A New GPU Company Appears - Bolt Graphics

[The_Mess]

- YouTube

And it sounds like they know what they’re doing, but more importantly, instead of fucking around with LLM support, they’re instead going hard on RT and Path Tracing from the start. As by doing this they actually created a proper hardware for RT that’s raw performance suggests it wont need upscaling. Below 4K of course. And more importantly, when the release gaming focused cards, they’re aiming to not make them stupidly expensive, while also making it possible for users to add more memory via LDDR5 SODIMM’s O_O

Which means guess what? Even if the cheapest releases with only 8GB, a 16GB SODIMM will easily allow you to have enough memory. But also by using SODIMM slots, you can get the needed memory for Path Tracing even on a medium level card. But it looks like Bolt wants to provide 16GB+ LPDDR5 at minimum in the 1st place. And can do so at a price point that isn’t obscene, because it’s cheaper than GDDR6/5.

The downside though is going to be reduced raw rasterisation performance, from both their architecture (Chiplet, RISC5), but to be frank, modern GPU’s already can push massive raw FPS, so I model they’ll be fine. At least once the drivers are up to scratch, because building this GPU from scratch means they need to build an emulation layer for DX and Vulkan/OpenGL and that will take time and resources to pull off.

But unlike Intel, who went gaming first, Bolt is taking their time by going with workstation/server work loads for rendering and modelling etc. Which gives them longer to build out the gaming compatibility and so avoid Intel’s massive screw up with the Arc launch. While also being under less financial pressure.

More importantly, given how the big two are fucking everyone over who needs a GPU, including workstation side of things, there’s a massive market demand unmeet. Combined with Nvidia and AMD’s exposure to the LLM Bubble and the utter clusterfuck over they’ll get when it bursts, Bolt are poised to potentially do to Nvidia what Nvidia did to 3dfx Interactive, Inc.

Provided it doesn’t all go to complete shit of course, trillions of US$ are caught up in the LLM Bubble, so it’s going to be a shitshow if austerity becomes the response. Though unfortunately the lessons of the Great Depression are all to often ignored, because “There Is No-other Alternative” but to repeat the same stupidity of the past and hope for a different response.

Anyhow, I’m going to choice optimism here and hope we see Bolt Graphics succeed and thrive and make the big two scramble to find their footing in the consumer market again. If they survive, going to be extremely lulzy if Nvidia goes bankrupt and is broken up for parts and Bolt buys some of those parts XD

[jerm1974]

[The_Mess]

Due to my ADHD, I run on a wellspring of infinite hope

But yeah, this was always going to happen, because the consumer GPU market it worth billions and anyone with a working brain can see the LLM Bubble is doomed and with all three current GPU makers caught up in it there’s an opening in the market.

I just didn’t expect it to pop up this early, never mind before the Bubble pops, because GPU’s are expensive to do R&D on, never mind make the chips for. Add in the LLM Bubble eating up capital like it’s chocolate bon-bons and it’s so good to see there’s still some brains left in the venture funding sector. And judging by the rise of some new indies, they also see the games industry is worth investing in. Which means the seeming death spiral of the big publishers is only going to lead to a new crop of new indie devs, seeking niches the big publishers have irrationally abandoned to chase trends.

[ edit - hopefully, because shit is bleak at present and I want all the awesome devs I’ve seen and those I haven’t to stay in the industry if they can and tell more stories to move us emotionally ]

Oh and I hope none of the idiots involved in the LLM Bubble get bail outs too, they choose to chase a tech that doesn’t work and so they shouldn’t get to socialise the costs of their mistake. And the only bail outs (at pre Bubble prices) should be to those who needed those investments for pensions, not the fund managers who stupidly chased the Bubble.

[Ellium]

Looks OK, but I will wait for results and reviews first. If it doesn’t run older games properly, it wont be worth buying.

[The_Mess]

Oh it probably will, DX9’s easy to emulate these days and with the way Bolt’s aiming themselves to support gamers, so unlike Intel, and Nvidia with their dicking around on OpenGL performance, I suspect they’ll work hard to get older games running. They may already have had discussions with GOG to get access to the oldest games they need to test. And they’re looking to take the time too to work stuff out properly.

But yeah, raw fps wise (sans RT/PT) it’ll probably be mid to start with simply because it is a new GPU architecture, but assuming it’s priced around US$300-$500 it should be good enough to serve people’s needs. Hell, I may very well jump on board early myself since it’s going to be a pain in the arse to get my 3070Ti up to 16GB, as Nvidia gimped it by giving it only 8GB.

It will how ever kick Nvidia’s arse in RT and PT workloads XD Because instead of adding in RT units into an older architecture, they’re integrating it from the start and not wasting silicon on LLM bullshit.

Oh and also, Intel’s done some major work and I now regard Arc GPU’s as a good option for those on a tight budget since they’ve fixed driver and performance issues. Though if not for the LLM Bubble they’d have probably released a higher end GPU by now Also the story behind it is really neat, check up Intel Xe sometime for the dets.