[gentoo-amd64] Re: Re: Re: More ATi driver madness

["Duncan" <1i5t5.duncan@cox.net>]

Bob Sanders <rsanders@sgi.com> posted 20060814151338.GA102938@sgi.com,
excerpted below, on  Mon, 14 Aug 2006 08:13:38 -0700:

> Gfx, especially 3D, is about memory bandwidth.  Move the memory out
> of direct contact with the gpu chip - say via a socket, and it's
> necessary to drop the frequency that the memory interface runs at.
> It's basic electronics - add more capacitaince and inductance, and
> the speed of the interface goes down.

Two factors in counter-point.  We're talking FB-DIMM tech time this comes
out, and this will be using upgrades to the same memory controller on the
CPU (only in this case GPU) AMD is already using to maintain its lead in
multi-socket performance against Intel (even while Intel's Core-Duo has
caught up at the low single-socket end).

> Remember, Intel doesn't make real 3D Gfx chips.  Unlike, Nvidia and
> Ati, Intel does most of it's 3D processing in software.  Thus opening up
> the chips specs and driver has little impact on any IP outside of Intel as
> it doesn't expose any IP that might belong to Micrsoft or SGI.

Does <> will do.  With aeroglass driving dx10 requirements, the low end of
the gfx market is about to get very legacy, very fast.  Their new chips
do more in hardware because they must, due to the performance
requirements.  That's the reason Intel's latest free driver release made
the headlines in the FLOSS world -- it's the first time we've had full
sources to something that capable.

> While ArsTechnica tends to be fairly reliable, I've found stories from the
> Register to be very, very, wrong - the assumptions were way off base or the
> reporter got the entire story wrong because they ignored documented history.
> I'd be very wary of believing a story in the Register without cross checking
> it with independent sources.  Sometimes the Register will get one sentence
> in the story correct.  Sometimes, the entire story is made up from that one
> sentence.

True to a point.  However, they /do/ get credit for being one of the first
to report the AMD/ATI merger discussion, way back when it was low-cred and
most were saying it was crazy because AMD had always said it did better
NOT doing the chipsets -- it did them early on in a cycle when third party
chipsets weren't yet widely available, but didn't upgrade them and
eventually phased them out as third party chipset solutions came online. 
(This was the case for both the K7 and K8 product cycles.)

Anyway, I'm not saying it'll happen, only that this is the best
opportunity for it to happen we have, and if for whatever reason AMD/ATI
fail to open their drivers, there will be a lot of folks for whom AMD is
no longer a viable option (unless other solutions appear).  AMD certainly
realizes this, and I expect they'll try to open them -- at least a
functional subset (possibly retaining some stuff closed, but as I said, a
functional 3D subset, enough to keep them in the game, anyway).

Meanwhile, I'm adjusting to the fact that it's quite possible my next
platform will be Intel.  However, as I mentioned earlier, that's a ways
out yet, and in the computer technology sector, a lot can happen in 2-4
years...   Hey, in that time, it's actually possible Vista will prove
seriously problematic and the MS market share will have actually budged a
bit (comparable to the IE/Firefox situation today, MS still has a big
lead, but for the first time in history, their share has actually budged
in the downward direction in real measurable terms).  The signs are
already there that it's ready for it, at least elsewhere than the US.  How
far behind the US will be, who knows, but it's obviously not front of the
pack.  The thing is... if those numbers actually start to budge, it'll
change the dynamics substantially, and I'm not sure any of us grok just
how different things might be in that case or where the tipping point is.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman

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