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Nvidia also doesn't make the "core" (i.e. the actual chip). TSMC and Samsung make those. Nvidia designs the chip and (usually) creates a reference PCB to show h
by sigmoid10 2y ago
Nvidia also doesn't make the "core" (i.e. the actual chip). TSMC and Samsung make those. Nvidia designs the chip and (usually) creates a reference PCB to show how to make an actual working GPU using that chip you got from e.g. TSMC. Sometimes (especially in more recent years) they also sell that design as "founders" edition. But they don't sell most of their hardware directly to average consumers. Of course they also provide drivers to interface with their chips and tons of libraries for parallel computing that makes the most of their design.
Most people don't realize that Nvidia is much more of a software company than a hardware company. CUDA in particular is like 90% of the reason why they are where they are while AMD and Intel struggle to keep up.
- doix 2y agoYeah I should have said design, embarrassingly I used to work in a (fabless) semiconductor company. Totally agree with the software part. AMD usually designs something in the same ball park as Nvidia, and usually has a better price:performance ratio at many price points. But the software is just too far behind.
- automatic6131 2y agoAMDs driver software is more featureful and better than NVidia's offerings. GeForce Experience + the settings app combo was awful, the Nvidia App is just copying some homework, and integrating MSI Afterburner's freeware. But the business software stack was, yes, best in class. But it's not so for the consumer!
- knowitnone 2y agoI think they mean CUDA
- nightski 2y agoI've bought multiple founders editions cards from the nvidia store directly. Did they stop doing that recently?
- themaninthedark 2y agoIt seems that they have been tightening what they allow their partners to do, which caused EVGA to break away as they were not allowed to deviate too much from the reference design.
- sigmoid10 2y agoThat was mostly about Nvidia's pricing. It's basically impossible to compete economically with the founders editions because Nvidia doesn't charge themselves a hefty markup on the chip. That's why their own cards always sell out instantly and then the aftermarket GPU builders can fight to pick up the scraps. The whole idea of the founders edition seems to be to make a quick buck immediately after release. Long term it's much more profitable to sell the chip itself at a price that they would usually sell their entire GPU for.
- ThatMedicIsASpy 2y agoThis years founders edition is what I really want from a GPU. Stop wasting my 2nd PCIe slot because you've made it 3.5/4 slots BIG! It is insane that they are now cooling 575W with two slots in height.
- simoncion 2y agoI would suggest getting a case that has a set of inbuilt (typically vertically-oriented) expansion card slots positioned a distance away from the regular expansion card slots, mount your graphics card there, and connect it to the motherboard with a PCI-E riser cable. It's what I did and I kicked myself for not doing it years prior. I have no experience with PCI-E 5 cables, but I've a PCI-E 4 riser cable from Athena Power that works just fine (and that you can buy right now on Newegg). It doesn't have any special locking mechanism, so I was concerned that it would work its way off of the card or out of the mobo slot... but it has been in place for years now with no problem.
- brokenmachine 2y agoCan you link to an example case and riser cable?