AMD scoffs at Nvidia’s 'huge, monolithic' approach

AMD's ATI graphics chip unit will not build monolithic chips like what Nvidia is doing, according to an AMD executive. Nvidia, however, countered that smaller doesn't necessarily mean better. Hence, the stage is set for graphic chips that will power the next generation of computers.

Nvidia is approaching the problem with a strategy to design for the highest performance at all cost, and it shows in the upcoming GTX-280, which will come with an accompanying large transistor count. AMD, on the other hand, is adopting an approach of putting two separate chips on one board, which it claims will be much more power efficient.

In a way, the disparate approaches adopted by AMD and Nvidia could be said to mirror the yesteryear battle between CISC and RISC processors. Will one method turn out better than the other? Only time will tell.

For more on graphic chips:
- check out this CNET News.com blog