Nvidia showcases next-gen "Fermi" graphics

 

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By Darien Graham-Smith in San Jose

Posted on 30 Sep 2009 at 22:40

Nvidia has revealed its new graphics architecture, codenamed "Fermi". The new architecture supports DirectX 11, but is also designed with a particular emphasis on GPGPU performance.

The design revealed today comprises 3 billion transistors and boasts 512 cores - more than twice as many as the company's previous high-end consumer card, the GTX 295.

But CEO Jen-Hsun Huang was keen to communicate that Fermi was not merely an evolutionary upgrade.

A computer on a card

"Fermi is designed to be a computer first," he announced at the GPU Technology Conference in San Jose. "It treats graphics and kernel computing as equal citizens. This model is completely revolutionary."

To support GPU application development, Fermi brings super-charged double-precision mathematical functions, claimed to be around eight times faster than those of Nvidia's previous GPUs.

It also features a new unified address space architecture, enabling coders to develop for the kernel in C++, rather than the less advanced C language that has hitherto been their closest option.

And as a last treat for developers, the architecture is also supported by the world's first Visual Studio debugger for GPU code, dubbed "Nexus".

"With Fermi," Huang announced, "we can solve problems that are far, far greater than computer graphics."

Cards available in "a few short months"

Fermi is due to be implemented across the company's GeForce, Quadro and Tesla brands, but Nvidia was unable to announce specific launch dates.

"We have silicon in house for Fermi," Huang announced. "From this phase to retail is usually a matter of a few short months."

He acknowledged that the delay would give competitor AMD an advantage in the consumer market: "Nobody likes it when the competition has a product and we don’t. We’re racing to the market as fast as we can," he assured delegates.

"But we have a different vision than AMD does. Our strategy is to take the industry forward. And if we’re a little behind by a couple of months, that won’t change anything."

When pressed further to give a date for retail availability of Fermi cards, Huang joked: "It will likely be on a Tuesday".