The RSX and extra CACHE for CUDA compatibility?

[makeitlookreal]

I want to present something to the forum. It's just a possibility. It is about the RSX, but it's NOT a prediction that the RSX is a G80 or anything dramatically different from a G70.

Someone today suggested the possibility that the RSX is indeed a CUDA enabled GPU:

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/cuda.html

Now, we have all heard people talk about the extra CACHES of the RSX. We have heard there are multiple large caches on the chip and potentially others in addition to the texture caches.

Well, CUDA NVIDIA GPU's have the following "cache" on them:


Quote:
One of the most important innovations offered by CUDA technology is the ability for threads on NVIDIA GPUs to cooperate when solving a problem. By enabling threads to communicate, CUDA technology allows applications to operate more efficiently. NVIDIA GPUs featuring CUDA technology have a Parallel Data Cache that saves frequently used information directly on the GPU. Storing information on the GPU allows computing threads to instantly share information rather than wait for data from much slower, off-chip DRAMs. This advance in technology enables users to find the answers to complex computational problems in real-time.


Now, I'm not saying the RSX is some miracle chip. But we have heard about how the PS3 will be used to do cancer research and stuff.

Perhaps the extra caches of the RSX will allow the GPU to be compatible with "CUDA."

It's just a thought. Nothing exotic or amazing.

Please don't chew me into tiny bits.

[Epix]

I want to present something to the forum. It's just a possibility. It is about the RSX, but it's NOT a prediction that the RSX is a G80 or anything dramatically different from a G70.

Someone today suggested the possibility that the RSX is indeed a CUDA enabled GPU:

http://developer.nvidia.com/object/cuda.html

Now, we have all heard people talk about the extra CACHES of the RSX. We have heard there are multiple large caches on the chip and potentially others in addition to the texture caches.

Well, CUDA NVIDIA GPU's have the following "cache" on them:





Now, I'm not saying the RSX is some miracle chip. But we have heard about how the PS3 will be used to do cancer research and stuff.

Perhaps the extra caches of the RSX will allow the GPU to be compatible with "CUDA."

It's just a thought. Nothing exotic or amazing.

Please don't chew me into tiny bits.

Good find. Remember, it's not the PS3 that's being used in medical research, it's the CELL. It's all about the CELL baby!

[Siraris]

You do know CUDA is useless for games, right? All CUDA does is turn the GPU into a SPE. If you do this, what would handle the graphics in the PS3?

Furthermore, you cannot use CUDA on the RSX.

[GodMachine_Iridius_Dio]

Probably not, but the idea is there. CUDA is allowing for some degree of generality on GPU (look up GPGPU), using them almost like a more rigid cluster of SPEs to process some types of physics problems.

Modern GPUs can do that anyway (RSX should be no different), albeit it's a little harder to get at, and they're not really designed for it (for the most part... I think maybe one or two have it in mind).

GPUs can do graphics work and physics work at the same time, but it obviously cuts into the potential of both.

Lastly... even if not now, it's feasible that in the next generation after this one the CPU and GPU will have merged in some sense. We may have one unit, or we may still have two, with one being soft-designated "CPU" and another being soft-designated "GPU". The potential of this is pretty high, because by then you could see hundreds of stream processors inside the hybred processor working on physics at the command of SPE-like subcores to produce things that would make CELL or a G80 blush, all the while a second hybred processor with hundreds more stream processors and a few dozen SPE-like units and a handful of command units would work on graphics functions.

Lots of possibilities there...

Dio