1. PCI Express ® : Enabling New Opportunities for Graphics Barry Wagner Director of Technical Marketing NVIDIA Corporation

2. Session Outline Increased bandwidth of PCI Express® enables a new direction for GPU design Scalability of PCI Express creates a new category of gaming machines PCI Express transition creates an opportunity for a new open standard for laptop graphics upgrades

3. PCI Express – Raising the Bar on Mainstream Graphics Graphics companies utilize PCI Express bandwidth in place of dedicated graphics memory Substantial cost saving for consumers Graphics pipeline changed to allow rendering directly to system memory Combination of HW and SW used to manage surface allocation Users get better compatibility, stability, reliability from new, frequently improved drivers and GPU architectures at a lower price.

4. Rendering to System Memory Fundamental new direction in discrete GPU design Direct rendering to system memory significantly reduces local graphics memory requirements Better laptop performance at a lower power and cost due to fewer memories Delivers latest graphics architectures and performance to affordable price points Enabled by PCI Express

5. PCI Express Bandwidth Improvements Improved Write Bandwidth is Critical for Rendering Directly to System Memory Bandwidth (GB/s) READ 1 WRITE 2 AGP-8X20.2 PCI Express x1644 1 READ from system memory to GPU 2 WRITE from GPU to system memory

6. Benefits of PCI Express System Cache vs. Conventional AGP Architecture Core Logic Core Logic System DRAM System DRAM 3.2 GB/S 128MB Graphics Memory 4GB/s cannot render efficiently to system memory Traditional GPU 16Mx16 Core Logic Core Logic PCI Express Graphics Device PCI Express Graphics Device System DRAM System DRAM 96MB dynamically allocated for graphics 128MB Graphics Memory 13.6GB/s Peak bandwidth 32MB 4Mx32 4GB/s 5.6 GB/S 4GB/s Bi- directional PCI Express data paths enable efficient rendering to system memory

7. Typical 3D Pipeline Triangle Setup L2 Tex Shader Instruction Dispatch Fragment Crossbar Graphics Memory Graphics Memory Z-Cull

8. Shared Memory Through MMU Render directly to system memory at full speed Texture from system memory at full speed Dynamically allocate surfaces anywhere Present NVIDIA TurboCache TM architecture Triangle Setup L2 Tex Shader Instruction Dispatch Fragment Crossbar Graphics Memory Graphics Memory Z-Cull MMU System Memory

9. Shared Memory Enables Higher Performance at Lower Price 128MB Shared Memory 256MB Shared Memory 128MB 64-bit Local Memory 256MB 128-bit Local Memory Integrated Graphics 1 DRAM pricing changes constantly. A variety of market sources are available to confirm the approximate pricing reflected here. http://www.dramexchange.com is one such source.http://www.dramexchange.com 3DMark05 10x7 0x AA / 0x Aniso

10. WB 99 High-End Disk SysMark 2004 PCMark 2004 Business Winstone 2004 Biz WS CC WB 99 Business Disk Shared System Memory Design Outperforms Integrated Graphics and Traditional GPU architectures in a Variety of System Benchmarks No Negative Impact to System Performance

11. More Usable PCI Express Bandwidth = Faster Performance 4 GB/s 6 GB/s 3DMark05 10x7 0x AA / 0x Aniso No need to wait for new applications to use the new bandwidth like we experienced with AGP

12. Key Points PCI Express has enabled a new direction in GPU Design Graphics performance scales with usable PCI Express bandwidth improvements Cost reductions for graphics memory enable more consumers to experience games the way they were meant to be played. Laptops get better performance, lower costs, and longer battery life with system memory cache

13. PCI Express Returns Scalable Graphics Performance to the PC AGP was NOT very scalable Architected for a single graphics slot Scaled frequency over the bus life-cycle PCI Express planned for scalability Scalable bus widths : x1, x2, x4, x8, x16 Port Splitting Down-shifting Frequency scaling: 2.5GHz (Gen1), 5GHz (Gen2) General purpose bus means multiple slots available for scaling performance

14. Port-Splitting in the Core Logic Dividing a slot into multiple independent links Benefits Allows 2 or more GPU on a single x16 slot without the need for a bridge chip Does not require multiple x16 slots on the motherboard Enables performance for wider install base of motherboards Drawbacks Higher power density on a single card May require larger than standard form factor cards Optional feature in PCI Express specification so risk that a specific card may not work in every system.

15. Down-Shifting on the Motherboard Wiring fewer lanes to a slot than the max x8 slots wired for x4 link width x16 slots wired for x8 link widths Why? There will always be a limited number of lanes Benefits Cheapest way to get 2 slots that are capable of fitting the x16 edge connector used on graphics cards 2x the GPU performance with standard cards Avoid inventory management of both x8 and x16 cards Drawback Motherboard has to support slot power level

16. Scalable Graphics Impact PCI Express High-End Graphics Specification 75W from x16 slot 75W from HE power connector Scalable solutions demand more power for the graphics subsystem Graphics companies have already started to request the PCI-SIG® begin addressing a demand for greater than 150W cards.

17. When do Systems Benefit from Dual GPU Designs? When you play Modern GPU intensive games at: High Resolutions(1600x1200) with: Anti-Aliasing (4xAA) Anisotropic Filtering (8xAF) Example Applications that Scale: Battlefield Vietnam, Doom3, Far Cry Game images are the property of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved.

18. Nvidia’s Design With Scalable PCI Express GPU-to-GPU Interconnect 1GB/s digital link Provides pixel and synchronization information Multiple system implementations supported Rigid PCB with standard edge connectors Flexible cables with standard edge connectors Embedded designs Optimized within Software Can be enabled or disabled by driver and/or user User may prefer to enable 4 displays for some applications in non-scaled mode

19. Solutions Possible for Any Compatible System Dual x16 slots fully-wired motherboard: 2 compatible standard graphics cards with scalability support Rigid or flexible cable between the cards Single x16 slot without Port Splitting: 2 GPUs on a single card plus a x16 to x8 PCI Express bridge Inter-connect embedded in PCB Single x16 slot with Port Splitting: 2 GPUs on a single card Inter-connect embedded in PCB Dual x16 slots each down-shifted to x8: 2 compatible graphics cards with scalability support Rigid or flexible cable between the cards

20. Nvidia’s Dynamic Load Balancing Technology HW and Driver work together to determine best algorithms to share workload between cards Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) Split Frame Rendering (SFR) Performance Improvement depends on ability to share work across cards Works with almost any 3D application Today some applications benefit more than others Some popular applications show 1.7x – 2x increase Future games will trend toward 2x increase as indicated by 3dMark05

21. NVIDIA SLI TM A new class of gaming performance Benchmarks run at 1600x1200 4x/8x on nForce 4 SLI Motherboard with AMD Athlon 64FX

22. Key Points: PCI Express provides for better scalability Factor in dual GPU architectures into your graphic power budgets

23. A New Opportunity to Address Mobile Graphics Form Factor Desktop PC standard form factors has enabled growth and innovation Rapid time to market Range of choice addresses all market segments Drives competition The Mobile PC Platform has not benefited from a common form factor Mobile PC development cycle is long Per platform custom graphics integration is expensive Custom design limits OEM/ODM choices & ultimately the consumer’s

24. Notebook Graphics Modules Today Engineering resources are not leveraged Custom BIOS Custom connectors Custom power delivery Custom cooling Custom Power Management

25. PCI Express is a catalyst for change PCI Express electrical changes require a new look at the platform Robust differential links can tolerate modular design No longer able to just send out the old footprint compatible laptop. PCI Express brings new power management options Scalable link widths Power down links you don’t need Notebook Platform has matured substantially Platform requirements are better understood Lessons learned from current module experience

26. What issues must be addressed by a new Mobile PC Graphics Architecture? Broad industry participation Open Architecture A common host interface (PCI Express) Enable broad range of power, thermal, & mechanical boundaries Cover a variety of display output technologies VGA, DVI, LVDS, Video (HDCP) A common software layer and partitioning for the video BIOS and system BIOS

27. MXM – Mobile PCI Express Module Open architecture co-developed with many leading ODM/OEM AOpen, Arima, Asustek, Clevo, FIC, Mitac, Quanta, Tatung, Uniwill, Wistron and more. Enables a consistent graphics interface across all PCI Express notebooks Supports up to x16 PCI Express One design, many notebooks Use different graphics solutions, from ANY vendor Potential for consumer upgradeable graphics Modules already designed for various NVIDIA, ATI, and S3 products

28. Key Points: The PCI Express transition is creating new opportunities for competition in the notebook PC The notebook platform is evolving toward a common modular graphics form factor in many segments MXM is one open architecture developed with the notebook industry to leverage the limited engineering resources. Now is the time for the industry to come together on a common form factor.

29. Call To Action Consider system memory cache solutions for your mainstream desktop and mobile markets For maximum graphics performance, build systems with multiple x16 slots to enable best scalability of graphics hardware Consider whether MXM is right for your next laptop design or purchasing decision Let your PCI-SIG reps know you want the graphics industry power and scalability issues to continue to be addressed by the PCI-SIG.

30. For More Information PCI Express Specifications www.pcisig.com NVIDIA PCI Express Product Information http://www.nvidia.com/page/pci_express.html NVIDIA TurboCache Technology http://www.nvidia.com/page/turbocache.html NVIDIA SLI Technology http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_sli_home.html MXM Technology http://www.nvidia.com/page/mxm.html

31. Community Resources Windows Hardware & Driver Central (WHDC) www.microsoft.com/whdc/default.mspx Technical Communities www.microsoft.com/communities/products/default.mspx Non-Microsoft Community Sites www.microsoft.com/communities/related/default.mspx Microsoft Public Newsgroups www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups Technical Chats and Webcasts www.microsoft.com/communities/chats/default.mspx www.microsoft.com/webcasts Microsoft Blogs www.microsoft.com/communities/blogs