Nvidia’s next graphics architecture will take place in supercomputer this summer

The graphics giant Nvidia has a wide arsenal of graphics cards in the product portfolio, where the consumer-oriented Geforce GTX and RTX series are based on the architecture “Turing”. In the consumer segment, Turing is the direct successor to the long-lived “Pascal” architecture, while the detour “Volta” in between has been offered to professional users and data centers.

► SweClocker’s deep dive into Turing architecture

Turing debuted in the late summer of 2018 and has just over 17 months on its neck, but there are many indications that the next architecture will be launched sometime this year and will be named “Ampere”. It now appears that graphics hardware with new architecture will be available this summer – at least for professional use.

It’s the technology publication The Next Platform that spoke with Brad Wheeler at Indiana University, who is in the process of completing the Big Red 200 supercomputer. based Tesla V100 cards.

Wheeler says that an offer appeared around the latter piece of hardware, where the university was instead offered to wait for fresher technology from Nvidia. At present, the Big Red 200 only possesses computing power on the processor side, but during the summer of 2020, the system will be equipped with the next generation of Nvidia-signed graphics circuits.

According to the original plan, computing power was 5.9 petaflops, but the decision to wait for updated hardware raises the level to around 8 petaflops. Despite the increase in performance, Wheeler states that the number of graphics units of the new type is lower, compared to the number of Volta units that were on the shopping list. This is explained by the fact that the new variants should be 70–75 percent faster.

It is worth bearing in mind, however, that the sharp increase in performance is not necessarily visible in all areas of use, but the figures suggest that the new architecture will be a potent one. With Ampere, it is said that Nvidia is taking the step down from manufacturing on well-polished 12 nanometers to 7 nanometers, which enables higher transistor density and energy efficiency.

It is most likely that the mentioned graphics hardware is actually based on the Ampere architecture and will be common to several segments, but the possibility that it, like Volta, is a server-specific variant also exists. In mid-March, the GTC 2020 graphics conference kicks off and it is possible that Nvidia will then unveil the hardware.

In conclusion, it can be added that news in the consumer turn is not necessarily available at the same time as the Big Red 200 gets its graphics boost. The fact that new architecture is relatively close in time can, however, be seen as an indication that even new game graphics cards will be released in the foreseeable future, where Igor Wallosek’s report on launch during the first half of the year is not impossible.

Are you looking forward to new hardware from Nvidia? Can the next generation replace the card you are currently using? Tell us in the comments thread!