Skip to main content

Nvidia reveals a whole new kind of Ethernet for generative AI

Nvidia has announced details of a new networking platform designed specifically with generative AI workloads in mind, promising lightning-speed lossless networking.

The company’s new Spectrum-X technology is built using the Spectrum-4 Ethernet switch and BlueField-3 DPU, and promises performance and power efficiency increases of as much as 1.7x.

In a press release, the company said: “The delivery of end-to-end capabilities reduces run-times of massive transformer-based generative AI models,” which in turn enables companies to operate and make decisions more quickly, unlocking cost-saving potential.

Spectrum-X Ethernet

Nvidia’s Networking Senior VP, Gilad Shainer, said: “Spectrum-X is a new class of Ethernet networking that removes barriers for next-generation AI workloads that have the potential to transform entire industries.”

Its key component, the Spectrum-4 Ethernet switch, is capable of 51 Tb/sec speeds. What this means for consumers is that, in conjunction with BlueField-3 DPUs and Nvidia LinkX optics, a 400 Gigabit Ethernet network is enabled.

The company looked to provide an insight into the powerful networking capabilities that AI supercomputers can now tap into in real-world cases:

“Nvidia Spectrum-X enables unprecedented scale of 256 200Gb/s ports connected by a single switch, or 16,000 ports in a two-tier leaf-spine topology to support the growth and expansion of AI clouds while maintaining high levels of performance and minimizing network latency.”

Elsewhere, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang held up the Spectrum-4 switch chip during his presentation at the Computex expo’s opening speech, sharing more insight into its design. The hundred billion transistors on a 90x90 mm die draws around 500 watts, he said.

Already, Nvidia is testing its Spectrum-X in its Israeli data center in the Israel 1, a hyperscale generative AI supercomputer running Dell PowerEdge XE9680 servers based on the Nvidia HGX H100 eight-GPU platform.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The latest Apple TV 4K test lets you watch four sports streams at once

Apple is trying something new with the latest beta version of tvOS 16.5: the option to watch up to four simultaneous streams at once. Right now it's limited to live sports streamed through the Apple TV app on the Apple TV 4K , specifically MLB Friday Night Baseball and the MLS Season Pass. A multi-view option was spotted in the tvOS software last month, but the code was hidden and not enabled. MacRumors reported that the feature would be enabled this weekend, and beta testers have since been able to use it. As yet multi-view hasn't been officially announced by Apple, but it's expected that tvOS 16.5 is going to be pushed out in its final form within the next month or so. WWDC 2023 is around the corner as well, when we should be hearing about the next major updates for Apple's various operating systems – including tvOS 17. How it works Over at 9to5Mac there's a hands-on demonstrating how the multi-view feature works, and it's pretty much as you would expe...

Garmin's new radar-equipped tail light will keep you safe on your e-bike

Garmin's Varia bike radars are some of the most popular pieces of cycling tech around – and now the company has delivered its first rearview radar to have been specially designed for some of the best e-Bikes .   Garmin's Varia range mounts to the back of your bike and broadcasts a radar signal behind you, so you can get visual and audible alerts when something's overtaking you. Even better, the new Varia eRTL615 plugs directly into most e-bikes, with no battery required. Because the catchily-named Varia eRTL615 is also a tail light, it'll also make sure you're visible to other vehicles too, promising to emit a flashing or solid light that's visible from up to a mile away in daylight. To connect Garmin's new radar tail light to your e-bike, you'll need to pick the right Garmin adapter cable (which isn't included). You can buy power cables compatible with Bosch, Shimano, or USB-A terminals or connections, with more info on those available on Garmin...

Nvidia RTX 4080 GPU could get cheaper with a new version – but don’t get your hopes up

Nvidia’s RTX 4080 is purportedly getting a new spin on the GPU which could reduce the cost, but any price reduction will likely be very minor, sadly, if it happens at all. Tom’s Hardware flagged up this rumor – and treat it with caution, as with anything from the ever-spinning mill – that originated from HKEPC (a tech site in Hong Kong), claiming that while the current RTX 4080 graphics card is built on the AD103-300 chip, Nvidia is going to use a slightly different GPU in the future, namely AD103-301. There’s now more evidence this is actually happening, Tom’s points out, courtesy of a graphics card maker, Galax, which under its RTX 4080 product details lists the GPU as ‘AD103-300/301’. Furthermore, VideoCardz , which also picked up on this, informs us that Gainward, another card maker, has also listed the updated GPU variant AD103-301 in its product specs. With two separate third-party graphics card makers mentioning this new spin on the GPU in their specs, it seems pret...