4 ms·

New design: Switch things around and stick the CPU into a slot on the GPU.

by SanjayMehta 4y ago

probably_a_gpt 4y ago
Give it a few years
carabiner 4y ago
The GPU should be the motherboard, and everything sticks onto it.
- ungamedplayer 4y ago
  This is gpu manufacturing "wet dream" endgame
- DaiPlusPlus 4y ago
  So how would multi-GPU setups work?
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - midoridensha 4y ago
    You buy a motherboard with the number of GPUs you want on it. Or maybe they could devise some sort of stacking system, with each GPU board separate and stacked.
    - DaiPlusPlus 4y ago
      > Or maybe they could devise some sort of stacking system, with each GPU board separate and stacked. Yeah, I remember those stackable/modular computer concepts that industrial-design students loved to put in their portfolios from the late-1980s to the mid-1990s; I get the concept: component/modular PCs are kinda like the modular hi-fi systems of the 1980s, except those design students consistently failed to consider how coordinated aesthetics are the first thing to go out the window when the biz-dev people need the hardware folks to save costs or integrate with a third-party, etc. ...it feels like a rare miracle that at least we have 19-inch racks to fall-back on, but those are hardly beautiful (except the datacenter cable-porn, of course): https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroFuturism/comments/gioqrp/soviet_modular_computer_system_1986/ https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroFuturism/comments/gioqrp/sovie... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx_%28home_automation_system%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx_%28home_automation_syst...
  - rocket_surgeron 4y ago
    Multi-gpu setups for gaming are dead. Multi-gpu setups for computation could have two SKUs one "motherboard" SKU and one connectorized SKU with the connector NOT being PCIe (after a transition). They already do multi-form-factor, PCIe and OAM for AMD, PCIe and SXM for Nvidia. Just drop PCIe, have a large motherboard SKU with a CPU slot and some OAM/SXM connectors in quantities up to what a wall socket can supply in terms of wattage (so, like 1 or 2 lol). Vestigial PCIe cards can hang off the CPU card, if they're even needed. High speed networking and storage is already moving to the DPU so these big GPUs, unhindered by the PCIe form-factor, could just integrate some DPU cores like they do RT cores, and integrate high speed networking and storage controllers into the GPU. Home user? You get 1 or 2 DPU cores for NVMe and 10-gig Ethernet. Datacenter? 64 DPU cores for 100-gig and storage acceleration. Easy-peasy.
    - kuschku 4y ago
      > what a wall socket can supply in terms of wattage (so, like 1 or 2 lol). So, you expect GPUs to take 1500W of power, each? (230V @ 16A)
      - rocket_surgeron 4y ago
        No. The motherboard and then 1 or 2 expansion sockets, for a total of 3. 3 x 450W for GPU (Nvidia says 4090 draws 450W-- I think they're lying and will wait for reviews to see the truth) and 500W for rest of system. Though that might be a bit low, the 11900K has been measured at what, 300W under load? And you'd need a budget for USB-C power, multiple NVMe, fans, and whatnot. Maybe the spec would accommodate high-core-count enterprise processors so 600W+ would be wiser. Even in euroland 2KW, which is what a maxed out system would be at the wall socket, is a bit much. They don't even allow vacuum cleaners over 900W to be sold.
        kuschku 4y ago
        2kW isn't actually that much — you can buy ATX power supplies up to 3.5kW for usage in 230V countries. Often used for mining, but also useful if you want to accelerate your blender renders by just throwing multiple GPUs at the task.
LeoPanthera 4y ago
Weirdly, this is the design of the Raspberry Pi, wherein the GPU bootstraps the system and brings the CPU up. Though it is a somewhat academic distinction, since both live inside the same chip.
justsomehnguy 4y ago
Back to the roots, baby: https://www.biocomp.net/o91474.htm https://www.biocomp.net/o91474.htm
c_o_n_v_e_x 4y ago
You just re-invented COM-HPC / COM-Express... kinda.

New design: Switch things around and stick the CPU into a slot on the GPU.

probably_a_gpt 4y ago

Give it a few years

carabiner 4y ago

The GPU should be the motherboard, and everything sticks onto it.

ungamedplayer 4y ago
This is gpu manufacturing "wet dream" endgame
DaiPlusPlus 4y ago
So how would multi-GPU setups work?
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- midoridensha 4y ago
  You buy a motherboard with the number of GPUs you want on it. Or maybe they could devise some sort of stacking system, with each GPU board separate and stacked.
  - DaiPlusPlus 4y ago
    > Or maybe they could devise some sort of stacking system, with each GPU board separate and stacked. Yeah, I remember those stackable/modular computer concepts that industrial-design students loved to put in their portfolios from the late-1980s to the mid-1990s; I get the concept: component/modular PCs are kinda like the modular hi-fi systems of the 1980s, except those design students consistently failed to consider how coordinated aesthetics are the first thing to go out the window when the biz-dev people need the hardware folks to save costs or integrate with a third-party, etc. ...it feels like a rare miracle that at least we have 19-inch racks to fall-back on, but those are hardly beautiful (except the datacenter cable-porn, of course): https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroFuturism/comments/gioqrp/soviet_modular_computer_system_1986/ https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroFuturism/comments/gioqrp/sovie... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx_%28home_automation_system%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphinx_%28home_automation_syst...
- rocket_surgeron 4y ago
  Multi-gpu setups for gaming are dead. Multi-gpu setups for computation could have two SKUs one "motherboard" SKU and one connectorized SKU with the connector NOT being PCIe (after a transition). They already do multi-form-factor, PCIe and OAM for AMD, PCIe and SXM for Nvidia. Just drop PCIe, have a large motherboard SKU with a CPU slot and some OAM/SXM connectors in quantities up to what a wall socket can supply in terms of wattage (so, like 1 or 2 lol). Vestigial PCIe cards can hang off the CPU card, if they're even needed. High speed networking and storage is already moving to the DPU so these big GPUs, unhindered by the PCIe form-factor, could just integrate some DPU cores like they do RT cores, and integrate high speed networking and storage controllers into the GPU. Home user? You get 1 or 2 DPU cores for NVMe and 10-gig Ethernet. Datacenter? 64 DPU cores for 100-gig and storage acceleration. Easy-peasy.
  - kuschku 4y ago
    > what a wall socket can supply in terms of wattage (so, like 1 or 2 lol). So, you expect GPUs to take 1500W of power, each? (230V @ 16A)
    - rocket_surgeron 4y ago
      No. The motherboard and then 1 or 2 expansion sockets, for a total of 3. 3 x 450W for GPU (Nvidia says 4090 draws 450W-- I think they're lying and will wait for reviews to see the truth) and 500W for rest of system. Though that might be a bit low, the 11900K has been measured at what, 300W under load? And you'd need a budget for USB-C power, multiple NVMe, fans, and whatnot. Maybe the spec would accommodate high-core-count enterprise processors so 600W+ would be wiser. Even in euroland 2KW, which is what a maxed out system would be at the wall socket, is a bit much. They don't even allow vacuum cleaners over 900W to be sold.
      - kuschku 4y ago
        2kW isn't actually that much — you can buy ATX power supplies up to 3.5kW for usage in 230V countries. Often used for mining, but also useful if you want to accelerate your blender renders by just throwing multiple GPUs at the task.

LeoPanthera 4y ago

Weirdly, this is the design of the Raspberry Pi, wherein the GPU bootstraps the system and brings the CPU up. Though it is a somewhat academic distinction, since both live inside the same chip.

justsomehnguy 4y ago

Back to the roots, baby: https://www.biocomp.net/o91474.htm https://www.biocomp.net/o91474.htm

c_o_n_v_e_x 4y ago

You just re-invented COM-HPC / COM-Express... kinda.