I think you are confusing x86 with Intel. Nvidia chips have worked with AMD, Cyrix, and VIA x86 processors since the start. PowerPC chip support has also been around for a while due to gaming platforms and Apple's old G series workstations. The main issues that kept ARM chips from working were just a lack of PCIe and perhaps the same endian issue as powerPC, but the first was easy enough to avoid by including PCIe in the chip design and the second was already solved for the powerPC chips.
Nobody uses ARM for HPC yet though, at most they have a slave ARM setup for controlling custom ASIC chips.
I think what he means is x86 won't be serving the tesla's soon. They will be Denver's or Boulders etc. An all NV solution so to speak, no AMD or Intel feeding the gpus. That should add some to tegra sales in whatever form they use to feed their gpus. Whatever cuts out Intel is good business as far as NV is concerned and ARM is the way they're going to do it. Gaming and servers first, apps later once ARM64 boxes show up with 500-1000w PSU's and of course NV discrete cards, SSD+HD, 32GB etc etc (everything you get in a powerful pc box today). NVlink in there to replace hypertransport/infiniband etc. Make no mistake NV wants Intel dead as revenge for killing their chipset business (+ lawsuit over other stuff etc, no love between them).
Building great gaming on the ARM side is the first salvo, feeding servers with their own socs in the 2nd, and Boulder itself will come at some point for server assault. After that it's apps over on ARM for the final piece of the puzzle. I'm talking the Adobe Suite etc type stuff so you can at some point REPLACE WINTEL completely without users feeling pain of missing apps or gaming. It's a 5-15yr plan (longer? who knows) and Jen is willing to wait it seems rather than sell out for a quick buck to Intel. Intel's best defense against ARM is buying Nvidia (immediate best gpus, top end SOC, Boulder coming, software modem to complement their own hardware modem so versatility for OEM's etc), but it seems Jen has no plans to take the easy way to a few billion more in wealth today. Why should he, he may end up with 10-20B in 5-15yrs and cause real damage to his mortal enemy Intel. Maybe Intel hasn't offered enough if there is such a price. You'd think Intel would just offer a $2-3B personal check + 22B for the company but if they don't get it done soon it may get too expensive for them.
MS can do the same and would fit nicely since they bought nokia and are pushing surface etc. Heck they could put out their own ARM pc's then also. If you can't beat them (and MS can't at this point, android too big to fail), join them and beat Qcom to death with your $22B a year vs. their $6.5B. They could R&D the heck out of Nvidia's stuff and destroy Qcom's socs in a few years probably and become dominant in phones/tablets at least. Their next xbox would be all NV then also, and surely that saves cash. There's a lot Intel or MS can do with NV that they can't now without them. Jen Hsun might accept a job as VP of Hardware or something at MS, but he apparently wants CEO job if Intel is involved. Interesting times ahead as ARM/OpenGL/Valve/Google help to take WINTEL down a few notches (at least) if they don't buy NV first. A triboot of say linux, steamos, android could already eliminate a need for a WINTEL box for a lot of people today. You just need the 64bit versions and a PC like box to get here and many would not have a need for WINTEL/DirectX. Consider most people game, get email and browse the web and you get the point. There is a percentage of course that depends on pro apps etc on Wintel but you don't need to steal the entire pie to cause serious damage to Wintel's revenues/income. Chromebooks already stole 22% of all notebooks. That didn't take long. A 500w discrete gpu ARM box can steal a ton of desktops no doubt also (box like described above, a PC without Wintel in it at all).
Though I also think that nvidia has creted a path to continue living without being x86 dependent, I also think that that path is not that really easy to follow. Under the point of ARM cores, performance advantages possible with custom designs are limited (see Qualcomm). What nvidia can make difference is in the GPU part of the SoC. However high end, super power, full featured SoCs are just a small piece of the entire potential ARM market. All the other part of the market is domiated by cheap SoC where you do not really get much of incomes and you are very keen to high competitions. nvidia hope is that ARM with enter HPC server market and possibly desktop one. While for the first creating good, high performance, low power HW is all that is needed, for the second unfortunately you also 3rd parties application support. And it is here that problems araise. Until SHes do not create their killer applications also for markets outside Windows, Wintel monopoly cannot be distrupted. I'm the first ones that would really like to abandon Windows and MS, but looking at what is available outside Windows under the point of view of professional SW, there's nothing.
We’ve updated our terms. By continuing to use the site and/or by logging into your account, you agree to the Site’s updated Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
6 Comments
Back to Article
mmrezaie - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
awesome. I think these babies are going to do a lot of deep learning!p1esk - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
How is this announcement relevant to deep learning?ArthurG - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Very good job Nvidia. They support now all the major HPC ecosystems and they will get ride off soon of intel dependency.basroil - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I think you are confusing x86 with Intel. Nvidia chips have worked with AMD, Cyrix, and VIA x86 processors since the start. PowerPC chip support has also been around for a while due to gaming platforms and Apple's old G series workstations. The main issues that kept ARM chips from working were just a lack of PCIe and perhaps the same endian issue as powerPC, but the first was easy enough to avoid by including PCIe in the chip design and the second was already solved for the powerPC chips.Nobody uses ARM for HPC yet though, at most they have a slave ARM setup for controlling custom ASIC chips.
TheJian - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I think what he means is x86 won't be serving the tesla's soon. They will be Denver's or Boulders etc. An all NV solution so to speak, no AMD or Intel feeding the gpus. That should add some to tegra sales in whatever form they use to feed their gpus. Whatever cuts out Intel is good business as far as NV is concerned and ARM is the way they're going to do it. Gaming and servers first, apps later once ARM64 boxes show up with 500-1000w PSU's and of course NV discrete cards, SSD+HD, 32GB etc etc (everything you get in a powerful pc box today). NVlink in there to replace hypertransport/infiniband etc. Make no mistake NV wants Intel dead as revenge for killing their chipset business (+ lawsuit over other stuff etc, no love between them).Building great gaming on the ARM side is the first salvo, feeding servers with their own socs in the 2nd, and Boulder itself will come at some point for server assault. After that it's apps over on ARM for the final piece of the puzzle. I'm talking the Adobe Suite etc type stuff so you can at some point REPLACE WINTEL completely without users feeling pain of missing apps or gaming. It's a 5-15yr plan (longer? who knows) and Jen is willing to wait it seems rather than sell out for a quick buck to Intel. Intel's best defense against ARM is buying Nvidia (immediate best gpus, top end SOC, Boulder coming, software modem to complement their own hardware modem so versatility for OEM's etc), but it seems Jen has no plans to take the easy way to a few billion more in wealth today. Why should he, he may end up with 10-20B in 5-15yrs and cause real damage to his mortal enemy Intel. Maybe Intel hasn't offered enough if there is such a price. You'd think Intel would just offer a $2-3B personal check + 22B for the company but if they don't get it done soon it may get too expensive for them.
MS can do the same and would fit nicely since they bought nokia and are pushing surface etc. Heck they could put out their own ARM pc's then also. If you can't beat them (and MS can't at this point, android too big to fail), join them and beat Qcom to death with your $22B a year vs. their $6.5B. They could R&D the heck out of Nvidia's stuff and destroy Qcom's socs in a few years probably and become dominant in phones/tablets at least. Their next xbox would be all NV then also, and surely that saves cash. There's a lot Intel or MS can do with NV that they can't now without them. Jen Hsun might accept a job as VP of Hardware or something at MS, but he apparently wants CEO job if Intel is involved. Interesting times ahead as ARM/OpenGL/Valve/Google help to take WINTEL down a few notches (at least) if they don't buy NV first. A triboot of say linux, steamos, android could already eliminate a need for a WINTEL box for a lot of people today. You just need the 64bit versions and a PC like box to get here and many would not have a need for WINTEL/DirectX. Consider most people game, get email and browse the web and you get the point. There is a percentage of course that depends on pro apps etc on Wintel but you don't need to steal the entire pie to cause serious damage to Wintel's revenues/income. Chromebooks already stole 22% of all notebooks. That didn't take long. A 500w discrete gpu ARM box can steal a ton of desktops no doubt also (box like described above, a PC without Wintel in it at all).
CiccioB - Friday, June 27, 2014 - link
Though I also think that nvidia has creted a path to continue living without being x86 dependent, I also think that that path is not that really easy to follow.Under the point of ARM cores, performance advantages possible with custom designs are limited (see Qualcomm). What nvidia can make difference is in the GPU part of the SoC. However high end, super power, full featured SoCs are just a small piece of the entire potential ARM market.
All the other part of the market is domiated by cheap SoC where you do not really get much of incomes and you are very keen to high competitions.
nvidia hope is that ARM with enter HPC server market and possibly desktop one.
While for the first creating good, high performance, low power HW is all that is needed, for the second unfortunately you also 3rd parties application support. And it is here that problems araise.
Until SHes do not create their killer applications also for markets outside Windows, Wintel monopoly cannot be distrupted. I'm the first ones that would really like to abandon Windows and MS, but looking at what is available outside Windows under the point of view of professional SW, there's nothing.