By: Mark Roulo (nothanks.delete@this.xxx.com), September 23, 2021 5:43 pm
Room: Moderated Discussions
Kester L (nobody.delete@this.nothing.com) on September 23, 2021 2:17 pm wrote:
> Captain Obvious (lost.delete@this.in.a.cave) on September 23, 2021 11:30 am wrote:
> > James (no.delete@this.thanks.invalid) on September 23, 2021 1:52 am wrote:
> > > Mark Roulo (nothanks.delete@this.xxx.com) on September 22, 2021 12:37 pm wrote:
> >
> > > Nvidia, at least, seems to be much happier selling to gamers (and computer manufacturers)
> > > than miners, to the point that they'll cripple their own chips to make them less attractive
> > > to miners. They can be fairly sure, after all, that normal users will be back for more in
> > > a few years' time. They may well have compared the temporary profits they could make (through
> > > increased prices) to the longterm loss of goodwill, and decided it isn't worth it.
> >
> > Except that when nvidia wants to "cripple their own chips", they typically do it (like anybody else)
> > in a way that prevents you from unlocking the thing back (virtualization is an exception). Don't
> > tell me miners are going to have any difficulty locating an old driver and installing it.
> >
> > Back in 2004 nvidia sold the 6800LE. Half the chip was disabled, but could be trivially unlocked into
> > a "real" 6800. Those days are long since gone, although I don't think they've clock locked anything.
> >
> > Selling boards at MSRP at best buy (or similar) is another story (I'm sure they are taking a
> > profit hit for it), but I bet plenty of them find their way to ebay immediately afterwards.
> >
> > I guess the other question is just how insatiable is the AI market for nvidia chips? I suspect they
> > are making plenty there, whether or not their highest end chips are any good for mining or not. I'm
> > guessing the HPC market can wait like everybody else, but the AI market is more or less a gold rush.
>
> Aren't the GPUs for the datacenter market mostly being fabbed at a separate
> foundry (TSMC) from the ones being sold for gaming (Samsung)?
Some of the data center parts use the same chips as high end gamer boards. I *think* this is how things shake out:
A100: TSMC
A40: Samsung (Same chip as the 3090 but with 4 more SMs enabled)
A30: TSMC
A10: Samsung (Same chip as the 3080, but with a few more SMs enabled)
The A100 and A30 have HBM. The A40 and A10 use GDDR.
> Captain Obvious (lost.delete@this.in.a.cave) on September 23, 2021 11:30 am wrote:
> > James (no.delete@this.thanks.invalid) on September 23, 2021 1:52 am wrote:
> > > Mark Roulo (nothanks.delete@this.xxx.com) on September 22, 2021 12:37 pm wrote:
> >
> > > Nvidia, at least, seems to be much happier selling to gamers (and computer manufacturers)
> > > than miners, to the point that they'll cripple their own chips to make them less attractive
> > > to miners. They can be fairly sure, after all, that normal users will be back for more in
> > > a few years' time. They may well have compared the temporary profits they could make (through
> > > increased prices) to the longterm loss of goodwill, and decided it isn't worth it.
> >
> > Except that when nvidia wants to "cripple their own chips", they typically do it (like anybody else)
> > in a way that prevents you from unlocking the thing back (virtualization is an exception). Don't
> > tell me miners are going to have any difficulty locating an old driver and installing it.
> >
> > Back in 2004 nvidia sold the 6800LE. Half the chip was disabled, but could be trivially unlocked into
> > a "real" 6800. Those days are long since gone, although I don't think they've clock locked anything.
> >
> > Selling boards at MSRP at best buy (or similar) is another story (I'm sure they are taking a
> > profit hit for it), but I bet plenty of them find their way to ebay immediately afterwards.
> >
> > I guess the other question is just how insatiable is the AI market for nvidia chips? I suspect they
> > are making plenty there, whether or not their highest end chips are any good for mining or not. I'm
> > guessing the HPC market can wait like everybody else, but the AI market is more or less a gold rush.
>
> Aren't the GPUs for the datacenter market mostly being fabbed at a separate
> foundry (TSMC) from the ones being sold for gaming (Samsung)?
Some of the data center parts use the same chips as high end gamer boards. I *think* this is how things shake out:
A100: TSMC
A40: Samsung (Same chip as the 3090 but with 4 more SMs enabled)
A30: TSMC
A10: Samsung (Same chip as the 3080, but with a few more SMs enabled)
The A100 and A30 have HBM. The A40 and A10 use GDDR.
