Release date | April 12, 2010 |
---|---|
Codename | GF10x |
Architecture | Fermi |
Models | GeForce series
|
Transistors | 260M 40 nm (GT218 - GeForce 405 only)
|
Cards | |
Entry-level | GT 420 GT 430 |
Mid-range | GT 440 GTS 450 GTX 460 GTX 465 |
High-end | GTX 470 GTX 480 |
API support | |
DirectX | Direct3D 12.0 (feature level 11_0) [1] Direct3D 11.1 (feature level 10_1, GeForce 405 only) Shader Model 5.1 Shader Model 4.1 (GeForce 405 only) |
OpenCL | OpenCL 1.1 |
OpenGL | OpenGL 4.6 |
History | |
Predecessor | GeForce 200 series |
Successor | GeForce 500 series |
Support status | |
Unsupported |
The GeForce 400 series is a series of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia, serving as the introduction of the Fermi microarchitecture. Its release was originally slated in November 2009, [2] however, after delays, it was released on March 26, 2010, with availability following in April 2010.
Its direct competitor was ATI's Radeon HD 5000 series.
Nvidia described the Fermi microarchitecture as the next major step in its line of GPUs following the Tesla microarchitecture used since the G80. The GF100, the first Fermi-architecture product, is large: 512 stream processors, in sixteen groups of 32, and 3.0 billion transistors, manufactured by TSMC in a 40 nm process. It is Nvidia's first chip to support OpenGL 4.0 and Direct3D 11. No products with a fully enabled GF100 GPU were ever sold. The GTX 480 had one streaming multiprocessor disabled. The GTX 470 had two streaming multiprocessors and one memory controller disabled. The GTX 465 had five streaming multiprocessors and two memory controllers disabled. Consumer GeForce cards came with 256MB attached to each of the enabled GDDR5 memory controllers, for a total of 1.5, 1.25 or 1.0GB; the Tesla C2050 had 512MB on each of six controllers, and the Tesla C2070 had 1024MB per controller. Both the Tesla cards had fourteen active groups of stream processors.
The chips found in the high performance Tesla branding feature memory with optional ECC and the ability to perform one double-precision floating-point operation per cycle per core; the consumer GeForce cards are artificially driver restricted to one DP operation per four cycles. With these features, combined with support for Visual Studio and C++, Nvidia targeted professional and commercial markets, as well as use in high performance computing.
Fermi is named after Italian physicist Enrico Fermi.
The quantity of on-board SRAM per ALU actually decreased proportionally compared to the previous G200 generation, despite the increase of the L2 cache from 256kB per 240 ALUs to 768kB per 512 ALUs, since Fermi has only 32768 registers per 32 ALUs (vs. 16384 per 8 ALUs), only 48kB of shared memory per 32 ALUs (vs. 16kB per 8 ALUs), and only 16kB of cache per 32 ALUs (vs. 8kB constant cache per 8 ALUs + 24kB texture cache per 24 ALUs). Parameters such as the number of registers can be found in the CUDA Compute Capability Comparison Table in the reference manual. [3]
On September 30, 2009, Nvidia released a white paper describing the architecture: [4] the chip features 16 'Streaming Multiprocessors' each with 32 'CUDA Cores' capable of one single-precision operation per cycle or one double-precision operation every other cycle, a 40-bit virtual address space which allows the host's memory to be mapped into the chip's address space, meaning that there is only one kind of pointer and making C++ support significantly easier, and a 384-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. As with the G80 and GT200, threads are scheduled in 'warps', sets of 32 threads each running on a single shader core. While the GT200 had 16 KB 'shared memory' associated with each shader cluster, and required data to be read through the texturing units if a cache was needed, GF100 has 64 KB of memory associated with each cluster, which can be used either as a 48 KB cache plus 16 KB of shared memory, or as a 16 KB cache plus 48 KB of shared memory, along with a 768 KB L2 cache shared by all 16 clusters.
The white paper describes the chip much more as a general purpose processor for workloads encompassing tens of thousands of threads - reminiscent of the Tera MTA architecture, though without that machine's support for very efficient random memory access - than as a graphics processor.
Many users reported high temperatures and power consumption while receiving correspondingly poor performance improves in the GeForce 400 series Fermi GPUs when compared to rival competitor AMD's Radeon HD 5000 series - leading AMD to create and release a promotional video "The Misunderstanding" [5] to poke fun at the issue. In the video, a police unit is seen commencing a raid on a house with a large thermal profile, indicating a grow operation. However, upon entering the home it is apparent that the source of the high temperature is a Fermi GPU. [6] [7] It became a common joke that one could fry an egg on a Fermi GPU at full load. [8]
SP - Shader Processor (Unified Shader, CUDA Core), SFU - Special Function Unit, SM - Streaming Multiprocessor.
All products are produced on a 40 nm fabrication process. All products support Direct3D 12.0 on a feature level 11_0, OpenGL 4.6 and OpenCL 1.1. The only exception is the GeForce 405, an OEM-only card, which is based on the GT218 (Tesla) core only supporting DirectX 11.1 with feature level 10_1, OpenGL 3.3 and no OpenCL support, and is the only card in the GeForce 400 range not based on the Fermi microarchitecture. By the parameters, the GeForce 405 is identical to the GeForce 310, also an OEM only card, which is itself based on the GeForce 210. All products have a single DB15 VGA connector on a full height and full length card, except as listed otherwise.
On November 8, 2010, Nvidia released the GF110 chip, along with the GTX 580 (480's replacement). It is a redesigned GF100 chip, which uses significantly less power. This allowed Nvidia to enable all 16 SMs (all 16 cores), which was previously impossible on the GF100 "Nvidia GeForce GTX 580". Various features of the GF100 architecture were only available on the more expensive Quadro and Tesla series of cards. [12] For the GeForce consumer products, double precision performance is a quarter of that of the "full" Fermi architecture. Error checking and correcting memory (ECC) also does not operate on consumer cards. [13] The GF100 cards provide Compute Capability 2.0, while the GF104/106/108 cards provide Compute Capability 2.1.
Nvidia announced that after Release 390 drivers, it will no longer release 32-bit drivers for 32-bit operating systems. [14]
Nvidia announced in April 2018 that Fermi will move to legacy driver support status and be maintained until January 2019. [15]
Model | Launch | Code name | Fab (nm) | Transistors (million) | Die size (mm2) | SM count | Core config [lower-alpha 1] [lower-alpha 2] | Clock rate | Fillrate | Memory configuration | Supported API version | Processing power (GFLOPS) [lower-alpha 3] | TDP (Watts) [lower-alpha 4] | Release Price (USD) | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Core (MHz) | Shader (MHz) | Memory (MHz) | Pixel (GP/s) | Texture (GT/s) | Size (MB) | Bandwidth (GB/s) | DRAM type | Bus width (bit) | Vulkan | Direct3D | OpenGL | OpenCL [lower-alpha 5] | Single precision | Double precision | ||||||||||
GeForce 405 [lower-alpha 6] | September 16, 2011 | GT216 GT218 | 40 nm | 486 260 | 100 57 | 1 | 48:16:8 16:8:4 | 475 589 | 1100 1402 | 800 790 | 3.8 2.36 | 7.6 4.71 | 512 1024 | 12.6 | DDR3 | 64 | n/a [18] | 11.1 (FL 10_1) | 3.3 | 1.1 | 105.6 44.86 | Unknown | 30.5 | OEM |
GeForce GT 420 | September 3, 2010 | GF108 | TSMC 40 nm | 585 | 116 | 48:4:4 | 700 | 1400 | 1800 | 2.8 | 2.8 | 512 | 28.8 | GDDR3 | 128 | 12 (FL 11_0) | 4.6 | 134.4 | Unknown | 50 | ||||
GeForce GT 430 | October 11, 2010 | GF108 GF108-300-A1 | 2 | 96:16:4 | 1600 1800 | 11.2 | 512 | 25.6 28.8 | 1.2 | 268.8 | Unknown | 60 | ||||||||||||
1800 | 512 1024 2048 | 28.8 | 128 | 1.1 | 268.8 | Unknown | 49 | $79 | ||||||||||||||||
1300 | 10.4 | 64 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
GeForce GT 440 | February 1, 2011 | GF108 | 810 | 1620 | 1800 3200 | 3.2 | 12.9 | 512 1024 | 28.8 51.2 | GDDR3 GDDR5 | 128 | 311.04 | Unknown | 65 | $100 | |||||||||
October 11, 2010 | GF106 | 1170 | 238 | 3 | 144:24:24 | 594 | 1189 | 1600 1800 | 4.86 | 19.44 | 1536 3072 | 43.2 | DDR3 | 192 | 342.43 | Unknown | 56 | OEM | ||||||
GeForce GTS 450 | 790 | 1580 | 4000 | 4.7 | 18.9 | 1536 | 96.0 | GDDR5 | 455.04 | Unknown | 106 | |||||||||||||
September 13, 2010 March 15, 2011 | GF106-250 GF116-200 | 4 | 192:32:16 | 783 | 1566 | 1200-1600 (GDDR3) 3608 (GDDR5) | 6.2 | 25.0 | 512 1024 | 57.7 | 128 | 601.34 | Unknown | 106 | $129 | |||||||||
GeForce GTX 460 SE | November 15, 2010 | GF104-225-A1 | 1950 | 332 | 6 | 288:48:32 | 650 | 1300 | 3400 | 7.8 | 31.2 | 1024 | 108.8 | 256 | 748.8 | Unknown | 150 | $160 | ||||||
GeForce GTX 460 | October 11, 2010 | GF104 | 7 | 336:56:32 | 9.1 | 36.4 | 1024 | 108.8 | 873.6 | Unknown | OEM | |||||||||||||
July 12, 2010 | GF104-300-KB-A1 | 336:56:24 | 675 | 1350 | 3600 | 9.4 | 37.8 | 768 | 86.4 | 192 | 907.2 | Unknown | $199 | |||||||||||
336:56:32 | 1024 2048 | 115.2 | 256 | 160 | $229 | |||||||||||||||||||
September 24, 2011 | GF114 | 336:56:24 | 779 | 1557 | 4008 | 10.9 | 43.6 | 1024 | 96.2 | 192 | 1045.6 | Unknown | $199 | |||||||||||
GeForce GTX 465 | May 31, 2010 | GF100-030-A3 | 3000 [19] | 529 | 11 | 352:44:32 | 608 | 1215 | 3206 | 13.3 | 26.7 | 1024 | 102.7 | 256 | 1.2 | 855.36 | 106.92 | 200 [lower-alpha 4] | $279 | |||||
GeForce GTX 470 | March 26, 2010 | GF100-275-A3 | 14 | 448:56:40 | 3348 | 17.0 | 34.0 | 1280 | 133.9 | 320 | 1088.64 | 136.08 | 215 [lower-alpha 4] | $349 | ||||||||||
GeForce GTX 480 | March 26, 2010 | GF100-375-A3 | 15 | 480:60:48 | 701 | 1401 | 3696 | 21.0 | 42.0 | 1536 | 177.4 | 384 | 1344.96 | 168.12 | 250 [lower-alpha 4] | $499 | ||||||||
Model | Launch | Code name | Fab (nm) | Transistors (million) | Die size (mm2) | SM count | Core config [lower-alpha 1] [lower-alpha 2] | Clock rate | Fillrate | Memory configuration | Supported API version | Processing power (GFLOPS) [lower-alpha 3] | TDP (Watts) [lower-alpha 4] | Release Price (USD) | ||||||||||
Core (MHz) | Shader (MHz) | Memory (MHz) | Pixel (GP/s) | Texture (GT/s) | Size (MB) | Bandwidth (GB/s) | DRAM type | Bus width (bit) | Vulkan | Direct3D | OpenGL | OpenCL [lower-alpha 5] | Single precision | Double precision |
GeForce is a brand of graphics processing units (GPUs) designed by Nvidia and marketed for the performance market. As of the GeForce 40 series, there have been eighteen iterations of the design. The first GeForce products were discrete GPUs designed for add-on graphics boards, intended for the high-margin PC gaming market, and later diversification of the product line covered all tiers of the PC graphics market, ranging from cost-sensitive GPUs integrated on motherboards, to mainstream add-in retail boards. Most recently, GeForce technology has been introduced into Nvidia's line of embedded application processors, designed for electronic handhelds and mobile handsets.
The GeForce 7 series is the seventh generation of Nvidia's GeForce line of graphics processing units. This was the last series available on AGP cards.
The GeForce 8 series is the eighth generation of Nvidia's GeForce line of graphics processing units. The third major GPU architecture developed by Nvidia, Tesla represents the company's first unified shader architecture.
The GeForce 9 series is the ninth generation of Nvidia's GeForce line of graphics processing units, the first of which was released on February 21, 2008. The products are based on an updated Tesla microarchitecture, adding PCI Express 2.0 support, improved color and z-compression, and built on a 65 nm process, later using 55 nm process to reduce power consumption and die size.
In the field of 3D computer graphics, the unified shader model refers to a form of shader hardware in a graphical processing unit (GPU) where all of the shader stages in the rendering pipeline have the same capabilities. They can all read textures and buffers, and they use instruction sets that are almost identical.
Tesla is the codename for a GPU microarchitecture developed by Nvidia, and released in 2006, as the successor to Curie microarchitecture. It was named after the pioneering electrical engineer Nikola Tesla. As Nvidia's first microarchitecture to implement unified shaders, it was used with GeForce 8 series, GeForce 9 series, GeForce 100 series, GeForce 200 series, and GeForce 300 series of GPUs, collectively manufactured in 90 nm, 80 nm, 65 nm, 55 nm, and 40 nm. It was also in the GeForce 405 and in the Quadro FX, Quadro x000, Quadro NVS series, and Nvidia Tesla computing modules.
The GeForce 200 series is a series of Tesla-based GeForce graphics processing units developed by Nvidia.
The GeForce 500 series is a series of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia, as a refresh of the Fermi based GeForce 400 series. It was first released on November 9, 2010 with the GeForce GTX 580.
The GeForce 600 series is a series of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia, first released in 2012. It served as the introduction of the Kepler architecture. It is succeeded by the GeForce 700 series.
The GeForce 700 series is a series of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia. While mainly a refresh of the Kepler microarchitecture, some cards use Fermi (GF) and later cards use Maxwell (GM). GeForce 700 series cards were first released in 2013, starting with the release of the GeForce GTX Titan on February 19, 2013, followed by the GeForce GTX 780 on May 23, 2013. The first mobile GeForce 700 series chips were released in April 2013.
Fermi is the codename for a graphics processing unit (GPU) microarchitecture developed by Nvidia, first released to retail in April 2010, as the successor to the Tesla microarchitecture. It was the primary microarchitecture used in the GeForce 400 series and 500 series. All desktop Fermi GPUs were manufactured in 40nm, mobile Fermi GPUs in 40nm and 28nm. Fermi is the oldest microarchitecture from Nvidia that receives support for Microsoft's rendering API Direct3D 12 feature_level 11.
The GeForce 800M series is a family of graphics processing units by Nvidia for laptop PCs. It consists of rebrands of mobile versions of the GeForce 700 series and some newer chips that are lower end compared to the rebrands.
The GeForce 900 series is a family of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia, succeeding the GeForce 700 series and serving as the high-end introduction to the Maxwell microarchitecture, named after James Clerk Maxwell. They are produced with TSMC's 28 nm process.
The GeForce 10 series is a series of graphics processing units developed by Nvidia, initially based on the Pascal microarchitecture announced in March 2014. This design series succeeded the GeForce 900 series, and is succeeded by the GeForce 16 series and GeForce 20 series using the Turing microarchitecture.
Kepler is the codename for a GPU microarchitecture developed by Nvidia, first introduced at retail in April 2012, as the successor to the Fermi microarchitecture. Kepler was Nvidia's first microarchitecture to focus on energy efficiency. Most GeForce 600 series, most GeForce 700 series, and some GeForce 800M series GPUs were based on Kepler, all manufactured in 28 nm. Kepler found use in the GK20A, the GPU component of the Tegra K1 SoC, and in the Quadro Kxxx series, the Quadro NVS 510, and Tesla computing modules.
Maxwell is the codename for a GPU microarchitecture developed by Nvidia as the successor to the Kepler microarchitecture. The Maxwell architecture was introduced in later models of the GeForce 700 series and is also used in the GeForce 800M series, GeForce 900 series, and Quadro Mxxx series, as well as some Jetson products.
Pascal is the codename for a GPU microarchitecture developed by Nvidia, as the successor to the Maxwell architecture. The architecture was first introduced in April 2016 with the release of the Tesla P100 (GP100) on April 5, 2016, and is primarily used in the GeForce 10 series, starting with the GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070, which were released on May 27, 2016, and June 10, 2016, respectively. Pascal was manufactured using TSMC's 16 nm FinFET process, and later Samsung's 14 nm FinFET process.
Volta is the codename, but not the trademark, for a GPU microarchitecture developed by Nvidia, succeeding Pascal. It was first announced on a roadmap in March 2013, although the first product was not announced until May 2017. The architecture is named after 18th–19th century Italian chemist and physicist Alessandro Volta. It was Nvidia's first chip to feature Tensor Cores, specially designed cores that have superior deep learning performance over regular CUDA cores. The architecture is produced with TSMC's 12 nm FinFET process. The Ampere microarchitecture is the successor to Volta.
Turing is the codename for a graphics processing unit (GPU) microarchitecture developed by Nvidia. It is named after the prominent mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing. The architecture was first introduced in August 2018 at SIGGRAPH 2018 in the workstation-oriented Quadro RTX cards, and one week later at Gamescom in consumer GeForce 20 series graphics cards. Building on the preliminary work of Volta, its HPC-exclusive predecessor, the Turing architecture introduces the first consumer products capable of real-time ray tracing, a longstanding goal of the computer graphics industry. Key elements include dedicated artificial intelligence processors and dedicated ray tracing processors. Turing leverages DXR, OptiX, and Vulkan for access to ray tracing. In February 2019, Nvidia released the GeForce 16 series GPUs, which utilizes the new Turing design but lacks the RT and Tensor cores.