GTC 2013: Jen-Hsun Huang Takes the Stage to Discuss NVIDIA's Future, New Hardware

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | March 19, 2013 - 02:55 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: unified virtual memory, ray tracing, nvidia, GTC 2013, grid vca, grid, graphics cards

Today, NVIDIA's CEO Jen-Hsun Huang stepped on stage to present the GTC keynote. In the presentation (which was live streamed on the GTC website and archived here.), NVIDIA discussed five major points, looking back over 2013 and into the future of its mobile and professional products. In addition to the product roadmap, NVIDIA discussed the state of computer graphics and GPGPU software. Remote graphics and GPU virtualization was also on tap. Finally, towards the end of the Keynote, the company revealed its first appliance with the NVIDIA GRID VCA. The culmination of NVIDIA's GRID and GPU virtualization technology, the VCA is a device that hosts up to 16 virtual machines which each can tap into one of 16 Kepler-based graphics processors (8 cards, 16 GPUs per card) to fully hardware accelerate software running of the VCA. Three new mobile Tegra parts and two new desktop graphics processors were also hinted at, with improvements to power efficiency and performance.

On the desktop side of things, NVIDIA's roadmap included two new GPUs. Following Kepler, NVIDIA will introduce Maxwell and Volta. Maxwell will feature a new virtualized memory technology called Unified Virtual Memory. This tech will allow both the CPU and GPU to read from a single (virtual) memory store. Much as with the promise of AMD's Kaveri APU, the Unified Virtual Meory will result in speed improvements in heterogeneous applications because data will not have to be copied to/from the GPU and CPU in order for the data to be processed. Server applications will really benefit from the shared memory tech. NVIDIA did not provide details, but from the sound of it, the CPU and GPU both continue to write to their own physical memory, but their is a layer of virtualized memory on top of that, that will allow the two (or more) different processors to read from each other's memory store.
Following Maxwell, Volta will be a physically smaller chip with more transistors (likely a smaller process node). In addition to the power efficiency improvements over Maxwell, it steps up the memory bandwidth significantly. NVIDIA will use TSV (through silicon via) technology to physically mount the graphics DRAM chips over the GPU (attached to the same silicon substrate electrically). According to NVIDIA, this new TSV-mounted memory will achieve up to 1 Terabytes/second of memory bandwidth, which is a notable increase over existing GPUs.

NVIDIA continues to pursue the mobile market with its line of Tegra chips that pair an ARM CPU, NVIDIA GPU, and SDR modem. Two new mobile chips called Logan and Parker will follow Tegra 4. Both new chips will support the full CUDA 5 stack and OpenGL 4.3 out of the box. Logan will feature a Kepler-based graphics porcessor on the chip that can “everything a modern computer ought to do” according to NVIDIA. Parker will have a yet-to-be-revealed graphics processor (Kepler successor). This mobile chip will utilize 3D FinFET transistors. It will have a greater number of transistors in a smaller package than previous Tegra parts (it will be about the size of a dime), and NVIDIA also plans to ramp up the frequency to wrangle more performance out of the mobile chip. NVIDIA has stated that Logan silicon should be completed towards the end of 2013, with the mobile chips entering production in 2014.

Interestingly, Logan has a sister chip that NVIDIA is calling Kayla. This mobile chip is capable of running ray tracing applications and features OpenGL geometric shaders. It can support GPGPU code and will be compatible with Linux.

NVIDIA has been pushing CUDA for several years, now. The company has seen some respectable adoption rates, by growing from 1 Tesla supercomputer in 2008 to its graphics cards being used in 50 supercomputers, with 500 million CUDA processors on the market. There are now allegedly 640 universities working with CUDA and 37,000 academic papers on CUDA.

Finally, NVIDIA's hinted-at new product announcement was the NVIDIA VCA, which is a GPU virtualization appliance that hooks into the network and can deliver up to 16 virtual machines running independant applications. These GPU accelerated workspaces can be presneted to thin clinets over the netowrk by installing the GRID client software on users' workstations. The specifications of the GRID VCA is rather impressive, as well.

The GRID VCA features:

• 2 x Intel Xeon processors with 16 threads each (32 total threads)
• 192GB to 384GB of system memory
• 8 Kepler-based graphics cards, with two GPUs each (16 total GPUs)
• 16 x GPU-accelerated virtual machines

The GRID VCA fits into a 4U case. It can deliver remote graphics to workstations, and is allegedly fast enough to deliver gpu accelerated software that is equivalent to having it run on the local machine (at least over LAN). The GRID Visual Computing Appliance will come in two flavors at different price points. The first will have 8 Kepler GPUs with 4GB of memory each, 16 CPU threads, and 192GB of system memory for $24,900. The other version will cost $34,900 and features 16 Kepler GPUs (4GB memory), 32 CPU threads, and 384GB system memory. On top of the hardware cost, NVIDIA is also charging licensing fees. While both GRID VCA devices can support unlimited devices, the licenses cost $2,400 and $4,800 per year respectively.

Overall, it was an interesting keynote, and the proposed graphics cards look to be offering up some unique and necessary features that should help hasten the day of ubiquitous general purpose GPU computing. The Unified Virtual Memory was something I was not expecting, and it will be interesting to see how AMD responds. AMD is already promising shared memory in its Kaveri APU, but I am interested to see the details of how NVIDIA and AMD will accomplish shared memory with dedicated grapahics cards (and whether CrossFire/SLI setups will all have a single shared memory pool)..

Stay tuned to PC Perspective for more GTC 2013 Coverage!

GTC 2013: Prepare for Graphics Overload

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards, Mobile, Shows and Expos | March 18, 2013 - 09:10 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: GTC 2013, nvidia

We just received word from Tim Verry, our GTC correspondent and news troll, about his first kick at the conference. This... is his story.

Graphics card manufacturer, NVIDIA, is hosting its annual GPU Technology Conference (GTC 2013) in San Jose, California this week. PC Perspective will be roaming the exhibit floor and covering sessions as NVIDIA and its partners discuss upcoming graphics technologies, GPGPU, programming, and a number of other low level computing topics.

The future... is tomorrow!

A number of tech companies will be on site and delivering presentations to show off their latest Kepler-based systems. NVIDIA will deliver its keynote presentation tomorrow for the press, financial and industry analysts, and business partners to provide a glimpse at the green team's roadmap throughout 2013 - and maybe beyond.

We cannot say for certain what NVIDIA will reveal during its keynote; but, since we have not been briefed ahead of time, we are completely free to speculate! I think one certainty is the official launch of the Kepler-based K6000 workstation card; for example. While I do not expect to see Maxwell, we could possibly see a planned refresh of the Kepler-based components with some incremental improvements: I predict power efficiency over performance. Perhaps we will receive a cheaper Titan-like consumer card towards the end of 2013? Wishful thinking on my part? A refresh of its GK104 architecture would be nice to see as well, even if actual hardware will not show up until next year. I expect that NVIDIA will react to whatever plans AMD has to decide whether it is in their interest to match them or not.

I do expect to see more information on GRID and Project SHIELD, however. NVIDIA has reportedly broadened the scope of this year's conference to include mobile sessions: expect Tegra programming and mobile GPGPU goodness to be on tap.

It should be an interesting week of GPU news. Stay tuned to PC Perspective for more coverage as the conference gets underway.

What are you hoping to see from NVIDIA at GTC 2013?

ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II versus a dual linked Dell 3007WFP

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 18, 2013 - 03:17 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: 2560x1600, amd, hd7970 direct cu 2, asus, dell, 3007WFP

[H]ard|OCP has wanted to publish their review of the ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II for a while but ran into a compatibility issue during their testing and ended up being a perfect example of what sometimes happens to review sites and enthusiasts on the bleeding edge.  [H] uses a Dell 3007WFP with a resolution of 2560x1600 which necessitates the use of a dual link DVI connection, which cause the issue you can see below.  No other setup seemed to reproduce this problem, even the same monitor on a single link DVI at 1920x1080 or at the higher resolution on Display Port would not display the issue.  So what began as a review of an HD 7970 with some nice extra features from ASUS became a long session of troubleshooting.  Take a read through the review as these cards should be back in stock over the next few months, very likely with a solution to this problem already incorporated.

"Today we have the ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II strapped to our test bench for your reading pleasure. We will compare it to the AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition and to the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 to determine whether the custom VRMs and DirectCU II cooling solution are the droids you are looking for in your next graphics card purchase."

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

• PowerColor PCS+ HD7870 GHz Edition 2GB GDDR5 @ LanOC Reviews
• HIS Radeon HD 7850 iPower IceQ Turbo 4GB @ Tweaktown
• ASUS Radeon HD 7850 DirectCU On Ubuntu @ Phoronix
• AMD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition vs. Nvidia GeForce GTX 660: frametimes @ Hardware.info
• Powercolor HD 7870 Myst Edition @ Bjorn3D
• AMD vs Nvidia: Radeon 7870 vs GeForce 660 Using Frame Times @ HCW
• Prolimatech MK-26 GPU Cooler Review @ Pro-Clockers
• GELID Icy Vision Rev. 2 VGA Cooler Review @ Hi Tech Legion
• Matrox DS1 review: a practical Thunderbolt dock @ Hardware.info
• Nvidia GeForce GTX TITAN 6 GB @ X-bit Labs
• Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan @ Techspot
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX Titan @ Legion Hardware
• EVGA GeForce GTX 670 FTW 2GB @ Hardware.info
• NVIDIA GTX TITAN vs. SLI & Crossfire @ Hardware Canucks

NVIDIA Allegedly Launching Quadro K6000 GK110 GPU For Professionals

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 8, 2013 - 09:17 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: quadro, nvidia, kepler, k6000, gk110

Earlier this week, NVIDIA updated its Quadro line of workstation cards with new GPUs with GK104 “Kepler” cores. The updated line introduced four new Kepler cards, but the Quadro 6000 successor was notably absent from the NVIDIA announcement. If rumors hold true, professionals may get access to a K6000 Quadro card after all, and one that is powered by GK110 as well.

According to rumors around the Internet, NVIDIA has reserved its top-end Quadro slot for a GK110-based graphics card. Dubbed the K6000 (and in line with the existing Kepler Quadro cards), the high-end workstation card will feature 13 SMX units, 2,496 CUDA cores, 192 Texture Manipulation Units, 40 Raster Operations Pipeline units, and a 320-bit memory bus. The K6000 card will likely have 5GB of GDDR5 memory, like its Tesla K20 counterpart. Interestingly, this Quadro K6000 graphics card has one less SMX unit than NVIDIA’s Tesla K20X and even NVIDIA’s consumer-grade GTX Titan GPU. A comparison between the rumored K6000 card, the Quadro K5000 (GK104), and other existing GK110 cards is available in the table below. Also, note that the (rumored) K6000 specs put it more in like with the Tesla K20 than the K20X, but as it is the flagship Quadro card I felt it was still fair to compare it to the flagship Telsa and GeForce cards.

The Quadro cards are in an odd situation when it comes to double precision floating point performance. The Quadro K5000 which uses GK104 brings an abysmal 90 GFLOPS of double precision. The rumored GK110-powered Quadro K6000 brings double precision performance up to approximately 1 TFLOPS, which is quite the jump and shows that GK104 really was cut down to focus on gaming performance! Further, the card that the K6000 is replacing in name, the Quadro 6000 (no prefixed K), is based on NVIDIA’s previous-generation Fermi architecture and offers .5152 TFLOPS (515.2 GFLOPS) of double precision performance. On the plus side, users can expect around 3.5 TFLOPS of single precision horsepower, which is a substantial upgrade over Quadro 6000's 1.03 TFLOPS of single precision floating point. For comparison, the GK104-based Quadro K5000 offers 2.1 TFLOPS of single precision. Although it's no full GK110, it looks to be the Quadro card to beat for the intended usage.

Of course, Quadro is more about stable drivers, beefy memory, and single precision than double precision, but it would be nice to see the expensive Quadro workstation cards have the ability to pull double duty, as it were. NVIDIA’s Tesla line is where DP floating point is key. It is just a rather wide gap between the two lineups that the K6000 somewhat closes, fortunately. I would have really liked to see the K6000 have at least 14 SMX units, to match consumer Titan and the Tesla K20X, but rumors are not looking positive in that regard. Professionals should expect to see quite the premium with the K6000 versus the Titan, despite the hardware differences. It will likely be sold for around $3,000.

No word on availability, but the card will likely be released soon in order to complete the Kepler Quadro lineup update. 

NVIDIA Refreshes Quadro with Kepler

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | March 6, 2013 - 08:02 PM | Scott Michaud
Tagged: quadro, nvidia

Be polite, be efficient, have a plan to Kepler every card that you meet.

The professional graphics market is not designed for gamers although that should have been fairly clear. These GPUs are designed to effectively handle complex video, 3D, and high resolution display environments found in certain specialized workspaces.

This is the class of cards which allow a 3D animator to edit their creations with stereoscopic 3D glasses, for instance.

NVIDIA's branding will remain consistent with the scheme developed for the prior generation. Previously, if you were in the market for a Fermi-based Quadro solution, you would have the choice between: the Quadro 600, the 2000, the 4000, the 5000, and the 6000. Now that the world revolves around Kepler... heh heh heh... each entry has been prefixed with a K with the exception of the highest-end 6000 card. These entries are therefore:

• Quadro K600, 192 CUDA Cores, 1GB, $199 MSRP
• Quadro K2000, 384 CUDA Cores, 2GB, $599 MSRP
• Quadro K4000, 768 CUDA Cores, 3GB, $1,269 MSRP
• Quadro K5000, 1536 CUDA Cores, 4GB + ECC, $2,249 MSRP

This product line is demonstrated graphically by the NVIDIA slide below.

Clicking the image while viewing the article will enlargen it.

It should be noted that each of the above products have been developed on the series of GK10X architectures and not the more computationally-intensive GK110 products. As the above slide alludes: while these Quadro cards are designed to handle the graphically-intensive applications, they are designed to be paired with GK110-based Tesla K20 cards to offload the GPGPU muscle.

Should you need the extra GPGPU performance, particularly when it comes to double precision mathematics, those cards can be found online for somewhere in the ballpark of $3,300 and $3,500.

The new Quadro products were available starting yesterday, March 5th, from “leading OEM and Channel Partners.”

A year of GeForce drivers reviewed

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 5, 2013 - 02:28 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: nvidia, geforce, graphics drivers

After evaluating the evolution of AMD's drivers over 2012, [H]ard|OCP has now finalized their look at NVIDIA's offerings over the past year.  They chose a half dozen drivers spanning March to December, tested on both the GTX680 and GTX 670.  As you can see throughout the review, NVIDIA's performance was mostly stable apart from the final driver of 2012 which provided noticeably improved performance in several games.  [H] compared the frame rates from both companies on the same chart and it makes the steady improvement of AMD's drivers over the year even more obvious.  That does imply that AMD's initial drivers for this year needed improvement and that perhaps the driver team at AMD has a lot of work cut out for them in 2013 if they want to reach a high level of performance across the board, with game specific improvements offering the only deviation in performance.

"We have evaluated AMD and NVIDIA's 2012 video card driver performances separately. Today we will be combining these two evaluations to show each companies full body of work in 2012. We will also be looking at some unique graphs that show how each video cards driver improved or worsened performance in each game throughout the year."

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

• AMD EyeFinity - Issues with Triple-Screen setups and 120Hz Refresh Rates @ Tweaktown
• Low-End NVIDIA/AMD GPU Comparison On Open-Source Drivers @ Phoronix
• AMD Radeon HD 7950 Boost vs. Nvidia GeForce GTX 660 Ti: frametimes @ Hardware.info
• Radeon Gallium3D Can Beat AMD's Catalyst In Select Workloads @ Phoronix
• Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 OC GHz Edition @ Funkykit
• AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition vs. Nvidia GeForce GTX 680: frametimes review @ Hardware.info
• NVIDIA Chips Comparison Table @ Hardware Secrets
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan Video Card Review @ Legit Reviews
• GTX TITAN: The beast to unseat the best! @ Bjorn3D
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN: The Most Advanced Single-GPU Video Card Ever Made @Hi Tech Legion
• GTX TITAN Single Card @ Bjorn3D
• sus GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II OC 2 GB @ X-bit Labs
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX Titan 6GB @ eTeknix
• Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan 3-way/4-way SLI review incl 5760x1080 and frametimes @ Hardware.info
• Sparkle GeForce GTX 650 Ti Dragon Series @ Kitguru

PCPer Live! Tomb Raider Game Stream - Win Games and Graphics Cards from AMD!

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 4, 2013 - 04:31 PM | Ryan Shrout
Tagged: video, tomb raider, tahiti, radeon, never settle reloaded, live, crysis, amd

UPDATE: Missed the live stream?  Relive the incredible experience right here!  

On March 5th on the PC Perspective Live! page we will be streaming some game action of the new Tomb Raider.  In what might be one of the most impressive game series reboots in history, this iteration of the action-adventure gameplay is definitely the most impressive looking to date.  And don't forget all the hair animation we are likely to see...

We will be teaming up with AMD once again to provide a fun and exciting PCPer Game Stream that includes game demonstrations and of course, prizes and game keys for those that watch the event LIVE! 

UPDATE: We are excited to announce that Crystal Dynamics' Brian Horton, Senior Art Director for Tomb Raider, will be joining us on the PC Perpsective Game Stream to answer questions and to give us more detail on the visual effects at work in the PC version of the game!

Tomb Raider Game Stream

5pm PT / 8pm ET - March 5th

PC Perspective Live! Page

Warning: this one will DEFINITELY have mature language and content!!

The stream will be sponsored by AMD and its Never Settle Reloaded game bundles which we previously told you about.  Depending on the AMD Radeon HD 7000 series GPU that you buy, you could get some amazing free games including:

• Radeon HD 7900 Series
  • FREE Crysis 3
  • FREE Bioshock Infinite
• Radeon HD 7800 Series
  • FREE Bioshock Infinite
  • FREE Tomb Raider
• Radeon HD 7900 CrossFire Set
  • FREE Crysis 3
  • FREE Bioshock Infinite
  • FREE Tomb Raider
  • FREE Far Cry 3
  • FREE Hitman: Absolution
  • FREE Sleeping Dogs

AMD's Antal Tungler (@ColoredRocks on twitter) will be joining us via Skype to talk about the game's technology, performance considerations as well as helping me with some co-op gaming!

Of course, just to sweeten the deal a bit we have some prizes lined up for those of you that participate in our Tomb Raider Game Stream:

• 2 x Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 OC 2GB graphics cards (plus Tomb Raider & Bioshock Infinite)
• 1 x HIS 7850 iPower IceQ Turbo 4GB graphics card (plus Tomb Raider & Bioshock Infinite)
• 3 x Combo codes for both Tomb Raider AND Bioshock Infinite

Pretty nice, huh?  All you have to do to win is be present on the PC Perspective Live! Page during the event as we will announce both the content/sweepstakes method AND the winners!

Stop in on March 5h for some PC gaming fun!!

AMD Releases the FIREPRO R5000: PCoIP and Teradici

Subject: Graphics Cards | February 27, 2013 - 09:42 PM | Josh Walrath
Tagged: workstations, virtualization, Teradici, remote management, R5000, pitcairn, PCoIP, firepro, amd

A few days back AMD released one of their latest FIREPRO workstation graphics cards.  For most users out there this will be received with a bit of a shrug.  This release is a bit different though, and it reflects a change in direction in the PC market.  The original PC freed users from mainframes and made computing affordable for most people.  Today we are seemingly heading back to the mainframe/thin client setup of yore, but with hardware and connectivity that obviously was not present in the late 70s.  The FIREPRO R5000 is hoping to redefine remote graphics.

Today’s corporate environment is chaotic when it comes to IT systems.  The amount of malware, poor user decisions, and variability in software and hardware configurations is a constant headache to IT workers.  A big push it to make computing more centralized in the company with easy oversight from IT workers.  Servers with multiple remote users can be more easily updated and upgraded than going to individual PCs around the offices to do the same work.  This is good for a lot of basic users, but it does not address the performance needs of power users who typically run traditional workstations.

AMD hopes to change that thinking with the R5000.  This is a Pitcairn based product (7800 series on the desktop) that is built to workstation standards.  It also features a secret weapon; the Teradici TERA2240 host processor.  Teradici is a leader in PCoIP technology.  PCoIP is simply “PC over IP”.  Instead of a traditional remote host which limits performance and desktop space, Teradici developed PCoIP to more adequately send large amounts of pixel data over a network.  The user essentially is able to leverage the power of a modern GPU rather than rely on the more software based rendering of remote sessions.  The user has a thin client provided by a variety of OEMs to choose from and they connect directly over IP.

The advantages here is that the GPU is again used to its full potential, which is key for those doing heavy video editing work, 3D visualization, and CADD type workloads.  The latest R5000 can support resolutions up to 2560x1600 up to two displays.  The same card can support 1920x1200 on four displays.  It supports upwards of 60 fps in applications.  The TERA2240 essentially encodes the output and streams it over IP.  The thin client re-encodes the stream and displays the results.  This promises very low latency over smaller networks, and very manageable latency over large or wide area networks.

The downside here is that one client at a time can connect to the card.  The card cannot be virtualized as such so that multiple users can access the resources of the GPU.  The card CAN run in a virtualized environment, but it is again limited to one client per card.  Multiple cards can be placed in each server and the hardware is then placed in its own VM.  While this makes management of hardware a bit easier, it still is an expensive solution when it comes to a per user basis.  Where efficiency may be regained is when it is placed in an environment where shift work takes place.   Or another setting is a University where these cards are housed in high powered servers away from classrooms so cooling and sound are not issues impeding learning.