Do you think we see a dGPU from Imagination Tech or ARM (Mali GPU)?

[cbn]

Do you think we will see a dGPU from Imagination Tech or ARM (Mali GPU)?

I am mainly thinking of a lower end one (single slot, low profile) with updated media and display.....but please discuss other options if you like.

P.S. I got the idea to make this thread after reading this post.

 

[Samwell]

This won't happen. First of all IMG and ARM don't build GPUs. They only provide the IP, so a third party would need to build it. 2nd Point is it makes commercially no sense. Too high development cost compared to what you can earn. Integrated Graphics killed this market.

 

[cbn]

Integrated Graphics killed this market.

Not exactly because Haswell can't do HDMI 2.0b, HEVC or VP9 hardware decode.

Actually even Skylake is missing some hardware decode features and Kabylake (the newest Intel chip) doesn't have HDMI 2.0b natively.

 

[daxzy]

Not exactly because Haswell can't do HDMI 2.0b, HEVC or VP9 hardware decode.

Actually even Skylake is missing some hardware decode features and Kabylake (the newest Intel chip) doesn't have HDMI 2.0b natively.

Haswell is pretty much EoL now, being 3 generations old.

Besides the fact that there probably won't be a market for this (so you're targeting 5+ year old PC users that want to upgrade solely for watching HD videos?). The other biggest issue would probably be DX driver compatibility.

 

[wilds]

I could see Imagination entering the low end laptop/desktop GPU market if an ARM CPU replaces an x86 cpu.

This way legacy games will be incompatible anyways. But it wouldn't be a dGPU. Everything will be on one chip.

Will Apple's first ARM Macbook have an Imagination GPU?

 

[cbn]

so you're targeting 5+ year old PC users

Yes, but is that a problem? Desktops are very durable and thus upgrading an existing PC rather than buying a new one is a viable alternative.

With that mentioned Haswell (or even Skylake which doesn't support 10 bit H265) wouldn't be 5 years old at this time. Haswell was introduced May 2013.

 

[whm1974]

Yes, but is that a problem? Desktops are very durable and thus upgrading an existing PC rather than buying a new one is a viable alternative.

With that mentioned Haswell (or even Skylake which doesn't support 10 bit H265) wouldn't be 5 years old at this time. Haswell was introduced May 2013.

A Sandy Bridge i5 or i7 CPU is still a very usable CPU, a low cost dGPU would still be a worthwhile upgrade if it allowed the user to watch videos and movies in new formats.

 

[BFG10K]

There's not really room for a third player, and the barrier of entry is too high. Also you can't just release hardware, you need drivers that can run thousands of games properly and with good performance.

If Intel completely flopped with Larrabee even after pouring billions into it, there's no chance for anyone else.

 

[cbn]

. Also you can't just release hardware, you need drivers that can run thousands of games properly and with good performance.

Thanks for the info on the driver and gaming issue.

My main concern would be accelerating the UI? Would this be a driver issue as well?

Because the low profile single slot card I want (in this instance) doesn't need to play games (or use other 3D applications).....it would be just for 4K video and internet browsing.

 

[daxzy]

Yes, but is that a problem? Desktops are very durable and thus upgrading an existing PC rather than buying a new one is a viable alternative.

With that mentioned Haswell (or even Skylake which doesn't support 10 bit H265) wouldn't be 5 years old at this time. Haswell was introduced May 2013.

A Sandy Bridge i5 or i7 CPU is still a very usable CPU, a low cost dGPU would still be a worthwhile upgrade if it allowed the user to watch videos and movies in new formats.

Yea, but the kicker is that SandyBridge+ CPU's have enough CPU power to decode pretty much all VP9 content anyways, so buying a hardware decoder seems moot. Haswell/Broadwell does fine with VP9 decode. I have a Haswell E3 Xeon (basically a i7-4770) as a media/storage server, and it can transcode 2x H265 10bit streams at around 20-30 Mbps just fine. Skylake has hybrid decode as well. I don't see anyone with SandyBridge+ CPU's rushing out to buy a hardware GPU with H265/VP9 decode when their CPU's can handle it.

So your target market is really Core2 based systems. Not sure how Nehalem does on VP9 software decode. I imagine the i7 variants to do just fine.

 

[cbn]

Yea, but the kicker is that SandyBridge+ CPU's have enough CPU power to decode pretty much all VP9 content anyways, so buying a hardware decoder seems moot. Haswell/Broadwell does fine with VP9 decode. I have a Haswell E3 Xeon (basically a i7-4770) as a media/storage server, and it can transcode 2x H265 10bit streams at around 20-30 Mbps just fine. Skylake has hybrid decode as well. I don't see anyone with SandyBridge+ CPU's rushing out to buy a hardware GPU with H265/VP9 decode when their CPU's can handle it.

I'm still a bit unclear about Sandy Bridge+ Core i5 and i7 CPUs for 4K60 VP9 You tube based on the results in this thread. However, even if the processor could do the 4K60 VP9 software decode the stock iGPU video output would not support 4K60 on a TV (Display port will work for 4K60 on a monitor, but HDMI 2.0 is needed for a TV).

With that noted, it Its more than just VP9 and HDMI 2.0b.

10 bit H265 and HDCP 2.2 are needed for 4K netflix and UHD Bluray. In fact, a Skylake i7 can't play 4K netflix for that reason and others* (Kabylake is the minimum).

*I believe Microsoft's PlayReady is also needed for 4K Netflix.

 

[cbn]

Also as mentioned in Virtual Larry's thread support for Analog (via DVI-I) would be awesome.

Currently, the only GPU capable of VP9 hardware decode, 10 bit H265, HDMI 2.0b and DVI-I is 2nd generation Maxwell. The smallest die of which is the GM206 (which is used in harvested form in the GTX 950).