Intel Larrabee architecture revealed

[thilanliyan]

http://anandtech.com/cpuchipse...el/showdoc.aspx?i=3367

Here's more (a Larrabee, Cuda analysis):
http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/38750/113/

 

[Schadenfroh]

An article like that so soon was unexpected... reading now.

 

[Aberforth]

I hope it crushes ATI and NV.

 

[s44]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
I hope it crushes ATI and NV.

No you don't.

You thought a duopoly was bad?

 

[nonameo]

So, think we'll see nvidia try the same thing with ARM or something similar? Since ATI effectively has access to the x86 license, I don't see a point in them trying another architecture.

 

[tuteja1986]

Originally posted by: s44

Originally posted by: Aberforth
I hope it crushes ATI and NV.

No you don't.

You thought a duopoly was bad?

lol... IF Intel owns CPU and GPU market... very bad news to consumer and industry.
Larabee exterme edition 3.2Ghz $1200USD
Larabee 700 3.0Ghz $800
Larabee 600 2.9Ghz $700
Larabee 400 2.6Ghz $500
Larabee 300 2.4Ghz $400
Larabee 200 2.2Ghz $250
Larabee 100 1.8Ghz $150

2 year cycle :! each cycle only bringing 30% peformance increase :!

 

[Dadofamunky]

Wow. Ten Pentium Classic cores. Hmmm. Hard to get REAL excited about that. Still, it's kinda cool that Intel is attempting to leverage some of their old IP to push innovation and competition in the video card market. WAY too long to read all the way through tonight, though.

 

[imported_Champ]

what we can hope for is like a 5% performance difference so there can be even more forcing nvidia and ati to make better chips at lower prices...but for some reason i don't want to buy a Intel graphics card though...it just wouldnt feel right

 

[Aberforth]

Originally posted by: s44

Originally posted by: Aberforth
I hope it crushes ATI and NV.

No you don't.

You thought a duopoly was bad?

No, there must be a wind of change from time to time. Staying on the top all the time for some companies will inflate their heads like it did for NV....like they start to hire janitors to do design architecture and driver development.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Originally posted by: Dadofamunky
Wow. Ten Pentium Classic cores. Hmmm. Hard to get REAL excited about that. Still, it's kinda cool that Intel is attempting to leverage some of their old IP to push innovation and competition in the video card market. WAY too long to read all the way through tonight, though.

10 is just the ratio of equal resources when compared to current C2D tech (ie it would be 20 cores if compared to a C2Q)...an actual product might have much more...

The move to 45nm could scale as well as 50%, but chances are we'll see something closer to 60 - 70% of the die size simply by moving to 45nm (which is the node that Larrabee will be built on). Our 40-core Larrabee is now at ~370mm^2 on 45nm. If Intel wanted to push for a NVIDIA-like die size we could easily see a 64-core Larrabee at launch for the high end, with 24 or 32-core versions aiming at the mainstream.

This is all purely speculation but it's a discussion that was worth having publicly.

 

[Sylvanas]

Wow, it certainly sounds exciting. Software rendering and no need for hardware to support features of future DX/OpenGL iterations all we would need is a new driver . If anyone can pull it off, It's Intel- they have the resources now lets just hope they can continue on their present course we have seen in the past few years. Also this can only be good for Linux gaming, a transparent API based on X86 instruction set and no need for DX through Wine will be awesome.

 

[faxon]

wow. this looks to be so totally beyond anything i was expecting i just dont know exactly how to respond, other than to ask how much it will cost and when can i buy it . im sure by the time this comes out my 2900 PRO 1gb will be in need of an upgrade

 

[The Keeper]

I wonder what AMD and NVIDIA are planning to do if Larrabee architechture actually delivers. AMD has the x86 license and years of CPU experience to fall back from traditional GPUs to Larrabee-style GPU if it comes to that, provided it can stay a few years afloat with traditional Radeons and CPUs. But NVIDIA on the other hand, they don't have x86 license and using any other CPU instruction set likely wouldn't work because x86 is just that popular.

Hmm, I certainly hope that Larrabee delivers but I also hope that AMD can counter. Best of luck to NVIDIA as well... The industry and consumers need at least two major players.

 

[MarcVenice]

Interesting, but for now it's all speculation. A 16 core larrabee could blow away anything we've seen so far, but it could also be that a 128 core larrabee is needed to equal a HD4870 or GTX280's performance. One interesting piece is the memory bandwith, which could take on epic proportions, for relatively cheap.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Im predicting that round one will end up with intel ending up in the intensive care unit.

 

[Aberforth]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Im predicting that round one will end up with intel ending up in the intensive care unit.

Wanna bet?

 

[Cookie Monster]

Ill bet my cookie jar on it.

 

[ajaidevsingh]

I am so confused with this arc. !!! The 1024 bit is for interconnect right so the card will go with a PCIe slot that means for core scale you need a ECU to control the cores now the chip is also needed to talk to the PCIe slot that means a bridge.. Now a bridge has to be very very fast to co-ordinate the 8+ cores. Can it be that multiple CU's are used for a pair cores and then co-ordinate by the PCIe chip???

If there is a single control chip how can the scaling be so so good??

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
Ill bet my cookie jar on it.

I'm kinda with you on this one. I think, at best, the Intel solution will have performance equivalent to what Volari V8 was to the competitive offerings of NV/ATI at the time. And just as many driver glitches as Volari had.

I hope they prove me wrong however. :thumbsup:

 

[dakels]

While I always invite innovation and competition, a giant coming in to take over the entire block is a bit disconcerting. The amount of resources Intel has at it's disposal is intimidating. What is going to stop them from streamlining their "GPUs" and CPU's together for better performance to push out ATI and Nvidia? Am I making any sense?

 

[Genx87]

I am not that convinced it will compete with anything from AMD or Nvidia on the graphics front.

/shrug

 

[AmberClad]

Originally posted by: dakels
While I always invite innovation and competition, a giant coming in to take over the entire block is a bit disconcerting. The amount of resources Intel has at it's disposal is intimidating. What is going to stop them from streamlining their "GPUs" and CPU's together for better performance to push out ATI and Nvidia? Am I making any sense?

Way too early to be worrying about such possibilities, imho. I mean, this thing is slated for late 2009 or maybe 2010? And it'll take more than one generation to get something competitive.

 

[Fox5]

I think when this thing launches, it'll compete with the money makers of ATI and nvidia...the sub $200 cards.

 

[AmberClad]

When this thing launches, it won't be targeted at the consumer market, at least at first...

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: Aberforth
I hope it crushes ATI and NV.

After reading that article, I sincerely doubt it will be able to compete in the high end. Maybe after a few iterations, Intel will be able to compete though.