Maxwell nVidia chips GM204 GM206 & put tape out back for 28nm manufacturing

[SinOfLiberty]

Maxwell nVidia chips GM204 GM206 & put tape out back for 28nm manufacturing

GM 204- the Heart of 880 and 870?!

[nossy23]

Well, I'm going to wait for 20nm.

[SinOfLiberty]

It should this summer too.

[zalbard]

Will be pretty big and expensive chips, then.

[kuroikenshi]

just like I said sometime close to a year ago, Maxwell 20 nm wont be ready till late this year at best

[Iconyu]

just like I said sometime close to a year ago, Maxwell 20 nm wont be ready till late this year at best

I'm hearing speculation that without FinFET, 20nm is almost useless for high end parts, AMD and Nvidia might just hold out for the next node (16nm at TSMC) as that will have FinFET as standard. The reasoning is that Intel went with FinFET for 22nm and they've not really been able to show significant clock growth, and maybe the clock situation would have been much worse without it.

This may be why the strongest GM204 rumours are pointing at a 28nm chip, and all the 20nm rumours seem so vague.

[Fottemberg]

Harry Luan of Kilopass, in an interview (nov 2013), said: "Assuming foundry shuttles are available when required, the process takes between nine and 12 months to complete from tapeout to packaged die to first-lot, second-lot, and third-lot qualification. The three lots are staged through the fab at least one week apart from each other" ( http://electronicdesign.com/dev-tool...ign-challenges ). If the first tape out has started now, we have to wait 12 months to see these GPUs on the market (a GPU is more complex than a SoC).

[SinOfLiberty]

Considering that Pedant One talked about the real Maxwell coming later in date, I don't think it can be made of 28nm as what would differenciate it from the 1st gen Maxwell, as 28nm cant bring more to the table in terms of performance, but only power efficiency which is not for high end gpu market, at least in 1st place

[boxleitnerb]

Considering that Pedant One talked about the real Maxwell coming later in date, I don't think it can be made of 28nm as what would differenciate it from the 1st gen Maxwell, as 28nm cant bring more to the table in terms of performance, but only power efficiency which is not for high end gpu market, at least in 1st place

Performance = power efficiency. At a given TDP you can get more performance. Of course that only holds true if Nvidia and AMD don't increase power consumption further and further but keep certain levels (~250W for high end).

[Andrew LB]

That article is based on a rumor coming from a guy in their forums. No basis in reality.

Here is actual information straight from TSMC themselves.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/other/d..._Progress.html


Also, TSMC made the following statement at their Q1 stockholders meeting.

We have two fabs, fab 12 and fab 14 that complete the core of the 20nm-SoC. As a matter of fact, we have started production. We are in the [high]-volume [20nm] production as we speak right now,” said C. C. Wei, co-chief executive officer and co-president of TSMC, during a conference call with investors and financial analysts

[SinOfLiberty]

Good find, Andrew LB.

We should definitely have at least a few 20nm cards. GM 200 here I come!

[AliG]

Do we have any official statements from Nvidia? I'm willing to wait until December if I have to, but I want a new card that will last me a long time (and 28 nm cards just run too hot for my liking).

[SinOfLiberty]

Do we have any official statements from Nvidia? I'm willing to wait until December if I have to, but I want a new card that will last me a long time (and 28 nm cards just run too hot for my liking).

New cards will arrive in summer.

Bigger Question people have is what they will be made of.

[AliG]

New cards will arrive in summer.

Bigger Question people have is what they will be made of.

I was hoping dark chocolate.
#HaveYourGFXCardAndEatItToo

[MaddMuppet]

I was hoping dark chocolate.
#HaveYourGFXCardAndEatItToo

hmmmmm Chocolate

[nossy23]

I was hoping dark chocolate.
#HaveYourGFXCardAndEatItToo

I want one made of ice cream, since I want it to run cool!!!

[GoldenTiger]

I want one made of ice cream, since I want it to run cool!!!

Mint chocolate chip? Wink wink .

[SinOfLiberty]

But seriously, who is opting for an upgrade to 800 series when they are released?!

[GoldenTiger]

But seriously, who is opting for an upgrade to 800 series when they are released?!

If I go for a 4k monitor, definitely.

[SinOfLiberty]

If I go for a 4k monitor, definitely.

Then if you stay with your current monitor , you are keeping the current gen cards? Or will the performance/price of the next gen play a factor in the decision making?

[GoldenTiger]

Then if you stay with your current monitor , you are keeping the current gen cards? Or will the performance/price of the next gen play a factor in the decision making?

Nah, I don't feel I need more performance for 2560x1440 110hz than my current 1.2ghz gtx 780 acx ftw. If I turn down AA a little and shaders one notch, looking 95% identical, I get great performance.

[SinOfLiberty]

Yea, 780 is def a great card that will last a few years down the road with some settings turned off.

Although, I know, I am gonna be jumping on next gen when it comes out There will be more revealed as we slowly approach the release!

[Iconyu]

If I go for a 4k monitor, definitely.

If it is the GM204 chip it'll probably be 256bit memory bus again, which means 32 ROPs and a 1080p performance sweet spot, it'll be fast as hell at that resolution especially if the game is shader heavy, but it'll struggle with a 4k monitor.

[zalbard]

GDDR6 can't come soon enough.

[LordEC911]

GDDR6 can't come soon enough.

If it comes...