips is to drop the transistor size, so whether they're aiming for mobile or not, you would have thought that die shrinks are still a priority?

I dunno, I get the distinct feeling that progress over the last 3 generations of video cards has been severely lack lustre, I've bought a flagship card from every GPU generation since the voodoo cards the 580 is the last time I've done that, I've got more disposible income today than at any point of upgrading in the past.

I just can't bring myself to get that excited over anything since the 580, maybe that's just me :/

 

[NTMBK]

I just can't bring myself to get that excited over anything since the 580, maybe that's just me :/

You're just getting old

 

[lefty2]

There was an interesting article (here: http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201312050035.aspx), which says Nvidia has signed on TMSC's 20nm process, (although it doesn't say which product. It could as easily be Tegra as Maxwell)

Industry sources said TSMC's 20nm production capacity has been booked up with orders from industry giants including Apple Inc., Qualcomm Inc., Xilinx, Altera, Supermicro, NVIDIA, MediaTek and Broadcom Corp.

 

[blackened23]

There was an interesting article (here: http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aeco/201312050035.aspx), which says Nvidia has signed on TMSC's 20nm process, (although it doesn't say which product. It could as easily be Tegra as Maxwell)

No 20nm AMD products?

 

[ShintaiDK]

No 20nm AMD products?

It only adds to the Tegra speculation rather than GPU.

20nm GPUs are far far far away.

 

[blackened23]

To be clear, I don't expect 20nm Maxwell 1H 2014. I think a 28nm version using a mid range chip for release 1Q 2014 is plausible, however -- with the true high end maxwell (GM100/110) being 20nm and released 2H 2014.

What that article is stating, though, is that all of those corporations (qualcomm, apple, nvidia, etc)reserved and paid for their 20nm wafers for production sometime next year. AMD has not, unless they were just omitted from the list. That's the main point I was getting at...did AMD not reserve/pay for 20nm products next year?

 

[OCGuy]

People spreading the 28nm rumours are only helping NV's cause. It is easy to read TSMC's announcements to see that 28nm revenue is going to dry up, while 20nm is going to ramp up.

Articles specifically list Nvidia as having early orders already locked in, so it is only a matter of when, not a matter of what node.

There is always the potential of low-end rebrands, but I don't think that is what anyone is discussing here.

 

[ams23]

No 20nm AMD products?

I doubt that we will see any AMD products on 20nm fabrication process until closer to end of 2014.

 

[Dribble]

Apple has way deeper pockets than NV or AMD so they can afford to pay top dollar. Apple and Qualcomm presumably ate up a HUGE portion of 20nm and thus drove prices up for everyone else, in addition to leaving less capacity for everyone else.

But they won't - Apple do everything on the cheap and just use their size to drive harder bargains. If 20mn is expensive Apple won't use it right away - people buy Apple stuff because it's shiny, not because of the chips inside.

 

[blackened23]

But they won't - Apple do everything on the cheap and just use their size to drive harder bargains. If 20mn is expensive Apple won't use it right away - people buy Apple stuff because it's shiny, not because of the chips inside.

Another Apple hater, interesting. People buy apple because they make high quality products that focus on software ecosystem and user experience. I like android and use android, but as a personal example - the iPad is just better than the best android tablet by a mile; the iPad has better software integration, intuitiveness and has far more applications which are specifically designed for it. When i'm using a Nexus 7 2nd gen, most of those applications are designed for a smartphone and look messed up on the tablet. Furthermore, the app store for apple has WAY WAY WAY more books, movies, and applications than google play. Sorry. Apple is well liked by customers because they make great products. Yeah. I know. "DERP DERP I HATE APPLE". I'm sorry, I know it's popular to hate on a successful company these days but they do make excellent products, and their hardware is always up to par. I would point out that Apple has the best custom ARM SOC on the market right now by leaps and bounds. But by all means keep thinking people buy it because it's shiny.

 

[Grooveriding]

But they won't - Apple do everything on the cheap and just use their size to drive harder bargains. If 20mn is expensive Apple won't use it right away - people buy Apple stuff because it's shiny, not because of the chips inside.

What about the reports that Apple has priority at TSMC and has laid claim to initial 20nm production ?

Apple makes excellent products, they're just not for power users. One of their huge branding and feature points every new release is how they have improved battery life. So 20nm will be a big deal to them.

Their customers don't care much about hearing how much more powerful every new release is, but once they are using 20nm and have just a little more performance but much better power consumption, that will give them much better battery life and more happy Apple devotees lining up for the iPhone 6 and new macbook air.

 

[Stuka87]

But they won't - Apple do everything on the cheap and just use their size to drive harder bargains. If 20mn is expensive Apple won't use it right away - people buy Apple stuff because it's shiny, not because of the chips inside.

Apple does nothing "on the cheap". Even their packaging cost more than just about anybody else out there.

Apple is pushing smartphone and tablet SoC tech harder than any other maker, you can bet your money that Apple will be one of the first companies to use 20nm SoCs.

 

[Stuka87]

Ooops, dupe post..

 

[blackened23]

Apple does nothing "on the cheap". Even their packaging cost more than just about anybody else out there.

Apple is pushing smartphone and tablet SoC tech harder than any other maker, you can bet your money that Apple will be one of the first companies to use 20nm SoCs.

Agreed. Battery life is an important metric to Apple and you can rest assured that Apple will absolutely be the first in line for 20nm.

[major tangent incoming]

Cost is also not a factor for apple. In fact, looking at their BOM I would not consider any of their products cheap. Now, don't get me wrong, Apple products cost more - but to many folks, it is worth that cost. But the main point is, there is nothing cheap about Apple products. They focus on the user experience and intangible metrics and making it "gel" together far more than any other company out there, and it shows. Now in terms of smartphones, there are a lot of smartphones that are at parity with Apple nowadays. But tablets? Ultra portable computers? Apple IMO has the best products out there. Every ultrabook i've tried has compromises - HDMI that doesn't go higher than 1080p, barely functional trackpads, terrible battery life, idle that doesn't properly work, I could go on. These types of issues usually aren't issues with Apple because they focus on perfecting the user experience.

I've said it time and time again. The best hardware is worthless without the user experience and software to back it up. Apple understands this. Nvidia has also taken que of this, IMO....I have noticed that nvidia puts a _lot_ of effort into user experience and the intangibles just as Apple does, and I believe that is the right approach to creating consumer loyalty. Again. Hardware is worthless without excellent software.
Anyways. Yeah, Apple will be one of the first with 20nm and they certainly won't cheap out in that respect. Battery life is huge for apple products.

It's also good that nvidia has apparently reserved 20nm wafers as well, from what i'm reading. Although i'm not sure if that is for Maxwell or Tegra 5.

 

[ams23]

It's also good that nvidia has apparently reserved 20nm wafers as well, from what i'm reading. Although i'm not sure if that is for Maxwell or Tegra 5.

I would guess that Tegra "Logan" will use a 28nm fabrication process, but we will find out soon enough (hopefully at CES 2014?).

 

[desprado]

I would guess that Tegra "Logan" will use a 28nm fabrication process, but we will find out soon enough (hopefully at CES 2014?).

Yup most probably at CES 2014 and GTC 2014.