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Do you see Nvidia offering ARM based CPUs in the near future? And maybe a complete unit with a CPU and dGPU along with unified memory?

by N1H1L 6y ago

core-questions 6y ago
That has to be the shot, right? Why else would they have bought ARM? Imagine this: stick an M1-like CPU and GPU combo on a PCIe card. Run the games entirely on the card, using the host system as merely a way to provide data to the card. In one shot, you murder the AMD and Intel processor market - everyone can just buy the cheapest model and still play games, saving their money for the unified GPU/CPU board. It also paves the way for eGPU products for laptops becoming more mainstream, and could work towards a play for the Shield to become a console competitor (if cannibalizing their existing console business is worth it to them).
- N1H1L 6y ago
  Yeah - seeing the ascendance of ARM in recent years Nvidia entering the processor market seems a very logical step. In fact Jensen Huang himself hasn't ruled out the possibility. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/jensen-huang-hints-at-nvidia-branded-arm-cpus https://www.tomshardware.com/news/jensen-huang-hints-at-nvid...
- XMPPwocky 6y ago
  Aren't you just suggesting "big Tegra"? If the host PC isn't providing anything but maybe storage and networking...why not just buy a console?
  - mr_toad 6y ago
    A console with upgradable CPU/GPU.
    - XMPPwocky 6y ago
      So they'd have to be socketed? That means no HBM, which seems unfortunate. (If you mean just replacing the entire card... why not replace the entire console? All you'd be getting from the host system would be power (probably as 12V, so you need several DC/DC converters on the card), storage, and networking - besides storage, all of these are commodities; and for storage, existing consoles already support swapping drives out just fine.)
athms 6y ago
Nvidia has been offering ARM SoCs since 2008.
sally1620 6y ago
NVIDIA has multiple generations of ARM SoCs. All of them are focused on GPU performance, though. Also NVIDIA quit the mobile market a while ago. They are focused on Autonomous driving and embedded market. The only consumer product on the market with NVIDIA SoC is Nintendo Switch (which sells millions)

Do you see Nvidia offering ARM based CPUs in the near future? And maybe a complete unit with a CPU and dGPU along with unified memory?

by N1H1L 6y ago

Do you see Nvidia offering ARM based CPUs in the near future? And maybe a complete unit with a CPU and dGPU along with unified memory?

core-questions 6y ago

That has to be the shot, right? Why else would they have bought ARM? Imagine this: stick an M1-like CPU and GPU combo on a PCIe card. Run the games entirely on the card, using the host system as merely a way to provide data to the card. In one shot, you murder the AMD and Intel processor market - everyone can just buy the cheapest model and still play games, saving their money for the unified GPU/CPU board. It also paves the way for eGPU products for laptops becoming more mainstream, and could work towards a play for the Shield to become a console competitor (if cannibalizing their existing console business is worth it to them).

N1H1L 6y ago
Yeah - seeing the ascendance of ARM in recent years Nvidia entering the processor market seems a very logical step. In fact Jensen Huang himself hasn't ruled out the possibility. https://www.tomshardware.com/news/jensen-huang-hints-at-nvidia-branded-arm-cpus https://www.tomshardware.com/news/jensen-huang-hints-at-nvid...
XMPPwocky 6y ago
Aren't you just suggesting "big Tegra"? If the host PC isn't providing anything but maybe storage and networking...why not just buy a console?
- mr_toad 6y ago
  A console with upgradable CPU/GPU.
  - XMPPwocky 6y ago
    So they'd have to be socketed? That means no HBM, which seems unfortunate. (If you mean just replacing the entire card... why not replace the entire console? All you'd be getting from the host system would be power (probably as 12V, so you need several DC/DC converters on the card), storage, and networking - besides storage, all of these are commodities; and for storage, existing consoles already support swapping drives out just fine.)

athms 6y ago

Nvidia has been offering ARM SoCs since 2008.

sally1620 6y ago

NVIDIA has multiple generations of ARM SoCs. All of them are focused on GPU performance, though. Also NVIDIA quit the mobile market a while ago. They are focused on Autonomous driving and embedded market. The only consumer product on the market with NVIDIA SoC is Nintendo Switch (which sells millions)