4 ms·

>the end of Dennard Scaling around 2006 has meant that the rate of increase in performance has slowed even as Moore’s Law has continued. This is why parallel c

>the end of Dennard Scaling around 2006 has meant that the rate of increase in performance has slowed even as Moore’s Law has continued. This is why parallel compute (multi core/GPUs) has taken off since 2006 - heat puts a cap on clock speed, so the only option is to do more operations per cycle. Even some microcontrollers are dual-core now. I don't see this trend stopping. Massive parallelism is the future of computing.

arein3 3y ago
We need moore's nvidia law. Price increases 50% every 2 years
- sigmoid10 3y ago
  That's just what monopolies get you. If they had serious competitors, they couldn't charge a 1000% markup.
  - p1necone 3y ago
    Intel's ARC gpu's keep improving with driver updates, if they ship another generation I can see them eventually properly disrupting the current duopoly.
    - sigmoid10 3y ago
      ARC is still very far away from even the lower end of what Nvidia offers. And on the enterprise side Intel is also well behind with their Gaudi chips. I'd love cheaper GPUs as much as everyone, but I don't see anyone who would could be considered a threat to Nvidia's position over the next years.
      - p1necone 3y ago
        "very far away" isn't accurate - the A770 is pretty close to a 4060 - perfectly adequate for 1080p/1440p 60fps gaming on high settings in modern titles.
nuc1e0n 3y ago
There are limits to how much programs can be parallelized, see Amdahl's law. Even if Moore's law technically continues, the extra capacity isn't adding the same amount of extra value to the workflow of end users that it once did. Here's a video that talks about diminishing returns as it relates to graphics in computer games https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VUCYAws6oW0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VUCYAws6oW0. Diminishing returns in regards to polygon counts themselves have also been discussed: https://www.polygon.com/2013/12/10/5192058/opinion-stop-dwelling-on-graphics-and-embrace-procedural-generation https://www.polygon.com/2013/12/10/5192058/opinion-stop-dwel... Also, even if Moore's law remains in place for now, it will end at some point and the world needs to think about what happens afterward.
- winwang 3y ago
  Note that Amdahl's law doesn't apply if you change the entire algorithm (program) to fit better on parallel hardware (i.e. the task is not fixed). From my dealings with parallel algorithms, there is much less sequential dependency than I think most people expect.
  - nuc1e0n 3y ago
    What day to day problems do people have that require parallel processing to solve anyway? Sure graphics and neural networks, but is having a neural network the end problem that needs solving? Maybe I'm just a grumpy old programmer but I believe the human mind is specialised to think in terms of serial solutions. I think that's no accident as race conditions and other synchronization issues are difficult to avoid in parallel algorithms. That may be a fundamental property of processing in general, even for algorithms some AI may come up with, which remains mostly fictional at this point.
    - winwang 3y ago
      Compilation comes to mind. Efficient distributed compute also usually prefers vertical scaling (i.e. more cores per node).
    - Legend2440 3y ago

arein3 3y ago

We need moore's nvidia law. Price increases 50% every 2 years

sigmoid10 3y ago
That's just what monopolies get you. If they had serious competitors, they couldn't charge a 1000% markup.
- p1necone 3y ago
  Intel's ARC gpu's keep improving with driver updates, if they ship another generation I can see them eventually properly disrupting the current duopoly.
  - sigmoid10 3y ago
    ARC is still very far away from even the lower end of what Nvidia offers. And on the enterprise side Intel is also well behind with their Gaudi chips. I'd love cheaper GPUs as much as everyone, but I don't see anyone who would could be considered a threat to Nvidia's position over the next years.
    - p1necone 3y ago
      "very far away" isn't accurate - the A770 is pretty close to a 4060 - perfectly adequate for 1080p/1440p 60fps gaming on high settings in modern titles.

nuc1e0n 3y ago

There are limits to how much programs can be parallelized, see Amdahl's law. Even if Moore's law technically continues, the extra capacity isn't adding the same amount of extra value to the workflow of end users that it once did. Here's a video that talks about diminishing returns as it relates to graphics in computer games https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VUCYAws6oW0 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VUCYAws6oW0. Diminishing returns in regards to polygon counts themselves have also been discussed: https://www.polygon.com/2013/12/10/5192058/opinion-stop-dwelling-on-graphics-and-embrace-procedural-generation https://www.polygon.com/2013/12/10/5192058/opinion-stop-dwel... Also, even if Moore's law remains in place for now, it will end at some point and the world needs to think about what happens afterward.

winwang 3y ago
Note that Amdahl's law doesn't apply if you change the entire algorithm (program) to fit better on parallel hardware (i.e. the task is not fixed). From my dealings with parallel algorithms, there is much less sequential dependency than I think most people expect.
- nuc1e0n 3y ago
  What day to day problems do people have that require parallel processing to solve anyway? Sure graphics and neural networks, but is having a neural network the end problem that needs solving? Maybe I'm just a grumpy old programmer but I believe the human mind is specialised to think in terms of serial solutions. I think that's no accident as race conditions and other synchronization issues are difficult to avoid in parallel algorithms. That may be a fundamental property of processing in general, even for algorithms some AI may come up with, which remains mostly fictional at this point.
  - winwang 3y ago
    Compilation comes to mind. Efficient distributed compute also usually prefers vertical scaling (i.e. more cores per node).
  - Legend2440 3y ago