Combo CPU/GPU Evolution?

[clue69less]

So the suspicions/rumors of AMD/ATI making a mobile CPU/GPU combo look to be real:

http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/10/25/amd_announces_fusion_processor/

I'm wondering how this tech might evolve in the future. For sure, we'll see better performance in smaller devices like smart phones, but what else will benefit? I'm thinking about the rush for more cores and how the two areas might grow together. For sure, low power consumption systems could result.

 

[chameleon101]

There are a few thing's that require some attention in this field,

The cpu will only have DDR2 support but will the gpu use the same ram or will it intergrate a seperate memory system, i cant see DDR3 ram becoming a standard in the near future and when it is finally released will cost and absolute fortune, it's easy to say they are combining a cpu and gpu but this requires a whole new way of looking at thing's, board design etc, does anyone have any info on how this will come together?

 

[Pippero]

Hmm, i also wonder where this may lead...
Having a high performance CPU and GPU on a single die is probably difficult to manufacture and costly, not to mention the power requirements and thermal issues, plus the need to find some kind of high performance / low latency memory at least for the frame buffer.
Such an integration would make sense for having a high performance general purpose vector processing unit, that could be reused as shaders for videogames, physics processing, scientific calculations, etc.
I could imagine still having separate CPU and videocard, but with part of the logic of the videocard shifted inside the CPU (a kind of back-end FP engine) and the rasterization / pixel processing / frame- and Z-buffer onto the videocard, equipped with some kind of high performance memory, and connected with the CPU through coherent hypertransport.
But this is science fiction
I guess instead the integration will bring to low power system-on-a-chip devices to be used for set-top boxes, ultra portable PCs, HTPC and the likes.
Heck, AMD could even become a major player in the development of a possible next generation game console...

 

[Doughbuy]

I doubt these CPU/GPU's will be very high end, at most, they would be an answer to Intel's integrated video and such. But I still think Intel's solution is better with the integrated graphics on the chipset itself rather than on the CPU die...

Getting ATI/AMD solution would require you to get a mobo that supports the processor and then the processor itself. But say you want to upgrade graphics later on in life, how do you do that? Start disabling cores? I doubt it will let both the integrated GPU and the new GPU card do the work... kind of killing it for expandability.

Intel's only require's the mobo and CPU, with optional graphics later... which also means a more powerful CPU since half of it wouldn't be dedicated towards graphics.

However, cellphone wise, MP3's, and other consumer electronics would benefit greatly. Then it would be a very viable oppurtunity. Guess we have to wait and see.

 

[Dade_0182]

This is turning out to be an AMD tradition. Say what you are going to make and let everyone ponder about it. Just like K8L we won't know how good this will be till it's out. A long wait it will be.

 

[sillywabbit]

"To finance the cash portion, AMD has acquired a $2.5 billion loan from Morgan Stanley."

Will have to look and see if any of the analysts at Morgan Stanley have recently(pre-acquisition) upgraded AMD

 

[sillywabbit]

"To finance the cash portion, AMD has acquired a $2.5 billion loan from Morgan Stanley."

Will have to look and see if any of the analysts at Morgan Stanley have recently(pre-acquisition) upgraded AMD

 

[piesquared]

Getting ATI/AMD solution would require you to get a mobo that supports the processor and then the processor itself. But say you want to upgrade graphics later on in life, how do you do that? Start disabling cores? I doubt it will let both the integrated GPU and the new GPU card do the work... kind of killing it for expandability.

I agree it would kill expandability using that senario. But i think the evolution of the motherboard needs to be considered. And i think AMD's new platform initiative and innovation is going to take the industry in a new direction.

 

[TSIMonster]

You know, this is the first time in a long time that technology has been excited.. so much new stuff going on right now. Its amazing...

 

[clue69less]

You know, this is the first time in a long time that technology has been excited.. so much new stuff going on right now. Its amazing...

Yea, like a kid riding a bull in a candy store full of china.

 

[Doughbuy]

Heh, it really is a good and bad time to get back into computers. So much going on that we're constantly on the edge of our seats waiting for whats next, but so much going on that buying now guarantees your stuff will suck in a couple of months (Figuratively speaking, but to us its true). I want a computer 1Q next year, but then I'm missing out on all the new revisions in the Bearlake chipset, 45nm production, native quad-core yadda yadda yadda. I wait that long, then we're looking at even more core's, better graphics performance... ugh.

Too much thinking.