[SOLVED] GPU manufacturer question!

[Kisuke42]

Regarding multiple version of the same GPU from different manufacturer, such as Gigabyte, MSI, ASUS etc...
Who exactly is "making" the GPU, is it Nvidia/AMD or those manufacturer?

And why don't we have the same thing with CPUs?
Like there is no intel-i5 from MSI or Gigabyte.

 

[Lutfij]

AMD or Nvidia provides the GPU chip, the Add-in-Board partners reverse engineer their PCB designs to what you see on the retail market. The FE are what are now the reference PCB's, of sorts. Gigabyte, Asus, MSI, Zotac and their ilk all redesign the PCB.

And why don't we have the same thing with CPUs?
Like there is no intel-i5 from MSI or Gigabyte.
You don't want more chaos than what we're already dealing with. AIB partners already exist for motherboard's, since the chipset is provided by AMD/Intel.

 

[ko888]

AMD doesn't manufacture their own GPUs and CPUs. They design the chips but the manufacturing is outsourced to fab companies like TSMC.

It takes billions of dollars to build and operate a fab.

 

[tennis2]

I like to put it simply:

• AMD/Nvidia design the chip
• Gigabyte/MSI/Asus/etc/etc slap the chip on a PCB and strap a cooler to it.

AMD/Nvidia also provide PCB design standards/recommendations (which you will see on the Nvidia and AMD branded reference cards) to help. Gigabyte/MSI/Asus will mostly follow this standard in their PCB design. The most common deviation being VRM components. Further down the rabbit hole, the changes get less frequent/noticeable.

The GPU chip is actually very similar to a CPU. In that comparison, the GPU PCB = motherboard. The VRAM is soldered to the PCB, but functions like RAM to a CPU. Etc etc.