Need some information about ROPs in GPU Memory

[c00face]

I am not sure what ROPs are and how they associate themselves with the memory modules. I am tinkering with my R9 290 and the best solution is to replace the memory modules on the GPU. The problem was finding a more cheaper solution than spending $28 dollar on eBay for a used R9 290.

 

The purpose of this project for me is to just to understand what I can repair and what I can't. It's a nice little learning project for me and I am having fun doing it. That being said, part of the goal is to find very cheap solution to repairing my GPU. After some research, I came to the conclusion that the DDR5 memory modules are the same on your PC memory stick as they are on the GPU. The question is, what stops me from actually just using the memory stick DDR5 memory module to replace the GPU DDR5 modules?

 

That's when a person on another forum told me about ROPs. He said to his knowledge, ROPs are tied to each memory module and probably has some specific coding to each module. So what exactly are ROPs and how do they function and does ROPs not exist in a regular PC memory DDR5 module? (I would of asked that person on that forum, but apparently it shutdown as of today.)

[c00face]

[Mira Yurizaki]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Render_output_unit

 

ROP units are in the GPU itself. In NVIDIA's GPUs they are tied to the memory controllers, which are also in the GPU. In AMD GPUs they're tied to the compute unit.

[KEIN NEIN]

For what they are, you just need to google it:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Render_output_unit

 

that's all I can help with

 

The render output unit, often abbreviated as "ROP", and sometimes called raster operations pipeline, is a hardware component in modern graphics processing units (GPUs) and one of the final steps in the rendering process of modern graphics cards. The pixel pipelines take pixel (each pixel is a dimensionless point), and texel information and process it, via specific matrix and vector operations, into a final pixel or depth value. This process is called rasterization. So ROPs control antialiasing, when more than one sample is merged into one pixel. The ROPs perform the transactions between the relevant buffers in the local memory – this includes writing or reading values, as well as blending them together. Dedicated antialiasing hardware used to perform hardware-based antialiasing methods like MSAA is contained in ROPs.

All data rendered has to travel through the ROP in order to be written to the framebuffer, from there it can be transmitted to the display.

Therefore, the ROP is where the GPU's output is assembled into a bitmapped image ready for display.

Historically the number of ROPs, TMUs, and shader processing units/stream processors have been equal. However, from 2004, several GPUs have decoupled these areas to allow optimum transistor allocation for application workload and available memory performance. As the trend continues, it is expected that graphics processors will continue to decouple the various parts of their architectures to enhance their adaptability to future graphics applications. This design also allows chip makers to build a modular line-up, where the top-end GPUs are essentially using the same logic as the low-end products.^[1]

[suchamoneypit]

You are a bit confused. ROPs are built into the silicon in the GPU die itself. What you have circled are the memory modules. Also, the 290 has GDDR5. Not DDR5. DDR5 doesn't even exist yet, we only have DDR4 right now. One its computer memory, one is graphics specific memory. You cannot swap them, and even if you could, DDR5 doesn't exist so you won't be finding modules for sale to try and put on your 290.

[TheRandomness]

A few things come to mind.

1) Where on Earth are you finding used R9 290s for $28?
2) GDDR5, which is based off of DDR3, is QDR - Quad Data Rate, instead of DDR - Double Data Rate. For every clock cycle, a single GDDR5 memory chip can have twice as much data go in/out of it as a single DDR3 memory chip. This is why you see the "effective" speed of graphics memory listed as 4 times higher than the base speed. You can't just swap the modules since they're designed for different things.
3) You don't need render-based objects (the ROPs) in a PC's main memory, since, well, the CPU isn't going to render things, that's down to the GPU. Which is why the GPU has the ROPs built in.

[mariushm]

sigh...  your video card uses GDDR5  ... it's not the same memory technology as what you have on RAM sticks... RAM sticks use DDR3 or DDR4 chips.

 

You can replace the GDDR5 on your video card with GDDR5 chips from other video cards, as long as they have the same footprint (the contacts on the bottom of the memory chips in the same arrangement, layout). Some memory manufacturers use the same footprint, some use custom footprints.

Also, your video card must contain information about the memory chips in their BIOS.

For example, one of my RX 570 video cards has presets for Hynix and Micron memory chips - even if I find let's say Nanya or Samsung GDDR5 chips with same footprints, they may not work with the video card because the video card BIOS may not know how to configure them and the built in presets for Hynix or Micron may not be compatible.

 

You can use AtiWinFlash - https://www.techpowerup.com/download/ati-winflash/ - to download the bios from the video card,

For RX  series I can use a tool called SRBPolaris to see which memory chips are supported.

It's unlikely to work on R9 .... you may want to check this thread for pre-RX series : https://www.overclock.net/forum/67-amd/1561372-hawaii-bios-editing-290-290x-295x2-390-390x.html

 

and the memory chips are not related to ROPs it's just memory chips connected to a memory controller inside the gpu chip.

[Mira Yurizaki]

22 minutes ago, c00face said:

The purpose of this project for me is to just to understand what I can repair and what I can't. It's a nice little learning project for me and I am having fun doing it. That being said, part of the goal is to find very cheap solution to repairing my GPU. After some research, I came to the conclusion that the DDR5 memory modules are the same on your PC memory stick as they are on the GPU. The question is, what stops me from actually just using the memory stick DDR5 memory module to replace the GPU DDR5 modules?

I should probably touch on this as well.

 

GDDR5 and DDR3 (which is where GDDR5 came from) may be based on the same technology, but there are key differences that prevent people from installing main memory into a video card as VRAM. That doesn't mean you can't use GDDR5 memory as main memory (the PS4 would say otherwise), but you can't take DDR3 chip and solder it on a video card or vice versa.