Hello all!
I have followed this discussion quite a lot and finally got the possibility to participate.
At least I can help with the comparison die shots because I have spent a lot of time collecting and looking for the best possible die shots available in Internet. In that process I've found higher resolution versions of Brazos/Ontario/Zacate and RV770 die shots than those used for comparison here:
High-res Brazos/Ontario/Zacate APU die:
http://www.ixbt.com/cpu/images/amd-bobcat/bobcat-die-hq.jpg
Higher-res RV770 (Ati Radeon HD 4870/4850) GPU die:
http://www.pcgameshardware.com/screenshots/original/2008/07/RV770_single_Chip.png
The Llano APU die shot used here is the best one I've found, and for those interested in the looks of VLIW4 Radeon GPU here are two nice high-res Trinity APU die shots:
http://www.hitech.co.kr/file/bbs/102/102_764_Second_Generation.jpg and
http://electronicdesign.com/content/content/73953/73953_fig1.jpg.
These at least allow us to compare the blocks with higher resolution so that the comparison pictures can be updated and hopefully some new information like similar blocks can be found easier. Here is some information about UVD position of
Llano and blocks of
Trinity and
Brazos so that we can know better what the blocks do. Anyway, Latte should have some kind of UVD and display controller in those unknown blocks, so I hope we can identify them with this additional information.
We should also remember that the unknown Latte blocks should also include the ROPs, memory controller and likely also tessellator together with some other GPU parts for which blocks with similar functions exist in these APU and RV770 dies. Then there are those DSP, ARM and possibly some Hollywood logics for compatibility in Latte that shouldn't appear in any of these APUs in addition to possible custom Nintendo logics. Maybe detailed comparison of these die shots might let us identify some of these blocks, or maybe not because blocks with similar functions may have completely different lay-out in different chips with different FAB proccesses and also base building blocks of GPU may be redesigned with some additional custom functions in Latte. At least all blocks in Latte are different unlike in other GPUs, so the complete chip seems to be optimized to minimize die size instead of just copying the same shader and TMU blocks like in other GPUs.
If you're interested in die shots or if these die shots look beautiful, then please check my die shot collection thread at CPU World forum:
http://www.cpu-world.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19888. There you'll find a lot of links to beautiful die shots including most AMD, Intel and IBM CPUs. I still have a lot to add there including about a dozen nVidia GPU die shots, so I'll continue expanding the collection.
I also want to really say Thank You to Chipworks, NeoGAF and Marcan because all this has given me so many great die shots to my collection. Please PM me here or at CPU World or contact me otherwise if you have some nice die shots for me that I may not yet have in my collection.
