guru3d NVIDIA Unveils Grace CPU

[UltraMega]

Quote

The Grace CPU chip is optimized for high-performance computing and artificial intelligence tasks. The (what NVIDIA calls Superchip) package consists of two Grace processors, each of which has 72 cores.

 

Nvidia's first venture towards a specialized data center CPU is with the Grace CPU Superchip. The Arm Neoverse-based processor will have a massive 144 cores and a memory bandwidth of 1 terabyte per second. It consists of two Grace CPUs coupled through the company's NVLink connector – a configuration reminiscent of Apple's M1 Ultra.

https://www.guru3d.com/news-story/nvidia-unveils-grace-cpu-has-144-cores-and-1-tbs-bandwidth.html

 

I can't imagine Intel is too happy about this. 

[pio]

I thought Nvidia was told no, they couldn't acquire ARM?  I mean they publicly announced just a month ago that they were not going to acquire ARM.  The FTC sued them for monopolistic practices.  Links to both stories (I just skimmed).  So.....now, a month later, they're announcing ARM based 144 core processors?  K.

 

I'm so confused these days. -_-

 

Nvidia calls off its efforts to acquire ARM:

Nvidia calls off its efforts to acquire Arm

TECHCRUNCH.COM

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Nvidia has walked away from its deal to acquire Arm from SoftBank.

 

FTC Sues to block Nvidia's Merger:

The FTC Sues to Block Nvidia’s Merger; New Study Shows Non-Consensual Tracking - ExchangeWire.com

WWW.EXCHANGEWIRE.COM

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The FTC sue to block Nvidia's merger; reports show non-consensual tracking; China assemble a blocklist; the head of Instagram testifies...

 

[UltraMega]

17 minutes ago, pioneerisloud said:

I thought Nvidia was told no, they couldn't acquire ARM?  I mean they publicly announced just a month ago that they were not going to acquire ARM.  The FTC sued them for monopolistic practices.  Links to both stories (I just skimmed).  So.....now, a month later, they're announcing ARM based 144 core processors?  K.

 

I'm so confused these days. -_-

 

Nvidia calls off its efforts to acquire ARM:

Nvidia calls off its efforts to acquire Arm

TECHCRUNCH.COM

---

Nvidia has walked away from its deal to acquire Arm from SoftBank.

 

FTC Sues to block Nvidia's Merger:

The FTC Sues to Block Nvidia’s Merger; New Study Shows Non-Consensual Tracking - ExchangeWire.com

WWW.EXCHANGEWIRE.COM

---

The FTC sue to block Nvidia's merger; reports show non-consensual tracking; China assemble a blocklist; the head of Instagram testifies...

 

Yea they dont own the rights to ARM but thst doesn't mean they cant use it through licensing. Also I was under the impression a lot of aspects of arm are basically open source. 

[pio]

1 minute ago, UltraMega said:

Yea they dont own the rights to ARM but thst doesn't mean they cant use it through licensing. Also I was under the impression a lot of aspects of arm are basically open source. 

Could be.  I'm not versed in that whole situation at all, just recall the news stories about it recently that's all.   I had thought the FTC sued them stating they couldn't use ARM as they'd be a monopoly though.  Maybe it was more just that Nvidia couldn't OWN them?  Idk.

[UltraMega]

Just now, pioneerisloud said:

Could be.  I'm not versed in that whole situation at all, just recall the news stories about it recently that's all.   I had thought the FTC sued them stating they couldn't use ARM as they'd be a monopoly though.  Maybe it was more just that Nvidia couldn't OWN them?  Idk.

No, they couldn't buy arm. Arm is used by a lot of tech companies with what are essentially open source agreements. Nvidia would probably have locked down arm which is why they were not allowed to aquire it. 

[ArchStanton]

2 minutes ago, pioneerisloud said:

I was under the impression a lot of aspects of arm are basically open source. 

I was under the impression that most of the pushback to the idea of Nvidia acquiring ARM was centered around fears that ARM would progressively become less open source after the proposed acquisition.  

[pio]

1 hour ago, UltraMega said:

No, they couldn't buy arm. Arm is used by a lot of tech companies with what are essentially open source agreements. Nvidia would probably have locked down arm which is why they were not allowed to aquire it. 

 

1 hour ago, ArchStanton said:

I was under the impression that most of the pushback to the idea of Nvidia acquiring ARM was centered around fears that ARM would progressively become less open source after the proposed acquisition.  

 

That makes a lot of sense!  Thanks for clarifying guys.  

[Diffident]

ARM isn't open source.  Third parties pay a license and sign an NDA in order to produce an ARM CPU.   ARM doesn't produce anything themselves, they develop the IP and sell licenses.

 

RISC-V is an open source CPU. 

[ArchStanton]

1 hour ago, Diffident said:

develop the IP and sell licenses

thank you for the clarification, I suppose many parties feared the "licenses" were about to get a lot more expensive, if available at all

[Alastair]

Interesting. I wonder what this bodes for the future? Another CPU name in the game isn't a bad thing. Could this be a push by nvidia to get into the cpu space? What might they have planned next? I don't imagine Intel would allow them to license X86. And neither do I imagine AMD allowing them to licence X86-64. So if this is a pre-courser to a larger push into the cpu space I imagine they would stick with ARM. Could that mean that this is a foreshadowing of the end of X86? Because eventually surely ARM will catch up to x86 at some point? 

Edited March 23, 2022 by Alastair

[ArchStanton]

24 minutes ago, Alastair said:

Could that mean that this is a foreshadowing of the end of X86? Because eventually surely ARM will catch up to x86 at some point?

So far above my pay grade that I just have no frame of reference to even form an opinion around.

[Alastair]

1 minute ago, ArchStanton said:

So far above my pay grade that I just have no frame of reference to even form an opinion around.

My only frame of reference is x86 has been around almost as long as the microprocessor. I think the original 8086 is only a generation or two newer than the 4004 and 8008. I know the basic instruction set has been changed and updated over the years. I mean surely it has been. So surely there are newer and better instruction sets by now? I seem to remember reading something somewhere that the only x86 still had going for it these days was basically just market dominance. Everything basically runs on x86. And that is the only reason its still around. 

[ArchStanton]

2 minutes ago, Alastair said:

My only frame of reference is x86 has been around almost as long as the microprocessor.

Part one of an excellent 4-part series.  I have watched it at least twice, but the finer points always fade with time.