AugustOne - the only Microsoft PR agency that chats to the INQ
IN A MOVE sure to disappoint fanbois in basements all across the world, the Nvidia GT212 has still not taped out, but three others have. The 212 is dead, the other three will trickle out in April, May and June.
The reason is pretty obvious, the TSMC 40nm process is leaky as hell, and the bigger the chip, the more transistors that leak. Top this off with a totally botched design that couldn't be shrunk from 65nm to 55nm sanely, so 40 was very iffy.
That said, the three that have taped out are the GT218, GT216, GT215, the value, mainstream and performance parts respectively. They also taped out in that order. Yawn. The 216 and 218 come out around May 1 give or take a couple of weeks, the 215 a month later.
It looks like Nvidia knifing the GT212 has allowed them to put more resources into the 40nm parts, pulling them back in. Add in TSMC's utilisation dropping well below 50 per cent, and suddenly you have enough wafers at 40 to do a volume launch early. That explains the roadmap rearrangement.
Prepare to be underwhelmed unless you are really into smaller dies. µ
'Prepare to be underwhelmed unless you are really into smaller dies'
or cheaper prices. another nega spin on nvidia, despite the fact that this shrink will almost certainly bing lower prices, if not more performance. and people wonder why they call yuo biased, charlie....
In your quest to get hits to sell ads you lower yourself with useless articles like this containing so many lies.
why so much hate. I don't see anything biased at all. Would you be excited if DAMMIT simply did a die shrink of the 48xx's? Ho hum.
Good work charlie. I love you still.
ahh good. more complete rubbish articles that even fail to mention the entire reason nvidia are pursuing a die shrink they know probably wont improve performance, just as ATI are. smaller dies = cheaper prices. even if the leakage is problematic, it doesnt stop the price of said parts dropping. is this mentioned in the article? nope.......is it dropped in favour of more pointless spin against nvidia? yes.....
"That said, the three that have taped out are the GT218, GT216, GT215, the value, mainstream and performance parts respectively. "
So the 218 will be lower spec than the 215? This doesn't seem very likely, Charles.
I was abit disappointed on the comments on this article. I love Charlie's Investigative journalism and the "tell it how it is approach", but what is usually quite amusing is the unfounded rantings by nvidiot commentators.
The Nvidiot comments so far are really lame, I was expecting at least one of the more far fetched "wacko jacko" type comments, but all we got is the usual five year old child type of comments like "your biased and horrid and I'm going to tell my mummy <runs ".
I think what Charlie has been demonstrating over the last few months is that Nvidia isn't exactly the shining example of friendly truthful companies we had hoped for.
If you haven't worked this out, then I am suprised you got this far down the page without asking your mum - (ask her what some of the words mean, not if you are allowed to use the computer that is..)
"So the 218 will be lower spec than the 215?"
Nvidia has always named their parts in reverse with the lowest number equalling the part with highest performance.
I don't know why they do it that way, probably they design the high end part then design the low end parts by taking bits out of the high end design.
Keep it up Charlie! Tell it how it is.
Ignore the arrogant fanbois.
will the underfill be fixed?
How about some?
Charlie keep up the good work,I sleep much better at night knowing your sleuthing while I'm sleeping. These Nvidiots complain but can't come up with better news.
To all the nVidia fan boys: I HAVE NO idea why you judge Charlie for the stuff he writes, I actually like it. Do you like it when nVidia "lies to you in your face"? You guys should take one step back and look at everything from another perspective. NV's ship is sinking and now they are trying to make changes that aren’t going to work like the whole CPU thing. Who will buy a new chip that’s on the market? And new motherboards? Oh, yes, and drivers that MIGHT work.....
Shit article, predictable comments, either 'I love Charlie (I have ATI)' or 'I hate Charlie (I have NV)'. Neither company is an altruist. Neither company works for you, the consumer. They both work for their shareholders and for a profit. Yes, NV are very guilty of rebranding mediocre parts, dont defend that. NV also lie, dont defend that. But CD's 'reporting' has become nothing more in construction than a similar 'fan-boi rant'. His use of language is the exact same as a fan-boi would use. Even going so far as to ridicule NV customers for being idiots. Come on all you ATI fan-bois, at least recognise that your champion is actually no better than a die hard NV fan, just on the opposite side.
Yes, Charlie... I hope this nvidia fanboys will not hurt your courage.
@DM and the rest of the NVidia fan club - maybe Charlie is bashing them cause no one else is daring to. If you prefer the NV side of the coin (or some AMD bashing) - go read Anand's articles for example...
@ Stormy,for the record i'm not a fanboy. Too old for that stuff. Did you read my comment where i said NV do bad things that are indefencable? I'm not anti-ATI or pro NV. I dont mind what goes in my PC as long as it's good and healthy. As for corporate entities, they can go f*ck themselves. But Charlie long ago became the poster boy for ATI and as such his 'journalism' credentials are null. I wont visit Anandtech if it's biased either - sick of pro'one side' journo's.
I love it how things get exagerated. So much magic in it. And wittier than Harry Potter. Additionally, you know friction is in the title. @Stormy I deem Anand rather anti-nvidia, like Charlie at the moment, since they are very shy about talking power, heat and noise concerning the nvidia thingies. Ok, they say NV has better drivers. Apart from that, Anand has Intel on their site and title. Cheers
says warranty claims are crippling them financially. Not really, but the warranty claims due to crap manufacturing and brutal customer care are crippling them. Keep up the good work Charlie. And how do you ever "feel" for a manufacturer, they either make a product I want to give money for, or they don't. I don't "feel" for them either way.
If I understand you correctly Charlie, I should not buy an Nvidia card? Even though I need stereo and they are the only ones out there that have a stereo API? ok :-)
Photoboy, I read your comment and you say that NVidia always labels their products in reverse order of technical abilities.
So... by this logic the 8800GTX would have been outperformed by the 6800. When I got my GTX280, I really should have got the GTX260 because that's more powerful.
Enough of the Charlie sucks crap. I own both ATI and NV cards. i go for the best performance for the buck. if it wasnt for charlie we wouldnt have bumpgate. i cant believe that people are so shortsighted that they bash charlie for great reporting. NV has a history of being a rogue company and biting almost every hand that feeds it in the search of the almighty profit. They arent dead, and i hope they dont die, competition is the only thing that works for us consumers. lets face it, his reports are very intuitive and more often than not, are completely accurate. get over the fanboi crap. NV/ATI/INTEL/AMD isnt going to give you cash for defending it. By the way i have spoken with several AMD marketing employees and they "confirmed" that they read the Inq everyday because their reporting is incredibly accurate. sounds like if they (charlie) are good enough for them, then they are good enough for me.