GK104 Transistor Count and Exact Die-Size Revealed

[btarunr]

A part of the reason why NVIDIA's performance-segment GK104 is gunning for the performance crown from AMD's Tahiti GPU could be hidden behind two of its key specifications: transistor count, and die-size. 3DCenter.org compiled these two specifications for the GK104 from reliable sources, which pin the transistor count at 3.54 billion, and die-area at 294 mm². This yields a transistor density of 12 million per mm², which is slightly higher than that of AMD Tahiti, slightly lower than that of AMD Pitcairn, and certainly higher than previous-generation chips from both AMD and NVIDIA. If GeForce GTX 680 does in fact end up competitive with AMD's Radeon HD 7900 series, it could serve as a tell-tale sign of NVIDIA's Kepler architecture being a more efficient one.



Source: 3DCenter.org

[xenocide]

That kind of transistor density is very uncharacteristic of Nvidia (in recent years)... interesting...

[15th Warlock]

Interesting indeed, and that's technically a mid range GPU, seems like GK100 is truly going to be a monster once Nvidia decides to release it

If only GK104 was to be priced in terms of die size instead of absolute performance compared to the competition

[alterecho]

My question is, why the 7870 performs close to the 7950 in some of the tests?

[xenocide]

Originally Posted by alterecho

My question is, why the 7870 performs close to the 7950 in some of the tests?

A lot of people are wondering that, but nobody really knows...

[sergionography]

"If GeForce GTX 680 does in fact end up competitive with AMD's Radeon HD 7900 series, it could serve as a tell-tale sign of NVIDIA's Kepler architecture being a more efficient one"

thats an over statement, cuz as far as GCN is concerned, the most efficient chip is the pitcairn

tahiti on the other side is a disapointment when u compare it with pitcairn, which has 40% more cores yet performs barely 20% better
considering both are the same architecture it means tahiti is bottlenecked somehow, or amd is holding something up its sleeve

[badmau5]

Originally Posted by alterecho

My question is, why the 7870 performs close to the 7950 in some of the tests?

My personal guess - same amount of ROP's is what makes 7870 so close to 7950. Looks like ROP count is what mostly determines performance of new AMD gpu's. In addition lack of stream processors in 7870 comparing to 7950 compensated with higher core clock 1000mhz vs 800mhz, but again thats just my guess.

[hhumas]

nice .....

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by badmau5

My personal guess - same amount of ROP's is what makes 7870 so close to 7950. Looks like ROP count is what mostly determines performance of new AMD gpu's. In addition lack of stream processors in 7870 comparing to 7950 compensated with higher core clock 1000mhz vs 800mhz, but again thats just my guess.

The shader/rop/tmu balance on the 7870 does seem very ideal.

Likewise, nVidia's designs in the past seemingly have had more ROPs, and do tend to perform better than their AMD counterparts. This new GPU from nVidia is very exciting, as everything seems ot indicate its' soemthing quite different from their previous designs, and seemingly, is about to kill AMD's ROP-starved 7970.

[thunderising]

I will place my verdict on a review.

I still think AMD can beat Kepler by releasing two cards:

1. Overclocked HD7870, 1200MHz Core and 6000MHz Memory

2. Overclocked HD7970, 1200MHz Core, 7000MHz Memory(get 7GT memory already!)

The overclocked HD7870 would actually near Stock HD7970, i.e. GTX680, while being a hell lot cheaper and smaller to produce as well.

The overclocked HD7970 would smoke the GTX680, albeit in Fermi Style, with more power consumption

[Benetanegia]

Very interesting transistor density.

Originally Posted by cadaveca

The shader/rop/tmu balance on the 7870 does seem very ideal.

Likewise, nVidia's designs in the past seemingly have had more ROPs, and do tend to perform better than their AMD counterparts. This new GPU from nVidia is very exciting, as everything seems ot indicate its' soemthing quite different from their previous designs, and seemingly, is about to kill AMD's ROP-starved 7970.

But if it does beat HD7970, it will do it with 32 ROPs, according to rumored specs.

You know what I think, I've said it plenty of times. It's not ROPs the problem of the HD7970. Too much effort to decouple them from MC, just to be able to use 32 ROP and 384 bit and everything just to let it be a huge bottleneck? No sir.

[Shihabyooo]

I think I'll just wait till next week to see some real life benches. All those speculations are killing me
Btw, any news about the mid range/Mainstream Kepler offerings ? With the low TDP it has, I'm very interested on how the little players will perform.

Originally Posted by thunderising

I still think AMD can beat Kepler by releasing two cards:

1. Overclocked HD7870, 1200MHz Core and 6000MHz Memory

2. Overclocked HD7970, 1200MHz Core, 7000MHz Memory(get 7GT memory already!)

And shoot their own legs in the process, damaging the sales of the 7950.

[Fairlady-z]

Yeah this 680 is going to be a epic card I am sure of it, but I am just going to stick with my CF7970 set up. I hear these cards overclock well, so I may look into it, as of right now these cards kill anything I throw at it and I play at 5760x1080.

[theoneandonlymrk]

Originally Posted by badmau5

My personal guess - same amount of ROP's is what makes 7870 so close to 7950. Looks like ROP count is what mostly determines performance of new AMD gpu's. In addition lack of stream processors in 7870 comparing to 7950 compensated with higher core clock 1000mhz vs 800mhz, but again thats just my guess.

Dual setup and geometry engines(ready for apu,ing) plus same rops as big bro helps the78##

[MxPhenom 216]

jesus GK104 is small and efficient compared to Tahiti, I just hope it gives Tahiti a run for its money!

EDIT: a Evga GTX580 is now $430 on the egg.

[Shihabyooo]

Originally Posted by nvidiaintelftw

jesus GK104 is small and efficient compared to Tahiti, I just hope it gives Tahiti a run for its money!

EDIT: a Evga GTX580 is now $430 on the egg.

Hope. We all do... But I got feelings that we won't see a $500 or less 7970 soon.

Galaxy has one with an after-market cooler for $400.

[MxPhenom 216]

Originally Posted by Shihabyooo

Hope. We all do... But I got feelings that we won't see a $500 or less 7970 soon.

Galaxy has one with an after-market cooler for $400.

we won't see AMD drop prices till Kepler is released.

[Platibus]

Originally Posted by nvidiaintelftw

we won't see AMD drop prices till Kepler is released.

Is there a chance the HD6800s will get a price drop too?