NVIDIA's Fermi: Architected for Tesla, 3 Billion Transistors in 2010
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 30, 2009 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
Today's launch is strange. I tried to convince NVIDIA to release more information about Fermi but was met with staunch resistance from the company. NVIDIA claims that by pre-announcing Fermi's performance levels it would seriously hurt its existing business. It's up to you whether or not you want to believe that.
Last quarter the Tesla business unit made $10M. That's not a whole lot of money for a company that, at its peak, grossed $1B in a single quarter. NVIDIA believes that Fermi is when that will all change. To borrow a horrendously overused phrase, Fermi is the inflection point for NVIDIA's Tesla sales.
By adding support for ECC, enabling C++ and easier Visual Studio integration, NVIDIA believes that Fermi will open its Tesla business up to a group of clients that would previously not so much as speak to NVIDIA. ECC is the killer feature there.
While the bulk of NVIDIA's revenue today comes from 3D graphics, NVIDIA believes that Tegra (mobile) and Tesla are the future growth segments for the company. This hints at a very troubling future for GPU makers - are we soon approaching the Atom-ization of graphics cards?
Will 2010 be the beginning of good enough performance in PC games? Display resolutions have pretty much stagnated, PC games are first developed on consoles which have inferior hardware and thus don't have as high the GPU requirements. The fact that NVIDIA is looking to Tegra and Tesla to grow the company is very telling. Then again, perhaps a brand new approach to graphics is what we'll need for the re-invigoration of PC game development. Larrabee.
If the TAM for GPUs in HPC is so big, why did NVIDIA only make $10M last quarter? If you ask NVIDIA it has to do with focus and sales.
According to NVIDIA, over the past couple of years NVIDIA's Tesla sales efforts have been scattered. The focus was on selling to any customers that could potentially see a speedup, trying to gain some traction for the Tesla business.
Jen-Hsun did some yelling and now NVIDIA is a bit more focused in that department. If Tesla revenues increase linearly from this point, that's simply not going to be enough. I asked NVIDIA if exponential growth for Tesla was in the cards and if so, when would it happen. The answer was yes and with Fermi.
We'll see how that plays out, but if Fermi doesn't significantly increase Tesla revenues then we know that NVIDIA is in serious trouble.
The architecture looks good, Fermi just needs to be priced right. Oh and the chip needs to hurry up and come out.
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SiliconDoc - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Nice consolation speech.I guess you expected " you're right ", but somehow lying to make you feel good is not in my playbook.
Now, next time you don't take it so seriously as to reply, and then still, be pathetic enough to get it wrong. Hows that for a fun deal ?
Maian - Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - link
Where's snakeoil when you need him... I don't give a shit about vendor, but the flame wars here are hilarious :DLifted - Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - link
What flame war? It's just a single nut barking at everyone for no reason. If he has a problem with the article he's sure making it difficult to figure out what it is with all his carrying on and red rooster nonsense.Does anyone (besides the nut) actually care what is said in this article? It's simply something to pass the time with, and certainly not worth getting upset over. Is the nut part of the nvidia marketing machine or merely a troll? It almost seems as if he's writing in a manner as to cover up his true identity. Yes silicondoc, it IS that obvious.
SiliconDoc - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Wow, a conspiracist.Well, for your edification, you didn't score any points, since the readers here get all uppity about what's in the articles, so they have shown a propensity to care, even if you're just here to pass the time, or lie your yapper off for the convenient line it provides you for this momment.
Usually, the last stab of the sinking pirate goes something it like: " It doesn't matter !"
Then Davey Jones proves to 'em it does.
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Nice try, but the worst problem for you is, it matters so much to you, you think I'm not me. NOW THAT's FUNNY !
ahhahahahaaha
ClownPuncher - Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - link
Aspbergers.Kaleid - Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - link
No, most people with Asperger's are highly functional. This is something else.Finally - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
It's Rain Man?tamalero - Friday, October 2, 2009 - link
its assburgers, google it.redpriest_ - Wednesday, September 30, 2009 - link
I can't help but note for the record that um, the card isn't out yet, so how can they win when no one knows when you can actually buy one yet? And for the record, I have a 5870 in my system, right now, that can play games....right now. I went to a retail store and bought it. That's how simple it was. I know you've been posting tons of FUD in the other review forums about how it's unavailable etc etc but the fact is, it IS available, and multiple people can own one.Also, let me state for the record that I have owned nvidia GPUs in the past so that I'm vendor agnostic. I buy whatever solution is available and better. KEY POINTS: AVAILABLE. BETTER.
SiliconDoc - Thursday, October 1, 2009 - link
Here's how they can win, here the NVidia master holds FERMI up for all to see !http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15762/1/">http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/15762/1/
Aww, dat too bad for the wittle wed woosters. It really is real, little red lying hoods.