Nvidia Gives a Glimpse on Next-Generation “Fermi” Graphics Processors

From X-bit Labs: Nvidia Corp. on Wednesday officially disclosed the first details about its next-generation graphics processor, which was previously known as G300, GT300 or NV60 code-names. Apparently, the new family of chips is called Fermi and it is architected to provide rather massive computing power in general-purpose applications. Unfortunately, the company did not say when its next-generation graphics chips hit the market.

“It is completely clear that GPUs are now general purpose parallel computing processors with amazing graphics, and not just graphics chips anymore. The Fermi architecture, the integrated tools, libraries and engines are the direct results of the insights we have gained from working with thousands of CUDA developers around the world. We will look back in the coming years and see that Fermi started the new GPU industry,” said Jen-Hsun Huang, the chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp.

The flagship Fermi graphics processor will feature 512 stream processing engines (which are organized as 16 streaming multi-processors with 32 cores in each) that support a type of multi-threading technology to maximize utilization of cores. Each stream processor has a fully pipelined integer arithmetic logic unit (ALU) and floating point unit (FPU). The top-of-the-range chip contains 3 billion of transistors, features 384-bit memory GDDR5 memory controller with ECC and features rather unprecedented 768KB unified level-two cache as well as rather complex cache hierarchy in general. Naturally, the Fermi family is compatible with DirectX 11, OpenGL 3.x and OpenCL 1.x application programming interfaces (APIs). The new chips will be made using 40nm process technology at TSMC.

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