3 ms·
I wonder if FPGAs could be a node too. That would allow us to mix programmable, highly parallel analog modeled acceleration onto the same high speed / direct c
by sixdimensional 8y ago
I wonder if FPGAs could be a node too. That would allow us to mix programmable, highly parallel analog modeled acceleration onto the same high speed / direct connect bus as all the other fixed, traditional computing components. I really like the approach AMD is suggesting here, treating it like nodes on a network.
- greglindahl 8y agoYou've been able to buy FPGAs tightly coupled with AMD CPUs since 2006 or so. The tech back then was to either plug them into an HTX Hypertransport slot, or in a cpu socket. Very few customers actually wanted to buy these things and I think all of the makers lost money.
- daveguy 8y agoThey definitely are missing an application that probably won't be coming until specialized chip designs are a commodity (eg agi+). Right now you can get specialized chips for much less than the cost of the programmable chip + custom design. Once a company identifies a kick-ass fpga design (and it has any decent market) they move to asic to drive down costs. I guess if fpga costs were as low as an asic it would be viable as you could change the application depending on current needs. But currently fpga chips are 10-100x the cost of asics.
- st26 8y agoHypothetically, yes. But FPGA's are very area-hungry; a big powerful one isn't going to fit nicely into a modestly sized package along with lots of other chips.