Why don't AMD and nVidia make monster-like GPUs and charge embarressingly high sums?

[aigomorla]

I can't even imagine how would a Quadfire card fit into any case at all, not to mention the flex of the PCB from that length.

nononononono...

AMD isnt stupid to do something like that..

They would do it like this:

 

[dma0991]

nononononono...

AMD isnt stupid to do something like that..

They would do it like this:

I wonder what it takes to cool such a beast.

 

[happy medium]

I wonder what it takes to cool such a beast.

4 of these.

 

[Seero]

Like why don't they make GPUs with huge dies (1000+ mm^2) for the rich enthusiasts and charge thousands of $$$ for them?

I know that, normally, the R&D costs for developing a new architecture/ series- what with the careful designing, rigorous testing and bug fixing, maximizing the efficiency of the cip etc - would outweigh the profits, but I'm not talking about that; I'm thinking more between the lines of throwing up a design in a hurry, like double up everything on the chip that won't be completely redundant and then slap a huge ass cooler+heatsink and 3 8 pin connectors.

I'm sure that there are enough rich nutters out there that would pay $5k~10k for something like this, so there would be good profit margins to be made.

It will be in millions.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

edit: to the happy and aigomorla: but I'm only talking about a small, enthusiast consumer base, like a few thousand people.

A few thousand people - that would spend 10k+ for a video card? Probably more like 5 people. Rich people are rich because they spend all their time acquiring wealth and playing golf, not sitting on their ass playing video games with max eye candy on a 6-screen eyefinity setup. There's no market for what you're suggesting.

 

[Idontcare]

LCD manufactureres don't release a monolithic 10240x6400 50" LCD for $50k.

Actually, you can buy some monolithic screens. I know there has been a 92" plasma screen for like $35k and there have been a few others as of late. Look at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Cowboys Stadium. If you have the money, someone will build it for you.

You can buy a monolithic screen that is 10240x6400 resolution?

 

[exar333]

The physical limit to die-sizes are around 850-900mm^2. The exposure field of the litho equipment is around 30mm x 30mm.



TSMC does not "approve designs" on the basis of their expectations of market viability. They'll build anything you are willing to pay for. You are their customer when you order the wafers, whether or not you can sell them for a profit is your problem (provided your check clears the bank ).

The short (self-evident) answer to your proposition is that there is clearly not enough money to be made in that part of the supply/demand curve. If this were not the case then to be sure Nvidia or AMD would produce a product to fill that niche.

Same reason Intel doesn't release a $10k uber-extreme CPU, or LCD manufactureres don't release a monolithic 10240x6400 50" LCD for $50k.

Plus, there is a significant cost to supporting GPUs as well. For a huge monolithic chip to be successful, it would need specific drivers for that product. The cost per unit would be very high, and having long-term support w/ updates to drivers, etc. would be spotty at best.

 

[nenforcer]

They already do

ATI FirePro V9800 4GB GDDR5 VRAM - $3000

nVidia Quadro 6000 6GB GDDR5 VRAM - $4000

And if that is to cheap for you start looking at the Tesla / Fermi Compute GPU's in SLI if you want to hit 5 figures easily.

 

[CurseTheSky]

The R&D costs would be far too high and the return would be FAR too low. They'd be lucky if they sold 10,000 units.

 

[smackababy]

You can buy a monolithic screen that is 10240x6400 resolution?

I said some, but assuming you've got the money and the technology is possible, sure I bet you can find someone to make it for you.

 

[aphelion02]

The cost of R&D of such GPUs would grow exponentially with size and the yields will go down exponentially as well. You will be staring at a 7 digit GPU considering the small consumer base.

 

[Emulex]

hmm fermi compute engine on vmware server with remoteFX sounds fun.