During GTC 2014, Nvidia has updated its GPU roadmap and has announced the new Pascal GPU, scheduled for 2016. Named after Blaise Pascal, a French mathematician, physicist, inventor and much more, the new Pascal GPU will pack some of the new features which Nvidia also announced during the GTC 2014, including the NVLink, 3D Memory, Unified Memory and a new Module size.

Shown in the hands of Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia CEO, the Pascal GPU is one-third the size of a PCI-Express card or simply the size of two standard credit cards, which is the new Module size. It will feature the new NVLink which is a new chip to chip communication bus. The new NVLink should bring 5 to 12x increase in bandwidth when compared to the PCI-Express.

The Pascal will also feature 3D Memory, a 3D Chip-on-Wafer integration which will bring 2.5x capacity, four times the energy efficiency and even higher increase in memory bandwidth. The 3D Memory will use Through Silicon Vias (TSVs) which will connect DRAM chips through each other.

As you can see from the picture below, the updated roadmap now includes Pascal but lacks earlier seen Volta GPU, so it appears that Volta is actually Pascal. The year 2014 will be the year of Maxwell, while Pascal should come in 2016.







Source: Nvidia.com.