OUch, I didn't realize TMSC yields were so low. I mean I heard they were low, but THIS low? So I went to do a little fact checking, and lo and behold, someone made a very large mistake (orders of magnitude).
Quoted:
"Late last month some web-sites reported that TSMC’s yields on the 40nm fabrication process dropped from 60% to 40% recently and that ATI, graphics business unit of Advanced Micro Devices, and Nvidia Corp. were impacted. While TSMC confirmed it did have certain issues with 40nm process technology, the world’s largest contract maker of semiconductors stressed that those issues were “logistical”. Thus, TSMC wants to stress that 40nm yields now are about 60%."
source:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/other/display/20091109232633_TSMC_Denies_Huge_40nm_Yield_Drop.html
also:
http://www.techspot.com/news/36781-tsmc-40nm-yield-issues-to-affect-amd-and-nvidia.html
there are others, but those are the most recent.
so, no, its not 4%, which would make the 5870s run roughly $30,000 a pop (just pulled that out of no-where, don't know the real price). Hopefully this year they can up the yields further. This will, if anything, help nVidia. Where as AMD has had to put up with 20-30% yeilds at first and the associated low supply of chips and high price, nVidia will be coming into the production cycle after the kinks have been worked out, so they should enjoy a 'relatively' high yield right off the bat - which should help them with pricing and thus induce (YEY!) another price war with AMD. I, for one, cannot wait! Will be picking me up a 5970 sometime towards fall I think.
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