Tech-savvy enthusiasts are waiting for Nvidia's next-gen GPUs, the Pascal series. One of the supposed main selling points of this new lineup is that the Nvidia Pascal reportedly uses high-bandwidth memory (HBM). But a recent report might shed some light on this, as it seems Nvidia will use both HBM and GDDR bandwidth for its new GPU iteration.
According to TechSpot, a recent shipment of supposed Nvidia Pascal GPUs from Taiwan to Bangalore for testing inadvertently revealed some details about the upcoming GPU. Reportedly, the Pascal lineup will come out with at least two versions.
The industry follower stated that according to the shipment info, the Pascal GPU going into testing measured 37.5 millimeters x 37.5 millimeters, with at least 2,152 pins. With this dimensions, it is highly unlikely that HBM has been used in the architecture. TechSpot surmised that Nvidia might have used GDDR5 or GDDR5X with this batch, dubbed the Nvidia Pascal GP104 GPU.
Meanwhile, the other versions, the high-end GP100, will be the one to use HBM since it is expected to measure 55 millimeters x 55 millimeters. This dimension would be highly compatible with the supposed Pascal GPU's 16nm factory process and HBM bandwidth set-up.
In connection to Nvidia's announcement of the Pascal GPU series at this year's Consumer Electronic Show, SemiAccurate reported that the company might have been a step ahead of the competition and chose to remain silent about it. According to the industry observer, Nvidia's presentation at the CES might have accidently spilled the details, based on the showcase itself. The CES presentation by Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang of a Drive PX 2 board with a Pascal GPU showed an early 2015 timestamp, meaning that Nvidia has been ready with this technoly since early last year.
