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I think the RISC-V cores they're putting on their chips are more for management than as application processors. If they didn't use RISC-V there, it'd probably r

I think the RISC-V cores they're putting on their chips are more for management than as application processors. If they didn't use RISC-V there, it'd probably run one of their own ISAs rather than ARM.

phkahler 10y ago
It is for management, but it is also replacing the one they had with their own ISA. One of the slides also indicated a desire for "Rich OS support" - see the third slide: https://riscv.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Tue1100_Nvidia_RISCV_Story_V2.pdf https://riscv.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Tue1100_Nvidia_... I keep thinking their future may eventually be Tegra with Risc-V replacing ARM.
- kogepathic 10y ago
  > I keep thinking their future may eventually be Tegra with Risc-V replacing ARM. Why? RISC-V doesn't have nearly the acceptance that ARM does, and they already get ARM for minimal cost (e.g. licensing fees). No one is forcing NVidia to design their own cores that conform to the ARM ISA (as Project Denver [0] was rumoured to be NVidia's take at x86 re-purposed for ARM after they were refused an x86_64 license). So if they just want to slap their GPU onto a reference ARM design and sell it, they'll be like a bunch of other ARM players (Hisilicon, Amlogic, <insert not Apple/Samsung/Qualcomm chip maker here>). The only reason I can see for including RISC-V in their GPU is that they'll get it for free, and they can modify it to their hearts content without having to tell anyone about it due to RISC-V BSD style license. This is about NVidia locking down their platform more, through proprietary modifications to RISC-V, than it is about anything else. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Denver https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Denver
  - phkahler 10y ago
    Sometimes I live in fantasy land. Imagine the Android Runtime is ported to RISC-V in the next year or two - IIRC it uses LLVM which is already there. Go is expected to make it in 2017 - Google likes riscv a lot but hasn't said much about what they want to use it for. I would not be surprised, but neither would I hold my breath.

phkahler 10y ago

It is for management, but it is also replacing the one they had with their own ISA. One of the slides also indicated a desire for "Rich OS support" - see the third slide: https://riscv.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Tue1100_Nvidia_RISCV_Story_V2.pdf https://riscv.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Tue1100_Nvidia_... I keep thinking their future may eventually be Tegra with Risc-V replacing ARM.

kogepathic 10y ago
> I keep thinking their future may eventually be Tegra with Risc-V replacing ARM. Why? RISC-V doesn't have nearly the acceptance that ARM does, and they already get ARM for minimal cost (e.g. licensing fees). No one is forcing NVidia to design their own cores that conform to the ARM ISA (as Project Denver [0] was rumoured to be NVidia's take at x86 re-purposed for ARM after they were refused an x86_64 license). So if they just want to slap their GPU onto a reference ARM design and sell it, they'll be like a bunch of other ARM players (Hisilicon, Amlogic, <insert not Apple/Samsung/Qualcomm chip maker here>). The only reason I can see for including RISC-V in their GPU is that they'll get it for free, and they can modify it to their hearts content without having to tell anyone about it due to RISC-V BSD style license. This is about NVidia locking down their platform more, through proprietary modifications to RISC-V, than it is about anything else. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Denver https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Denver
- phkahler 10y ago
  Sometimes I live in fantasy land. Imagine the Android Runtime is ported to RISC-V in the next year or two - IIRC it uses LLVM which is already there. Go is expected to make it in 2017 - Google likes riscv a lot but hasn't said much about what they want to use it for. I would not be surprised, but neither would I hold my breath.