Mobile Compute Capability 1.3 Which GPUs (current & imminent)

Accelerated Computing CUDA CUDA Programming and Performance
1

Hi, I have been crawling the web for information on which mobile GPUs will have 1.3 Compute Capability.

All the GTX 2XXM series are based on the 94 architecture and so that’s a no-go.

The best I have found are the GTS 250M / GTS 260M / GT240M / GT230M / GT210M (which do not appear to have been released in notebooks yet), but the information not definitive; along the line of “based on the new 200 series architecture”.

Would anybody know whether these support 1.3, or whether there are any mobile GPUs that will be released soon with 1.3 compute capability?

Thanks!

2

The same question is also nagging me.

3

I believe those new models support compute capability 1.2 (same as 1.1 except with twice the number of registers).

Hopefully we’ll get double-precision support in the 300-series mobile chips…

4

Hmm, the Dell / Alienware M15x appears to have a GT240M, upgradable to GTX260M at extra cost.
Cheaper are models from ASUS, e.g the ASUS G60VX-JX006K equipped with a GTX260M also

Still far from “affordable”, so I am sticking with the previous generation mobile GPUs.

Christian

5

Hi, I just bought a new ASUS G51VX with NVIDIA GTX 260M 1GB inside.
I used “deviceQuery” appliaction from CUDA SDK 2.3 and found that its compute capability is 1.1
I am wondering, is it a real compute capability of GTX 260M?

6

Yes. GTX 260M is compute 1.1.

GTS 260M is compute 1.2. They should be available “real soon now” from OEMs… likely they’re all waiting for Windows 7 launch to fire off the new models.

This page is often useful… not always complete, but perhaps the best reference. The 40 nm GDDR5 chips are compute 1.2. It’s unclear about the GDDR3 40nm chips, but probably.

7

Ouch! That is disappointing. What information does GPU-Z give you on the chip? Can you post a screenshot of it?

Christian

8

Wikipedia lists GTX 260M as DirectX 10 part and GTS 260M as DirectX 10.1 part

Interestingly, the GT 240M is also listed as DirectX 10.1 part - and available in the Alienware laptop. Hmm, so does this have compute 1.2 then? ;)

Christian

9

Have we established whether there are ANY mobile gpus with CC 1.3?

10

The answer is no.

11

And when will this deplorable situation be rectified? :D

12

Dunno, soon I hope. Double-precision hardware apparently adds a lot of extra circuitry to the chips though, which saps power, etc., which is why you don’t see any mobile versions. I’ve been keeping an eye out for a double-precision mobile chip, but neither nVidia or ATI looks like they’ll have one until at least the NEXT generation of cards (ATI 6xxx or post-Fermi).

13

I don’t think we will see mobile double precision hardware until one of the mainstream APIs (ie a DX11 successor) demands it, and even then mobile parts usually trail their desktop parts by half or one generation in API support. Like profquail says, it is a lot of extra logic and die area to tie up for little return as things stand. I would expect that mobile GPUs of the future will start looking more like Tegra, ie. lots of dedicated fixed function hardware for multimedia acceleration as well as reduced function desktop derived 3D GPU stuff, than the parts we have to day. It makes more sense from a power consumption point of view to do so. A lot more so than double precision, at least for the mainstream market.

14

Well thanks for the clear answer! It would help if the CC level could be routinely printed in the product web pages and literature.

It is an odd business though - there is a mobile workstation market, and while it is small it could be well served by some DP-capable GPUs, perhaps with a smaller number of cores or technology like turbo boost to power down when not in full use. Right now I have to put my big desktop onto a tea trolley to go give a lecture, and I cannot do that if I travel to a conference or go to see a business. I do not care much about battery life either as I almost always plug in - I have not even bothered to replace some batteries that no longer work or charge.

15

Absolutely - trying to find this out can be a real pain.

16

Finding the right compute capability for the mobile version of CUDA enabled cards is very difficult.

It should be pretty easy to add one more line in the SPECIFICATION for each chip the Compute Capability of the device (1.1, 1.2, 1.3 or more…).

For example, it is hard to find out the compute capability of a GTS 360m card in the website [url=“http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_gts_360m_us.html”]http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_gefor...ts_360m_us.html[/url]

They already have enough information below.

GPU Engine Specs:
CUDA Cores 96
Gigaflops 413
Processor Clock (MHz) 1436 MHz

Is it difficult to add one more column a specification of the compute capability of the GPU card ?

Regards,
Jay

17

I’m asking around to see if we can list the compute capability on all product pages in the near future.

18

Thanks. It will be big help if the CUDA compute capability is included with each product.

I am looking to buy the Toshiba laptop that has GTS 360m GPU in it (TOSHIBA Qosmio X505 Q870).

Does anyone whether GTX 360m compute capability is CUDA 1.2 or CUDA 1.3 ?

It is important that I have a mobile version of GPU card that is atleast CUDA 1.2 compatible ?

Any help will be appreciated.

  • Jay

Do you know

19

Your best bet regarding Compute Capability is the latest programming guide. The device you mentioned is not listed there, though; but I think there is no mobile GPUs with 1.3 capability, so as device specification mention it is DX 10.1 compatible, I’d guess it’s CC 1.2.

Also: +1 for listing CC in the device specifications. Programming guide is always lagging behind the latest products, so oftentimes there is simply no way of knowing CC of some devices; as NVIDIA product lines naming schemes are extremely confusing, even guessing anything is rather hard.

20

Thanks a lot for the quick reply.

So you are suggesting that since the GTS 360m is compatible with DX10.1, it might be a CUDA 1.2 capable GPU card ? This is still a speculation.

I have not found a single official NVIDIA specification listing GTS 360m as a CUDA 1.2 capable device.

The naming schemes are much more confusing and misleading for notebook GPUs. For example GTX260 desktop version is a CUDA 1.3 capable card, but GTX260m (mobile version) is only a CUDA 1.1 capable card.