Nvidia公司近日推出新一代臺(tái)式電腦和筆記本電腦用繪圖芯片，預(yù)期這將使其與Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)公司之間于28nm技術(shù)的新一輪戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)進(jìn)一步加劇。相較于其Nvidia上一代的40納米(nm) Fermi繪圖芯片，該公司宣稱首款采用臺(tái)積電28nm制程技術(shù)開(kāi)發(fā)的Kepler芯片可望實(shí)現(xiàn)更高兩倍的性能。 Nvidia采用Kepler架構(gòu)的顯示卡GTX 680已正式上市。它可在GHz級(jí)時(shí)脈速度下支持1,536組Nvidia專有的CUDA渲染核心以及192個(gè)控制邏輯核心，較上一代Fermi分別實(shí)現(xiàn)的512組核心與32顆核心性能更大幅提升。

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如同英特爾和其它廠商一樣，Nvidia已經(jīng)了解到以更多核心與較慢時(shí)脈速度可說(shuō)是實(shí)現(xiàn)更佳功效率的途徑。 Fermi 以1,54GHz的時(shí)脈速度執(zhí)行渲染核心，而芯片其它部份則采用772MHz作業(yè)。而在開(kāi)發(fā)Kepler時(shí)，Nvidia采用了一條不同的路徑，全芯片均采用1.006GHz的時(shí)脈速度，但使用了多達(dá)3倍的CUDA核心數(shù)。 GTX 680顯示卡搭載一個(gè)PCI Express Gen 3總線，功耗為195W，較先前Fermi芯片的250W功耗更低。這意味著新的PC必須采用兩個(gè)傳統(tǒng)6接腳的電源供應(yīng)器來(lái)支持該顯示卡，而非原本Fermi采用一個(gè)6接腳與一個(gè)8接腳供電的方式。 此外，Kepler芯片是Nvidia全新600M筆記型電腦繪圖芯片系列的基礎(chǔ)，該芯片產(chǎn)品現(xiàn)已出貨給OEM。低階版本應(yīng)該很適合用于筆記型電腦市場(chǎng)，Nvidia的發(fā)言人說(shuō)。 Acer公司已經(jīng)推出采用600M芯片的筆記型電腦。其它還有九家一線的筆記型電腦制造商也將在其搭載英特爾新款 Ivy Bridge處理器的新款筆記型電腦中采用600M芯片；Ivy Bridge處理器預(yù)計(jì)將在四月下旬發(fā)布。 根據(jù)Moor Insights & Streategy公司首席分析師Patrick Moorhea，600M系列具有一種可從CPU進(jìn)行功率動(dòng)態(tài)調(diào)整至GPU的獨(dú)特性能?！癘EM為CPU與GPU使用一種散熱器，因而能夠精確掌握整合CPU與GPU時(shí)可做到什幺程度，這也是前所未見(jiàn)的首創(chuàng)設(shè)計(jì)。”他說(shuō)。 盡管獨(dú)立測(cè)試基準(zhǔn)尚未發(fā)布，但市場(chǎng)觀察家預(yù)計(jì)，Nvidia Kepler系列的性能約相當(dāng)于AMD在二月量產(chǎn)出貨的28nm系列組件HD 7970。 “由于兩家公司的芯片在高時(shí)脈速率時(shí)均采用了GDDR5內(nèi)存，預(yù)期雙方的產(chǎn)品之間相當(dāng)具有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)性，”Mercury Research公司負(fù)責(zé)人Dean McCarron表示，“兩家公司預(yù)計(jì)在整個(gè)夏天大量生產(chǎn)，預(yù)期將為這個(gè)領(lǐng)域帶來(lái)激烈競(jìng)爭(zhēng)?！彼f(shuō)。 Jon Peddie Research公司分析師Jon Peddie說(shuō)：“Nvidia的產(chǎn)品在理論上的規(guī)格數(shù)據(jù)看起來(lái)不錯(cuò)，但AMD的HD 7970也不容小覷?！敝挥性诜謩e于兩張顯示卡上為相同的設(shè)備進(jìn)行相同的測(cè)試項(xiàng)目時(shí)，才能得到實(shí)際的結(jié)果；不過(guò)這項(xiàng)測(cè)試大約要再過(guò)幾周才能完成。 根據(jù)Peddie表示，在成長(zhǎng)緩慢的臺(tái)式電腦繪圖芯片領(lǐng)域，Nvidia目前以63%的市占率較AMD的36%市占率更勝一籌；但在成長(zhǎng)較快的筆記本電腦繪圖芯片領(lǐng)域，AMD則擁有52%的市占率，略高于Nvidia的48%。 McCarron表示，AMD在一年前還擁有62%的較高市占率。該公司在2011年的筆記本電腦繪圖芯片出貨量約有7,500萬(wàn)片，預(yù)計(jì)在2013年可望成長(zhǎng)到1億。 英特爾與AMD致力于在新近開(kāi)發(fā)的處理器同一封裝中加進(jìn)繪圖核心，Nvidia也正逐漸專注于整合型繪圖芯片業(yè)務(wù)。在此開(kāi)發(fā)趨勢(shì)下，英特爾在包括整合型與獨(dú) 立型的繪圖芯片市場(chǎng)中囊括約5億美元的市場(chǎng)規(guī)模，以59.2%的市占率主導(dǎo)這一市場(chǎng)領(lǐng)域，其次是AMD占24.7%，以及Nvidia約占15.7%。 McCarron表示，雖然AMD較Nvidia更早幾周推出其28nm產(chǎn)品，但兩家公司的產(chǎn)品推出時(shí)程都比PC制造商推出采用英特爾Ivy Bridge的下一代產(chǎn)品更新周期時(shí)間更早得多。 對(duì)于智能手機(jī)與平板電腦應(yīng)用來(lái)說(shuō)， Kepler芯片的功耗仍然太大了；因此，Nvidia針對(duì)行動(dòng)系統(tǒng)仍以Tegra繪圖核心作為市場(chǎng)區(qū)隔。 編譯：Susan Hong 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 參考英文原文：Nvidia rolls 28-nm graphics processors，by Rick Merritt

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{pagination} Nvidia rolls 28-nm graphics processors Rick Merritt SAN JOSE, Calif. – Nvidia Corp. rolled out a new generation of desktop and notebook graphics chips, fueling the next round of neck-and-neck competition with archrival Advanced Micro Devices. Nvidia claims its Kepler chips, its first to use a 28-nm TSMC process technology, have twice the performance per watt of its previous 40-nm Fermi graphics. A Kepler-based graphics card, the GTX 680, officially goes on sale today at retail outlets for $499. It sports 1,536 Nvidia proprietary CUDA rendering cores and 192 control logic cores on a GHz clock. That’s up from 512 and 32 cores in the Fermi parts. Like Intel and others before it, Nvidia has learned more cores and a slower clock is the road to better power efficiency. Fermi ran its rendering cores at 1.544 GHz and the rest of the chip at a cooler 772 MHz. With Kepler, Nvidia takes a different tack, running the whole chip at 1.006 GHz but using three times as many cores. The GTX 680 card rides a PCI Express Gen 3 bus and consumes 195 W, down from about 250W for Fermi cards. That means PCs require two conventional six-pin power supplies to support the card, rather than the one six- and one eight-pin supply Fermi cards needed. Separately the Kepler chip is the basis for Nvidia’s new 600M family of graphics chips for notebook computers, already shipping to OEMs. The low-end versions should be suitable for $599 retail notebooks, an Nvidia spokesman said. Acer is already shipping one notebook with a 600M chip. Nine other top notebook makers will follow suit when they ship laptops using Intel’s new Ivy Bridge processors, expected to be formally released in late April. According to Patrick Moorhead, principal analyst of Moor Insights & Streategy, the 600M has a unique capability to "dynamically shift power" from the CPU to the GPU. "OEMs use one heat spreader for the CPU and GPU so they know exactly how far they can go between combined CPU and GPU--this has never been done before," he said. Independent testers have yet to publish benchmarks, but market watchers expect the Kepler parts will be fairly evenly matched with the 7970, AMD’s 28 nm family that started shipping in volume in February. “Based on the fact both companies’ parts are using GDDR5 memories at high clock rates, I expect they are very competitive,” said Dean McCarron, principal of Mercury Research (Bee Cave, Ariz.) “Both companies will be ramping products through the summer, so we will have some nice battles here,” he said. “On paper Nvidia’s specs look great, but then so do AMD’s for the 7970,” said Jon Peddie of Jon Peddie Research (Tiburon, Calif.). “We won’t really know until we run tests in the same machine with the same programs on both boards,” tests that are not expected to be done for a few weeks, he said. Nvidia commands a market share edge over AMD in the slower growing desktop discrete graphics segment at about 63 versus 36 percent, according to Peddie. But AMD still commands a narrowing lead in the faster growth notebook discrete segment at about 52 versus 48 percent. A year ago, AMD had a larger lead at 62 to 38 percent, McCarron said. A total of 75 million discrete notebook graphics chips shipped in 2011, projected to grow to nearly 100 million in 2013, McCarron said. Nvidia is getting out of the business of chip sets with integrated graphics as Intel and AMD move to put graphics cores on the same package as their latest processors. Due to this trend, Intel is the overall leader in graphics with a share of the $500 million combined integrated and discrete market at 59.2 percent. AMD stands at 24.7 and Nvidia at 15.7 percent, McCarron said. AMD and Nvidia have been roughly matched in graphics performance for about three years. The current chips are not expected to shift the balance significantly. Although AMD had a few weeks lead in shipping its 28-nm generation, both companies are comfortably ahead of the refresh cycle PC makers are in with the upcoming Intel Ivy Bridge processors, McCarron said. The new chips are too power hungry for smartphones and tablets. Thus Nvidia’s graphics cores for its Tegra products for mobile systems have a separate lineage.