NVIDIA Expanding Processor Line

[Thoracic]

I may be late to know this but I thought it was interesting NVIDIA announced today they are expanding into other processor area's. Excerpt from the NVIDIA website:

 

"As you may have seen, NVIDIA announced today that it is developing high-performance ARM-based CPUs designed to power future products ranging from personal computers to servers and supercomputers.

 

Known under the internal codename “Project Denver,†this initiative features an NVIDIA CPU running the ARM instruction set, which will be fully integrated on the same chip as the NVIDIA GPU. This initiative is extremely important for NVIDIA and the computing industry for several reasons.

 

NVIDIA’s project Denver will usher in a new era for computing by extending the performance range of the ARM instruction-set architecture, enabling the ARM architecture to cover a larger portion of the computing space. Coupled with an NVIDIA GPU, it will provide the heterogeneous computing platform of the future by combining a standard architecture with awesome performance and energy efficiency.

..........

Microsoft’s announcement that it is bringing Windows to ultra-low power processors like ARM-based CPUs provides the final ingredient needed to enable ARM-based PCs based on Denver. Along with software stacks based on Android, Symbian, and iOS, Windows for ultra-low power processors demonstrates the huge momentum behind low-power solutions that will ultimately propel the ARM architecture to dominance.

 

An ARM processor coupled with an NVIDIA GPU represents the computing platform of the future. A high-performance CPU with a standard instruction set will run the serial parts of applications and provide compatibility while a highly-parallel, highly-efficient GPU will run the parallel portions of programs.

 

The result is that future systems – from the thinnest laptops to the biggest data centers, and everything in between — will deliver an outstanding combination of performance and power efficiency. Their processors will provide the best of both worlds, while enabling increased battery life for mobile solutions. We’re really excited to help engineer smarter brains for the next major era in computing."

 

full info at:

http://blogs.nvidia.com/2011/01/project-denver-processor-to-usher-in-new-era-of-computing/

[OnionKnight]

It is good they are creating it for personal computers and super computers rather than just sticking to netbooks and whatnot that they planned before. They won't be winning any awards anytime soon i believe

 

It looks like in the future though is with intel as they are going to rule the desktop market once again with ivy bridge (sandy is nice but knowing that ivy is coming out in 1 years time kinda makes sandy obselete. Ivy is going to really push the envelope). I doubt intel will ever be defeated in the desktop market at this rate.

 

AMD fusion looks like it is going to rule the mobile market for nettops and laptops without a doubt (looking at the number of mobile manufacturers who have signed up and making a big deal out of it really goes to show. At least laptops won't be as shitty for playing games anymore. Good for gamers i guess who don't want oversized thick gaming laptops). But bulldozer doesn't look like it will be able to beat ivy (i have a feeling AMD given up trying in the desktop market and instead is going for the mobile where it has a better chance to beat intel )

 

So ya I am not sure who nvidia will appeal to for the cpu business, but i am sure there is a market for them (nvidia is a more well known name among the average consumer so the name will sell. It will take a long time before they can chip any % of the market from AMD or Intel, if they can keep up with their advancements)

[rolf]

So ya I am not sure who nvidia will appeal to for the cpu business, but i am sure there is a market for them (nvidia is a more well known name among the average consumer so the name will sell. It will take a long time before they can chip any % of the market from AMD or Intel, if they can keep up with their advancements)

Well, because the number of processors Intel and AMD make is insignificant compared to the number of processors made world-wide, I think it isn't that hard to beat those for production. For profit it might be harder.

 

However, since Nvidia is a leader in computer graphics chips (right after Intel, which combines graphics in their CPU or chipset) and they have a good reputation in high-end performance graphics and GPGPU, they can enter a new market which can grow large. They have the ability to enter it, and the reputation to survive it.

 

Second, a lot of Intels profit comes from the fully backwards compatible x86 architecture (and AMD's extention x86-64), but both are based on a technology 30 years old with intentionally weren't supposed to live so long. The reason most desktops require so much memory, is because of the overhead x86 brings. In 1978 the overhead was small, but has become way to large. Architectures currently mainly used in embedded systems, such as the mips, arm and many others have another intention, be small, be fast, don't eat all energy. That should be how the current cpus must be designed, and I'm glad we have another well known company (for many people at least) which enters the ARM market, although they already did that with the Nvidia Tegra I believe. But the x86 is still alive unfortunately. Free beer the day x86 is dead

[Term!n@tor]

add to it the fact that microsoft has announced future windows will be fully compatible with the ARM architecture, things look to be really interesting in the processor arena.