Saturday, January 29th 2022
NVIDIA "Hopper" Might Have Huge 1000 mm² Die, Monolithic Design
Renowned hardware leaker kopike7kimi on Twitter revealed some purported details on NVIDIA's next-generation architecture for HPC (High Performance Computing), Hopper. According to the leaker, Hopper is still sporting a classic monolithic die design despite previous rumors, and it appears that NVIDIA's performance targets have led to the creation of a monstrous, ~1000 mm² die package for the GH100 chip, which usually maxes out the complexity and performance that can be achieved on a particular manufacturing process. This is despite the fact that Hopper is also rumored to be manufactured under TSMC's 5 nm technology, thus achieving higher transistor density and power efficiency compared to the 8 nm Samsung process that NVIDIA is currently contracting. At the very least, it means that the final die will be bigger than the already enormous 826 mm² of NVIDIA's GA100.
If this is indeed the case and NVIDIA isn't deploying a MCM (Multi-Chip Module) design on Hopper, which is designed for a market with increased profit margins, it likely means that less profitable consumer-oriented products from NVIDIA won't be featuring the technology either. MCM designs also make more sense in NVIDIA's HPC products, as they would enable higher theoretical performance when scaling - exactly what that market demands. Of course, NVIDIA could be looking to develop an MCM version of the GH100 still; but if that were to happen, the company could be looking to pair two of these chips together as another HPC product (rumored GH-102). ~2,000 mm² in a single GPU package, paired with increased density and architectural improvements might actually be what NVIDIA requires to achieve the 3x performance jump from the Ampere-based A100 the company is reportedly targeting.
Source:
Videocardz
If this is indeed the case and NVIDIA isn't deploying a MCM (Multi-Chip Module) design on Hopper, which is designed for a market with increased profit margins, it likely means that less profitable consumer-oriented products from NVIDIA won't be featuring the technology either. MCM designs also make more sense in NVIDIA's HPC products, as they would enable higher theoretical performance when scaling - exactly what that market demands. Of course, NVIDIA could be looking to develop an MCM version of the GH100 still; but if that were to happen, the company could be looking to pair two of these chips together as another HPC product (rumored GH-102). ~2,000 mm² in a single GPU package, paired with increased density and architectural improvements might actually be what NVIDIA requires to achieve the 3x performance jump from the Ampere-based A100 the company is reportedly targeting.
60 Comments on NVIDIA "Hopper" Might Have Huge 1000 mm² Die, Monolithic Design
* imagines trying to fit that motherboard sized block along with a pcb and rams and such required to run it in a cpu case.
I remember that video: that is HILARIOUS.
1.245 inch
then lower the requirements for each round of graphics card sales after that.
THIS IS what nvidia/amd would do if they cared about gamers, yes i know not everyone plays on steam, but at this is is a starting point for the first say 7 rounds before you open it up to everyone.
but w.e
With much much smaller chip's.
And expensive isn't really a problem if this is indeed targeted at HPC markets, which can and will pay for it if the performance is good enough.
TADA! Math is fun!
TADA!