Next-Gen GPU Progress Slowing As It Aims for 20 nm and Beyond

JoshMST writes "Why are we in the middle of GPU-renaming hell? AMD may be releasing a new 28-nm Hawaii chip in the next few days, but it is still based on the same 28-nm process that the original HD 7970 debuted on nearly two years ago. Quick and easy (relative terms) process node transitions are probably a thing of the past. 20-nm lines applicable to large ASICs are not being opened until mid-2014. 'AMD and NVIDIA will have to do a lot of work to implement next generation features without breaking transistor budgets. They will have to do more with less, essentially. Either that or we will just have to deal with a much slower introduction of next generation parts.' It's amazing how far the graphics industry has come in the past 18 years, but the challenges ahead are greater than ever."

This is good news for me

[All_One_Mind]

As a Radeon 7970 early adopter, I am completely fine with this. It still more than kicks butt at any game I throw at it, and hopefully this slow pace will mean that I'll get another couple of good years out of my expensive purchase.

Re:Why dribble about GPUs?

[JoshMST]

Because GPUs are the high visibility product that most people get excited about? How much excitement was there for Haswell? Not nearly as much as we are seeing for Hawaii. Did you actually read the entire article? It actually addresses things like the efficacy of the Intel 3D Tri-Gate, as well as alternatives such as planar FD-SOI based products. The conclusion there is that gate-last planar FD-SOI is as good, if not better, than Intel's 22 nm Tri-Gate. I believe I also covered more info in the comments section about how there are certain geometries on Intel's 22 nm that are actually at 26 nm, so AMD at 28 nm is not as far behind as some thought in terms of density.