Anandtech: Next-generation 28nm GPUs Could Be 45 Percent Faster

gtx5

http://www.dailytech.com/Nextgeneration+28nm+GPUs+Could+Be+45+Percent+Faster/article23158.htm





Compute Unit (click to enlarge)

Graphics Core Next (click to enlarge)




Sources claim TSMC's manufacturing is that good

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world's largest semiconductor foundry, and as such is constantly under pressure from its customers and competitors. The company recently announced that its newest 28nm process has entered mass production. Smaller process geometries typically mean that a faster, smaller, and cheaper processor will be available.

Two of TSMC's biggest customers are [size=100%]AMD and NVIDIA. Both have taped out GPU designs using TSMC's 28nm High Performance (28HP) process. AMD's next-generation GPU series is codenamed Southern Islands. The Tahiti GPU is supposed to launch early in December, while NVIDIA's Kepler GPU will launch in February of 2012.

28HP is the first process from TSMC to use High-k Metal Gate (HKMG) technology, as opposed to the typical silicon oxynitride (SiON) found in 40nm GPUs. HKMG uses a material with a high dielectric constant instead of the traditional silicon dioxide gate dielectric. This allows for a substantial reduction in gate leakage, thus lowering overall power consumption and allowing for higher clock speeds.

According to sources within TSMC, the 28HP HKMG process is doing very well. So well, in fact, that it supports up to a 45 percent speed improvement over the firm's own 40G process used to make the last two generations of video cards. This speed improvement is based on the same leakage per gate, but the GPU firms may choose to favor lower power consumption over a pure speed boost.

Our AMD contacts declined to respond to these assertions and directed our attention to a presentation made in June at the AMD Fusion Developer Summit by Eric Demers, the Chief Technology Officer of AMD Graphics.

The flip side of the manufacturing process is the architecture and design, and AMD has already previewed the basis for its future graphics architectures, known as Graphics Core Next (GCN). The basic design of GCN will form the foundation for the next few generations of AMD graphics processors.

The fundamental unit of AMD’s previous designs has been the Streaming Processor, utilizing a Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) architecture designed to take advantage of Instruction Level Parallelism (ILP). That will be supplanted by the Compute Unit, comprised of multiple 16-wide vector Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD) units designed for Thread Level Parallelism (TLP).

L1 and L2 caches will support the CUs, while the GPU will have access to the main system memory. Support for C++ programming has been added, making it easier to program for the GPU and CPU within the same application.

While all of these changes will benefit compute applications, it is not yet clear what impact this will have on current games and those already in the pipeline. The architectural changes may end up helping or hindering performance. Nevertheless, the entire 28nm graphics lineup will support resolutions of up to 16000 x 16000 pixels.

Of course, yields have always been a big problem with introducing a new node. TSMC had significant challenges with its 40nm process, leading to shortages of the Radeon HD 5800 series. HKMG processes typically use atomic layer deposition for high-k materials, which has been a challenge even for [size=100%]Intel.

Ultimately, we know that the next-generation of GPUs will be "significantly" faster, but the effects of the new architecture are still unknown and could change things positively or negatively. The better the performance, the more likely it is to sell out. The final clock speeds are still being determined, so final performance numbers will have to wait until the first official launch. The latest word on the street is December 6.

tsplby

能翻译下吗

gtx5

tsplby 发表于 2011-11-5 19:52
能翻译下吗

古鸽无责任翻译


下一代28纳米的GPU可以提速45％的速度


消息人士称，台积电的制造是好的

台湾半导体制造公司（TSMC）是世界上最大的的半导体代工，这样不断受到来自客户和竞争对手的压力。该公司最近宣布，其最新的28nm制程已进入批量生产。更小的工艺尺寸通常意味着，将提供一个更快，更小，更便宜的处理器。

[size=100%]AMD]台积电的最大客户是[SIZE = 100％] AMD和NVIDIA。有录音，使用台积电的28nm高性能（28HP）工艺的GPU设计。 AMD的下一代GPU系列是代号为“南方群岛。塔希提岛的GPU应该是在12月初推出，同时，NVIDIA的开普勒GPU将在2012年2月推出。

28HP是从台积电的第一道工序，使用高- K金属栅极（HKMG）技术，而不是典型的氮氧化硅（SION）发现在40nm GPU的。 HKMG使用高介电常量，而不是传统的二氧化硅栅介质材料。这使得在闸极漏电流的大幅减少，从而降低系统整体功耗和更高的时钟速度。

据台积电内部来源，28HP HKMG工艺做得很好。这么好，事实上，它支持多达45％的速度提高到公司自己的40G用来做视频卡的最后两个过程。这个速度的提高是基于相同的每门泄漏的，但GPU的公司可能会选择一个纯粹的速度提升，有利于降低功耗。

我们的AMD接触拒绝回应这些说法，并指示我们关注的AMD Fusion开发者峰会在6月，AMD绘图技术总监埃里克德默斯在演示文稿。

制造过程中的另一面是建筑和设计，AMD已经预览了其未来的图形架构，称为图形核心下一步（GCN）的基础。 GCN的基本设计形式为未来几代AMD图形处理器的基础。

AMD公司先前设计的基本单位已经流处理器，利用一个很长的指令字（VLIW）架构，旨在充分利用指令级并行（ILP）。计算单元组成多个16宽矢量单指令，将被取代的，多数据（SIMD）为线程级并行（TLP）设计单位。

L1和L2缓存，支持CUS，而GPU将有机会到主系统内存。支持C + +的编程已被添加，使其更容易在同一应用程序的GPU和CPU的方案。

虽然所有这些变化将有利于计算应用，它是尚未清楚什么样的影响，这将对目前的游戏和那些已经在管道。建筑的变化最终可能会帮助或阻碍性能。然而，整个阵容的28nm显卡将支持的最高分辨率为16000 x 16000像素。

当然，产量一直与引入一个新的节点的大问题。台积电40nm工艺的显著挑战，领先Radeon HD 5800系列的短缺。[size=100%]Intel."]的HKMG过程通常使用高k材料的原子层沉积，[大小= 100％]英特尔已经是一个挑战。

最终，我们知道，下一代的GPU将“显著”更快，但新的体系结构的影响仍然是未知的和可以改变的事情积极或消极的。性能越好，就越有可能是推销出去。仍在确定最后的时钟速度，所以最终的业绩数字将不得不等待，直到第一个正式启动。街道上的字是12月6日。

tsplby

gtx5 发表于 2011-11-5 19:56
古鸽无责任翻译

感谢老哥，感谢谷哥，感谢网哥！

gtx5

tsplby 发表于 2011-11-5 21:11
感谢老哥，感谢谷哥，感谢网哥！

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aibo

在同样漏电的情况下，这个28nm可以再快最多45%