Tare da PlayStation 5 da Xbox Series X waɗanda aka shirya don isowa nan ba da jimawa ba, yawancin ku daga can kuna iya neman haɓaka haɓakawa. Ƙarfafa ƙarfin ƙarfin duka biyun consoles, dangane da ƙarfin CPU da GPU galibi saboda kayan aikin da suke amfani da su. An gina su duka biyun consoles a kusa da AMD SoCs na al'ada, suna haɗa nau'ikan abubuwan Zen 2 CPU da RDNA2 GPUs don tsalle-tsalle na zamani na gaske. Amma ta yaya ake kera wannan siliki daidai? SoCs ba kawai wani abu bane da ke shiga cikin PlayStation ko Xbox akan layin taro. Akwai adadi mai yawa na tunani, ƙoƙari, da aiki waɗanda ke shiga cikin ginin kowane guntu. Bari mu nutsu mai zurfi mu bincika yadda ake kera silicon na'ura mai kwakwalwa.
Wanene a zahiri ke ƙera siliki na console? Ba daidai ba ne kamar yadda kuke tunani
Kafin mu shiga yadda ake yin masana'anta bari mu fara da wanda. Wanene ke yin SoCs a zuciyar kowane PlayStation 5 da Xbox Series X da Series S waɗanda ke mirgine layin masana'anta? Masu kera na'urorin wasan bidiyo ba su da alhakin. Babu Sony ko Microsoft da ke cikin kasuwancin ƙirƙira semiconductor. Duk waɗannan ɓangarorin AMD ne, don haka a zahiri za ku ɗauka cewa AMD ke kera kwakwalwan kwamfuta. Amma wannan ma ba gaskiya ba ne. AMD ta kasance tana da nata tushen siliki har zuwa kusan shekaru 8 da suka gabata, lokacin da ta rabu gaba ɗaya daga GlobalFoundries. AMD shine abin da ake kira "maras kyau" masana'antun silicon. A'a, wannan ba abin mamaki ba ne tare da buga rubutu guda biyu. Masu masana'anta ba sa kera wani abu da kansu. Masana'antun ƙirƙira kamar AMD, Qualcomm, NVIDIA, da ƙirar ƙirar ƙirar Apple.
Suna yin aikin aikin injiniya don gina kwakwalwan kwamfuta waɗanda suka cimma aiki, farashi, da maƙasudin inganci. Sannan suna yin kwangilar nauyin masana'anta zuwa ma'aunin siliki. TSMC shine tushen zaɓi na AMD kuma, kamar yadda sunan (Kamfanin Masana'antar Tattalin Arziƙi na Taiwan) ya nuna, suna da hedkwata a Taiwan tare da kafuwar duniya. TSMC ita ce kafa ta uku mafi girma a duniya. Manyan guda biyu, Intel da Samsung, suna da cikakkiyar sarƙoƙin samar da kayayyaki. Samsung, musamman, yana yin komai tun daga kera silicon zuwa sanya shi a cikin wayoyinsa.
Na'urar wasan bidiyo ta AMD's Semi-custom console chips suna cikin manyan oda mafi girma waɗanda TSMC ke sarrafa: Sama da 150 miliyan PlayStation 4 da Xbox One an sayar da su a cikin shekaru 7 da suka gabata. Wannan babban kwakwalwan AMD da TSMC ke ƙera. Amma kafin TSMC ya iya kusanci don gina PlayStation 5 ko Xbox Series X SoC, tsarin ƙira yana buƙatar kulawa ta, kun zato, AMD.
Semi-al'ada guntu ƙira: amfani da tsohon a cikin sababbin hanyoyi
APUs masu iko duka PlayStation 5 da Xbox Series X guntu ne na al'ada. Duk masana'antun biyu suna da tarihin haɗa wannan kalmar a kusa. Amma menene ainihin ma'anarsa?
Zana SoC na al'ada gaba ɗaya babban aiki ne. Yana iya kashe ɗaruruwan miliyoyin daloli ko ma fiye da haka. Kuna magana ne game da zayyana sabon CPU core, sabon GPU, I/O connectivity, har ma da abin da ke tattare da komai tare. Sakamakon haka, ƴan masana'antun SoC a zahiri suna ƙirƙira cikakkun kwakwalwan kwamfuta na al'ada, ƙarshe zuwa ƙarshe. Apple yana yin wannan kuma NVIDIA ta m Tegra X1 Denver wani misali ne, amma cikakken SoCs na al'ada sune banda, ba ka'ida ba.
Semi-al'ada SoCs suna ɗaukar ƙirar guntu data kasance suna haɗa su ta sabbin hanyoyi. Wannan shine abin da muke gani tare da SoC akan PlayStation 5 da Xbox Series X. Dukansu waɗannan sassan suna yin amfani da ƙirar AMD's Zen 2 CPU da RDNA2 GPU. An riga an yi amfani da Zen 2 a cikin samfuran jigilar kaya, wato AMD's Ryzen 3000 jerin CPUs masu amfani da layin sabar EPYC Rome. RDNA2, magana mai ƙarfi, bai sanya shi zuwa samfurin jigilar kaya ba tukuna. Amma AMD's RX 6000 “Big Navi” GPU, wanda aka saita don bayyanar Oktoba 2020, na iya buga PlayStation 5 da Xbox Series X azaman farkon jigilar kaya RDNA2.
Ba kamar tare da CPUs da GPUs ba, SoC tsari ne na tsaye akan guntu, tare da duk abin da aka haɗa tare akan mutu ɗaya: GPU, CPU, substrate, I/O, da ƙwaƙwalwar ajiya duk an haɗa su tare. Saboda akwai ƙarancin sassa masu motsi, galibi yana da inganci don samun TSMC ya gina muku SoC, maimakon CPU da GPU daban.
Masu kera kayan wasan bidiyo suna taka rawa sosai a wannan lokacin wajen yanke shawara akan nau'in SoC da suke son ginawa. Abubuwa da dama sun shigo cikin wasa anan. Girman mutu - girman kowane guntu na SoC - yana daidaita kai tsaye da farashi kowace raka'a. Matattu mafi girma na iya ɗaukar manyan ƙirar CPU da GPU, wanda ke nufin ƙarin iko. Koyaya, wannan kuma yana fassara zuwa mafi girman thermals da ƙarin amfani da wutar lantarki. Ƙungiyar ƙira ta AMD tana aiki tare da buƙatun masana'antun na'ura na wasan bidiyo a hankali don fito da ƙirar na'urar wasan bidiyo na musamman na SoC waɗanda suka dace da tsammanin mai yin wasan bidiyo dangane da aiki, farashi, girman mutu, da buƙatun wutar lantarki.
Gidan da aka kafa yana kera kwakwalwan kwamfuta: kamar takaddun bugu, sai dai hanya mafi rikitarwa
Da zarar an kulle ƙirar, masana'anta mara kyau suna aiki tare da kafa (TSMC a cikin wannan yanayin) don a zahiri yin kwakwalwan kwamfuta. Masana'antar SoC tana kama da bugu da yawa, sai dai ya fi rikitarwa mara iyaka. AMD suna raba ƙirar da'irar su don SoC tare da TSMC. Kuma, sa'an nan, ta yin amfani da wani tsari da ake kira photolithography, da tushen etches cewa tsara, tare da biliyoyin transistor a kan wani wafer na silicon. Doping, wani tsari ne wanda ake amfani da ƙazantattun abubuwa waɗanda ke canza halayen silicon, don ƙirƙirar ƙananan ƙananan yankuna na unipolarity, waɗanda ke gina ƙofofin dabaru, sannan su zama transistor. Kamfanonin yana ɗaukar ƙirar da'ira mai ban mamaki, har zuwa transistor waɗanda ke da nanometer a fadin, kuma suna buga shi akan silicon ta amfani da lithography. Haɓaka dabarun lithographic yana da tsada sosai. Bugu da ƙari, yawan amfanin ƙasa ba 100 bisa ɗari ba - ba kowane mutu ba ne ke yin shi tare da duk abubuwan da aka gyara. Tare, waɗannan da sauran abubuwan suna tasiri farashin kowane PlayStation 5 ko Xbox Series X SoC.
Kammalawa: Saka guntu a cikin na'ura wasan bidiyo
SoC, zuciyar na'urar wasan bidiyo wanda ke yin duk aikin, TSMC ne ya yi. Microsoft da Sony sun manne guntuwar SoC a cikin chassis na wasan bidiyo kuma suna haɗa sauran abubuwan haɗin gwiwa, gami da ajiya da mafita mai sanyaya. Haɗa shi duka kuma kuna samun na'ura mai kwakwalwa ta tara.
