nVidia Dominance?

[homer15]

someone told me nVidia was trying to muscle out the cpu in computers? does anyone know anything about this? like, could a gpu become bigger than a cpu?

[DrZaius]

I don't see how that could happen, the CPU and GPU are two totally different things, they have different instructions and different purposes. Even if the GPU did have the ability to do CPU instructions, it would be much to slow.

[homer15]

i don't think it would be too slow. the new nvidia cards coming out have way more transistors than any p4.

i heard a while back about nvidia and amd combining forces to come out with the nforce, which is basically a cpu-like gpu used solely for multimedia applications. if the gpu were to get bigger and bigger (because really, display is where it's all at... it's what everyone sees, except for servers), the cpu's importance would shrink and shrink. i don't think it'd go away forever, but it might get pushed aside... i'll ask my friend where he got his info and maybe post it here

[DrZaius]

Well, if the GPU where on the board and tighly integrated into the bus between the memory and CPU, then it would definately take some of the load off of the CPU for multimedia tasks, but graphics isn't everything. A beefed up GPU wouldn't be of much use in a server, for example or a data processing machine. Otherwise, GPUs as they currently are on seperate cards would not be fast enough to replace the CPU.

[homer15]

yea, i was actually referring to home use type stuff. i know servers would never be without cpus.

[DrZaius]

Actually, most gaming consoles are like that now, they have a slow CPU which is still needed, but the GPU is tighly integrated and does most of the work.

[homer15]

i've actually been thinking about this for a while. i knew gaming consoles have the slower cpu's and faster cards. i think cpu's could quite well become just another chip on a motherboard or something... everyone probably thinks i'm a crackpot.

[doctorgonzo]

I don't think the GPU will ever totally replace the CPU. The relative strength between the GPU and CPU will be different depending on the application: stronger GPUs for game consoles, stronger CPUs for servers. The world is big enough for both of them, I think.

[HAL9000]

Yea... I don't know about muscle out the CPU..... maybe try to muscle out the other GPU's in the market if anything.

[alan]

However they could conspire together so that only intel CPUs will work with nVidia GPUs or AMD and nVidia. They might not be able to muscle out CPUs but coordinated together could have some market dominance.

[DrZaius]

I think that would cause quiet an uproar in the hardware community.

[Colonel Sanders]

IF the PCU became "just another chip" we would loose AMD and Intel to see them replaced by every other company that cam make a chip(an all VIA or all nVidia MB). I don't think Intel/AMD would like that....

-Alan I think the nForce already is an AMD only chipset.

IMOHO when you compare the size of a HSF needed for a CPU or a GPU - That shows the CPU is probbably doing more work(since it is sure makeing more heat).

Logan

[mrjohnsonjr]

a computer cannot live on graphics alone.......

[Sauron]

Na it needs a sound card also! Who cares if you have the best card on earth, if you staticy sound??

[scott_d]

good point, a computer has way more to do then just graphics

[homer15]

i know a computer cannot live on graphics alone, but what i was sort of getting at is that an integration of cpu functions into a large and well designed gpu is quite possible. perhaps amd already sees this, and that's why they've tried buddying up to nvidia.

[doctorgonzo]

Originally posted by homer15 i know a computer cannot live on graphics alone, but what i was sort of getting at is that an integration of cpu functions into a large and well designed gpu is quite possible. perhaps amd already sees this, and that's why they've tried buddying up to nvidia.

I don't think there is any reason for that to happen. The CPU has certain things to do, and so it can be tuned to do those things well. A GPU has different things to do, and it is tuned to do those things well. A one-size-fits-all approach probably wouldn't make things any more efficient.

An alternative is to just slap both the GPU and CPU onto the same die. I can't think of a reason why you would want to do that, though.

[homer15]

oh yea, i asked my friend where he got his info and he acted like he didn't know what i was talking about. i could've smacked him.

[Blakhart]

Who knows what will be developed in twenty years?
On-die gpu will probly be the norm, if they are there at all. I think the trend will be to grow the chips, using nanotechnology (kinda scarey stuff, that) to build ever smaller machines/circuits.
What I have heard about the nforce chipset is that the technology was developed by nvid as there was to be an AMD xbox. Not just the Intel. They used the left over tech to develope the nforce. Uses the digital audio and the dual mem bus architecture from the xbox attempt. I like mine, but the performance is only slightly better than my 266A chipset. The audio and the game performance, wich is outstanding, sold me. There is one manufacturer who will use nforce exclusivley on AMD processors. Can't member who.
I suppose that there is no reason that nvid could not enter the cpu market, they certainly have the technology and the facilities.

[glc]

They have tried integrating the GPU into the CPU - any of you remember the Cyrix MediaGX? What a POS that was........

[TimPoet]

I like where homer15 is going. Kinda think-tanking the concepts of the true role of the CPU. I found it surprising that the GPU was actually getting so powerful it could take a big load from the CPU.
What other functions are committed to the CPU that other peripheals could take over to a degree? The sound board circuitry getting more sophisticated and powerful enough to do so?
Any others?
Come on, PCMech think-tankers, we can come up with some ideas!

*music crescendoes in background as camera pans across the United States flicking to PC Mekk members at their keyboards going, "huh?"*

[Colonel Sanders]

GLC- It was Cyrix, what could you expect?

Logan

[glc]

Hey Logan - you *do* know who owns Cyrix now, don't you?

Hint - it's 3 letters and begins with V and ends with A.

[morriswindgate]

I see NVIDIA trying to muscle in on the MOBO market and muscle out VIA and SIS instead of the CPU market. The CPU market has become so competitive that the only players with any market share in North America are Intel and AMD, with AMD losing ground over the past year. The fact is that should they try to get into the CPU market Intel (alongwith some help from AMD) would probably crush the company into bankruptcy in no time.

[TimPoet]

Think they might have contracts with Intel and AMD that would prevent them from competing with them?

But the line of thought I was encouraging is purely technological. What improvements can be done to peripherals to take more tasks off of the CPU to free it up for more speed?

[Blakhart]

I would like to see a software defined cpu. Nothing more than a highly advanced, completely programmable digital signal processor that can use any core code, risc, whatever....
One that can use any and all instruction sets, or none.
I guess that would be a like a human brain.

[homer15]

Originally posted by Blakhart I would like to see a software defined cpu. Nothing more than a highly advanced, completely programmable digital signal processor that can use any core code, risc, whatever.... One that can use any and all instruction sets, or none. I guess that would be a like a human brain.

could you imagine having to "raise" your cpu by writing your own code for its operation? i'm pretty sure mine would like me at first, but then when it malfunctions and i get mad, it'll rebel and start to hate me, and get a tattoo.

[Statica]

Originally posted by Blakhart I would like to see a software defined cpu. Nothing more than a highly advanced, completely programmable digital signal processor that can use any core code, risc, whatever.... One that can use any and all instruction sets, or none. I guess that would be a like a human brain.

Almost like the transmeta crusoe? www.transmeta.com www.transmetazone.com