[kklimonda]

It's always been like this in GPU space - all reviews have always mentioned number of compute units (be it SMS or "cuda cores"), and the total available for the given architecture is also known. A lot can be told about relative performance of two cards based on that, so this information is useful not only to the investors.

[rob74]

AFAIK it's been like that in CPU space too - e.g. that 6-core CPUs are actually 8-core CPUs with 2 cores deactivated, either because of defects or because they needed more 6-core CPUs?

[numpad0]

It's always like that in consumer semiconductors. Intel has something like 3 to 5 actual silicon variants per generation that covers all dozen or two SKUs.

[pclmulqdq]

This sort of yield-enhancement-by-binning extends to almost every form of semiconductor, from amplifiers to server CPUs.

[nomel]

Sure, but Intel doesn't advertise the number of dead cores.