• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Future GPUs to consist of several cores

D_o_S

Moderator
Joined
Aug 27, 2005
Messages
954 (0.14/day)
Processor AMD Opteron 144
Motherboard DFI Lanparty nF4 SLI-DR Expert
Cooling Watercooled - Alphacool Nexxxos XP, BIX2, Eheim HPPS
Memory 2x 512MB OCZ PC 3200EL Platinum Rev.2 (TCCD)
Video Card(s) 2x Gainward GeForce 6800 Ultra (430/1200)
Storage 4x WD Raptor 740GD in RAID 0
Display(s) Eizo FlexScan L768
Case CM Stacker
Audio Device(s) Audigy 2
Power Supply Silverstone Zeus ST65ZF
The GPUs that we are used to today comprise of several parts that are all joined together by a high speed interconnect. Now, imagine separating the core out into several chips, again connecting all of them by an interconnect. The great advantage would be that to increase performance you would simply increase the number of cores, design of GPUs could also be simplified.

For example, low end cards could have 2 of these "cores", middle range cards would utilize 4, and high end cards would boast 8 processing units.

The Inquirer reports that this is exactly what we can expect from the AMD/ATI R700 chip, and perhaps NVIDIA's G90.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
10,881 (1.63/day)
Location
Manchester, NH
System Name Senile
Processor I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
Motherboard MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
Memory 16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s) GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s) 34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (3440*1440) *FREE_SYNC*
Case Rosewill
Audio Device(s) Onboard + HD HDMI
Power Supply Corsair HX750
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software Win 10
Ummm... it's about time someone actually came out and said this - kind of overstating the obvious (in a way).
 

Jimmy 2004

New Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2005
Messages
5,458 (0.78/day)
Location
England
System Name Jimmy 2004's PC
Processor S754 AMD Athlon64 3200+ @ 2640MHz
Motherboard ASUS K8N
Cooling AC Freezer 64 Pro + Zalman VF1000 + 5x120mm Antec TriCool Case Fans
Memory 1GB Kingston PC3200 (2x512MB)
Video Card(s) Saphire 256MB X800 GTO @ 450MHz/560MHz (Core/Memory)
Storage 500GB Western Digital SATA II + 80GB Maxtor DiamondMax SATA
Display(s) Digimate 17" TFT (1280x1024)
Case Antec P182
Audio Device(s) Audigy 4 + Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 Speakers
Power Supply Corsair HX520W
Software Windows XP Home
Ummm... it's about time someone actually came out and said this - kind of overstating the obvious (in a way).

Exactly what I was thinking - if someone has been sitting there thinking "how can we make graphics cards faster" and only just came out with this I'm very worried.
 
Joined
Aug 29, 2006
Messages
59 (0.01/day)
I don't necessarily see this as good. Video card power requirements are getting just absolutely fucking ridiculous. Aren't you suppose to you know, create more speed AND consume less power? If you ask me the video card industry needs a solid bitch slap to the face.
 
Joined
Dec 6, 2005
Messages
10,881 (1.63/day)
Location
Manchester, NH
System Name Senile
Processor I7-4790K@4.8 GHz 24/7
Motherboard MSI Z97-G45 Gaming
Cooling Be Quiet Pure Rock Air
Memory 16GB 4x4 G.Skill CAS9 2133 Sniper
Video Card(s) GIGABYTE Vega 64
Storage Samsung EVO 500GB / 8 Different WDs / QNAP TS-253 8GB NAS with 2x10Tb WD Blue
Display(s) 34" LG 34CB88-P 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD (3440*1440) *FREE_SYNC*
Case Rosewill
Audio Device(s) Onboard + HD HDMI
Power Supply Corsair HX750
Mouse Logitech G5
Keyboard Corsair Strafe RGB & G610 Orion Red
Software Win 10
I don't necessarily see this as good. Video card power requirements are getting just absolutely fucking ridiculous. Aren't you suppose to you know, create more speed AND consume less power? If you ask me the video card industry needs a solid bitch slap to the face.

In an ideal world, yes. Bitch slap those idiots!
 

Track

New Member
Joined
Sep 27, 2006
Messages
312 (0.05/day)
Location
Israel
Processor Intel Pentium 4 (prescott) 3.0Ghz 1M L2 cache 800Mhz FSB w/HT
Motherboard Asus P4GD1
Cooling Zalman VF900, Zalman 7700, 1x AC 80nm
Memory 1024 MB DDR400 PC3200
Video Card(s) X1900XT (512Mb) @ 745/1660
Storage 1x WD 80GB 8M cache 7200 RPM, 1x WD 250GB 8M cache 7200RPM
Display(s) Viewsonic VA712 LCD 17"
Power Supply 500W
Software Windows XP SP2 Gold Edition
This is only half way though.
In the future, hopefully not too far into the future, we will have only a single proccesing unit, that will consist of many many cores - CPU cores and GPU cores. There will be only one socket and under it will be over a dozen core. One core will perform math calculations, another will render one part of the image, etc. Its kind of a CPU/GPU combination, but in the future we will have so many cores, that each core will be set to do a certain task - one will subtract, one will add.
Thats what the future holds. I cant imagine anything being better than that, so that is how it will always remain. The only that will change is the speed of the cores, and at some point they will have become powerfull enough to render an image wich looks nothing less than a photo.. that will be the end of modern technological use.. and i dont know what will happen later.
 
Joined
Nov 6, 2005
Messages
480 (0.07/day)
Location
Silver Spring, MD
Processor Core i7 4770K
Motherboard Asrock Z87E-ITX
Cooling Stock
Memory 16GB Gskill 2133MHz DDR3
Video Card(s) PNY GeForce GTX 670 2GB
Storage 256GB Corsair M4, 240GB Samsung 840
Display(s) 27" 1440p Achevia Shimian
Case Fractal Node 304
Audio Device(s) Audioquest Dragonfly USB DAC
Power Supply Corsair Builder 600W
Software Windows 7 Pro x64
I don't necessarily see this as good. Video card power requirements are getting just absolutely fucking ridiculous. Aren't you suppose to you know, create more speed AND consume less power? If you ask me the video card industry needs a solid bitch slap to the face.

Ummm, let's take CPUs as an example.


Single cores got hot and fast (Pentium 4 EE). Then they went dual core with only a little more power, but much better performance in applications which supported them. Almost doubling processing power for less than a 25% increase in power. (A64 X2s)

Then die shrinks came into play and better architectures were developed, with renewed emphasis on performance/watt. (65W TDP conroes and 35W+65W AM2s)




What makes you think that this will just make things more power hungry? Especially when there's a VERY similar thing that happened VERY recently with just the opposite outcome.


We are at the end of Single core graphics cards (GX2s count as single). With SLi, Crossfire, and Unified shaders, programs are already equipped to do rendering in a massively parallel way; there won't even be the same multithreaded application thing CPUs went through. When they add another core, even at a slower speed, the performance gains will be above 50% right off the bat. Add some memory bandwidth and it goes higher, get into second generation multi core graphics cards and TDPs will drop, it's not like they really can go much higher anyways (like physical limits of the Silicon and the PCB.)


Yes I agree things are far too power hungry, but to be cynical and say it will just be worse soon, with evidence otherwise, that's just wrong.
 

Jimmy 2004

New Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2005
Messages
5,458 (0.78/day)
Location
England
System Name Jimmy 2004's PC
Processor S754 AMD Athlon64 3200+ @ 2640MHz
Motherboard ASUS K8N
Cooling AC Freezer 64 Pro + Zalman VF1000 + 5x120mm Antec TriCool Case Fans
Memory 1GB Kingston PC3200 (2x512MB)
Video Card(s) Saphire 256MB X800 GTO @ 450MHz/560MHz (Core/Memory)
Storage 500GB Western Digital SATA II + 80GB Maxtor DiamondMax SATA
Display(s) Digimate 17" TFT (1280x1024)
Case Antec P182
Audio Device(s) Audigy 4 + Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 Speakers
Power Supply Corsair HX520W
Software Windows XP Home
Well manufacturers will try and find an equilibrium between power and performance in most cases. If people will buy it, they'll make it.
 

cdawall

where the hell are my stars
Joined
Jul 23, 2006
Messages
27,680 (4.29/day)
Location
Houston
System Name All the cores
Processor 2990WX
Motherboard Asrock X399M
Cooling CPU-XSPC RayStorm Neo, 2x240mm+360mm, D5PWM+140mL, GPU-2x360mm, 2xbyski, D4+D5+100mL
Memory 4x16GB G.Skill 3600
Video Card(s) (2) EVGA SC BLACK 1080Ti's
Storage 2x Samsung SM951 512GB, Samsung PM961 512GB
Display(s) Dell UP2414Q 3840X2160@60hz
Case Caselabs Mercury S5+pedestal
Audio Device(s) Fischer HA-02->Fischer FA-002W High edition/FA-003/Jubilate/FA-011 depending on my mood
Power Supply Seasonic Prime 1200w
Mouse Thermaltake Theron, Steam controller
Keyboard Keychron K8
Software W10P
i want them to release basically a daughterboard that has a Unified Graphics Port (i should copyright that) that all you have to do is buy a mobo like thing and you could upgrade it like you do a cpu that would be perfect cause you could pick what kind and how fast our ram if one part broke you didnt have to replace the whole card and it would be easier to upgrade in the future
 

Jimmy 2004

New Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2005
Messages
5,458 (0.78/day)
Location
England
System Name Jimmy 2004's PC
Processor S754 AMD Athlon64 3200+ @ 2640MHz
Motherboard ASUS K8N
Cooling AC Freezer 64 Pro + Zalman VF1000 + 5x120mm Antec TriCool Case Fans
Memory 1GB Kingston PC3200 (2x512MB)
Video Card(s) Saphire 256MB X800 GTO @ 450MHz/560MHz (Core/Memory)
Storage 500GB Western Digital SATA II + 80GB Maxtor DiamondMax SATA
Display(s) Digimate 17" TFT (1280x1024)
Case Antec P182
Audio Device(s) Audigy 4 + Creative Inspire T7900 7.1 Speakers
Power Supply Corsair HX520W
Software Windows XP Home
i want them to release basically a daughterboard that has a Unified Graphics Port (i should copyright that) that all you have to do is buy a mobo like thing and you could upgrade it like you do a cpu that would be perfect cause you could pick what kind and how fast our ram if one part broke you didnt have to replace the whole card and it would be easier to upgrade in the future

Or just have a motherboard with already built in slots/sockets for GPU and graphics ram rather than an extra daughter board.
 

cdawall

where the hell are my stars
Joined
Jul 23, 2006
Messages
27,680 (4.29/day)
Location
Houston
System Name All the cores
Processor 2990WX
Motherboard Asrock X399M
Cooling CPU-XSPC RayStorm Neo, 2x240mm+360mm, D5PWM+140mL, GPU-2x360mm, 2xbyski, D4+D5+100mL
Memory 4x16GB G.Skill 3600
Video Card(s) (2) EVGA SC BLACK 1080Ti's
Storage 2x Samsung SM951 512GB, Samsung PM961 512GB
Display(s) Dell UP2414Q 3840X2160@60hz
Case Caselabs Mercury S5+pedestal
Audio Device(s) Fischer HA-02->Fischer FA-002W High edition/FA-003/Jubilate/FA-011 depending on my mood
Power Supply Seasonic Prime 1200w
Mouse Thermaltake Theron, Steam controller
Keyboard Keychron K8
Software W10P
yeah that works to but my way you could upgrade the daughter board and still keep your org. mobo you know in case a new UGP socket was released or you got "SLI/crossfire" equiped daughterboard and wanted the other
 
Joined
Nov 4, 2005
Messages
11,655 (1.73/day)
System Name Compy 386
Processor 7800X3D
Motherboard Asus
Cooling Air for now.....
Memory 64 GB DDR5 6400Mhz
Video Card(s) 7900XTX 310 Merc
Storage Samsung 990 2TB, 2 SP 2TB SSDs and over 10TB spinning
Display(s) 56" Samsung 4K HDR
Audio Device(s) ATI HDMI
Mouse Logitech MX518
Keyboard Razer
Software A lot.
Benchmark Scores Its fast. Enough.
We had daughter boards in the past. The problem is in the connection. The more connectors, the more failures. The connector is also less of a conductor, and insulated conductor moreso than integrated circuts. Thus the move to LGA Land Grid Array cpu interfaces as well as ball and socket type memory interfaces on PCB's.
 

stordoff

New Member
Joined
Apr 7, 2005
Messages
175 (0.03/day)
Location
Sheffield, UK
Processor Q6600
Motherboard Asus Maximus Formula
Cooling Tuniq Tower 120
Memory 4x2GB Patriot PC2-6400 C4
Video Card(s) Saphhire HD4870X2
Storage 2x WD6400AAKS (RAID0), MyBook 500GB
Display(s) 2x LG L225WS 22" LCD
Case Antec 1200
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Elite Pro
Power Supply Corsair HX1000W
Software Windows Vista Ultimate (x64)
One option would be to have the same PCB for all card of one type, with sockets for a set number of cores. The PCB would come with two (or four, etc), and these can be added to without replacing the board as the user requires more power
 

cdawall

where the hell are my stars
Joined
Jul 23, 2006
Messages
27,680 (4.29/day)
Location
Houston
System Name All the cores
Processor 2990WX
Motherboard Asrock X399M
Cooling CPU-XSPC RayStorm Neo, 2x240mm+360mm, D5PWM+140mL, GPU-2x360mm, 2xbyski, D4+D5+100mL
Memory 4x16GB G.Skill 3600
Video Card(s) (2) EVGA SC BLACK 1080Ti's
Storage 2x Samsung SM951 512GB, Samsung PM961 512GB
Display(s) Dell UP2414Q 3840X2160@60hz
Case Caselabs Mercury S5+pedestal
Audio Device(s) Fischer HA-02->Fischer FA-002W High edition/FA-003/Jubilate/FA-011 depending on my mood
Power Supply Seasonic Prime 1200w
Mouse Thermaltake Theron, Steam controller
Keyboard Keychron K8
Software W10P
thats what i was thinking stordoff
 

W2hCYK

New Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2005
Messages
907 (0.14/day)
Processor Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 @ 3.3GHz
Motherboard P5WDG2-WS Pro, need new chipset cooler.
Cooling Dangerden TDX-775
Memory OCZ 2gb PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM 4-5-4-15
Video Card(s) X850XTPE 256mb @ 585/640
Storage 2x 250gb Perpendicular SATA3.0, 2x Maxtor DiamondMax10 160gb SATA-150 drives
Display(s) Sceptre 19" 8ms LCD
Case Lian-Li PC-65
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply OCZ GameXStream 700w 18a 12v, Quad Rail
Software Windows XP SP2
I think because of amd teaming with ATI, we can expect swappable cores in the near future, as well as high end gfx built into cpus. The RAM for a video card should be able to be added in smaller sticks, something like SD cards or something(of course, DDR3, ect) and it would be user upgradable, based on a video ram bus on the daughter board itself, not based on motherboard capability.
 

pt

not a suicide-bomber
Joined
Mar 11, 2006
Messages
8,956 (1.36/day)
Location
Portugal
Processor AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile TL-60 (Trinidad)
Motherboard ASUS F3Ka (ATI RS690M)
Cooling stock
Memory Nanya 2x1GB ddr2 667@5-5-5-15-2T
Video Card(s) ATI Mobility Radeon HD2600 512MB DDR2@ 580mhz/486mhz
Storage 160GB on laptop+250GB external
Display(s) ASUS 15.4
Case Asus Laptop F3Ka chassis
Audio Device(s) on-board
Power Supply 1:30minutes battery
Software "genui xp", 'cause i hated vista
i want them to release basically a daughterboard that has a Unified Graphics Port (i should copyright that) that all you have to do is buy a mobo like thing and you could upgrade it like you do a cpu that would be perfect cause you could pick what kind and how fast our ram if one part broke you didnt have to replace the whole card and it would be easier to upgrade in the future

my bet is that cpu's will become slots again :p
 

stealthfighter

New Member
Joined
Aug 5, 2006
Messages
557 (0.09/day)
Location
at my pc
Processor P4 2.8
Motherboard Intel D865PERL
Memory 2x512 Ballistix DDR400
Video Card(s) GeForce 5200
Storage Maxtor 120GB
Power Supply Allied 300w 10A
What if they had like a Motherboard Crossfire functionality. You could basically have 2 computers acting like one. Think about it, haveing 4 G80s, 2 x6800s, 4 sticks of 1 GB DDR2, 4 hard drives but 2 + 2 in raid 0. 2 dvd burners... an extra large case featureing 32 fans... about 20 grand in USD to buy the damn thing and a 400$ electric bill in winter. But it would be very fast.

wait omg they should do this.
Have a small board that you can upgrade your GPU and GRAM (Graphics Random Access Memory). The parts would be designed to fit on the card so that it dosnt get so heavy with a huge heatsink/fan for the GPU etc... but you wouldnt need to buy a whole new board just to get a GPU and GRAM. That would pretty much SAVE money because you dont need to buy a new board.
crap cdawall already said it :shadedshu
 
Last edited:
Top