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I'm surprised they don't make lossy GPUs that have a few defects among the obscene amount of transistors. Consumer graphics you wouldn't know the difference.

by crb002 8y ago

exikyut 8y ago
Interesting idea. I assume you mean that each GPU gets a variable number of execution units, as opposed to code randomly failing depending on the core it gets run on. You've just helped me realize that AMD and Nvidia overproduce every GPU and kill off the execution cores that don't work to reach the final fixed number (and that all GPUs probably have a few tens to hundreds of working cores that will never ever be used). Unfortunately I don't think such variation would work, from a market standpoint: actually exposing the lossiness rating would devalue you as a manufacturer, solely because of the fact that the media would pounce on it like crazy, and even though said media would simply report what's there without putting malice in anyone's mouth, the fuss would mean naive users would go "wat", collectively conclude "well the number is smaller", interpret that to mean "vague less-iness", and bam, people don't think your product is as good. Despite the fact that, for all intents and purposes (read: not mining), you are 100% right.
- theandrewbailey 8y ago
  > You've just helped me realize that AMD and Nvidia overproduce every GPU and kill off the execution cores that don't work to reach the final fixed number (and that all GPUs probably have a few tens to hundreds of working cores that will never ever be used). That's basically the idea, but it's usually scaled down. A single GPU generation is essentially one chip design. If a single die has a defect in a particular unit, its turned/soldered off at the factory and sold as a lower end chip. Repeat until you have a chip that works. If you have a die where everything works, clock it up as much as you can, and ask a king's ransom for it. The best exception is the PS3 "Cell" CPU.[0] It had an extra 'sacrificial' processing core. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(microprocessor)#Commercialization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(microprocessor)#Commerci...
david-gpu 8y ago
Lossy compression is widely used for textures. Low-precision data formats are also very commonly used for other data. Etc.
theandrewbailey 8y ago
No one does, for the same reason that no one makes a 'lossy' CPU.

I'm surprised they don't make lossy GPUs that have a few defects among the obscene amount of transistors. Consumer graphics you wouldn't know the difference.

by crb002 8y ago

I'm surprised they don't make lossy GPUs that have a few defects among the obscene amount of transistors. Consumer graphics you wouldn't know the difference.

exikyut 8y ago

Interesting idea. I assume you mean that each GPU gets a variable number of execution units, as opposed to code randomly failing depending on the core it gets run on. You've just helped me realize that AMD and Nvidia overproduce every GPU and kill off the execution cores that don't work to reach the final fixed number (and that all GPUs probably have a few tens to hundreds of working cores that will never ever be used). Unfortunately I don't think such variation would work, from a market standpoint: actually exposing the lossiness rating would devalue you as a manufacturer, solely because of the fact that the media would pounce on it like crazy, and even though said media would simply report what's there without putting malice in anyone's mouth, the fuss would mean naive users would go "wat", collectively conclude "well the number is smaller", interpret that to mean "vague less-iness", and bam, people don't think your product is as good. Despite the fact that, for all intents and purposes (read: not mining), you are 100% right.

theandrewbailey 8y ago
> You've just helped me realize that AMD and Nvidia overproduce every GPU and kill off the execution cores that don't work to reach the final fixed number (and that all GPUs probably have a few tens to hundreds of working cores that will never ever be used). That's basically the idea, but it's usually scaled down. A single GPU generation is essentially one chip design. If a single die has a defect in a particular unit, its turned/soldered off at the factory and sold as a lower end chip. Repeat until you have a chip that works. If you have a die where everything works, clock it up as much as you can, and ask a king's ransom for it. The best exception is the PS3 "Cell" CPU.[0] It had an extra 'sacrificial' processing core. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(microprocessor)#Commercialization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(microprocessor)#Commerci...

david-gpu 8y ago

Lossy compression is widely used for textures. Low-precision data formats are also very commonly used for other data. Etc.

theandrewbailey 8y ago

No one does, for the same reason that no one makes a 'lossy' CPU.