August 4th, 2008
Intel takes aim at Nvidia, AMD's ATI
Intel is wading into the graphics chip market and its wake could roil Nvidia and AMD’s ATI.
On Monday, Intel is disclosing details (Intel statement, Techmeme) about Larrabee, a chip that will have stand alone graphics processing and aim for the gaming market. While Nvidia and AMD will poke holes in Larrabee the effort may miss the point. Intel can ruin pricing and squeeze its counterparts by just revealing its hand. Larrabee will land in 2009 or 2010.
Jon Peddie writes at Peddie Research:
Anyone not stuck in outer space or maximum security knows Intel is going to introduce a new chip code named Larrabee. At Siggraph they are going to reveal, after almost two years of teases and leaks, the architecture of the device.
It is not a GPU as many have mistakenly described it, but it can do most graphics functions, Intel says it can do all, we’ll have to wait for proof. Right now its slide-ware, but development systems are supposed to become available in November.
ATI and Nvidia will be very busy discrediting the device and pointing out its shortcomings. They should, given that Intel has all but ruined their share prices with disparaging comments about GPUs. Perhaps Intel needs to be reminded of some of its past triumphs; the Itanium and XScale come immediately to mind.
Peddie then examines whether there’s a market for a third graphic player and concludes yes.
Brooke Crothers also recaps Intel’s technology and new features such as software-based scheduling, execution threads, and ring networks.
Is Larrabee a guaranteed win? No, but Intel is likely to be very disruptive and squeeze both Nvidia and ATI.
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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