Intel to license AMD graphics IP

[AnandThenMan]

If Intel was happy with their own GPU tech this deal would have never taken place.

 

[piesquared]

Probably the death knell for intel's GPU ambitions. They are trash, they only sell because they are glued together with their CPUs, not because they are any good. Looking forward to announcements from AMD for what else they have cooking.
As for intel's EMIB, is there any real data for proof on whether or not the thing even works properly? Some people seem to be just assuming it is a forgone conclusion that does. Maybe it does, maybe it's junk like many of intel's other ambitions. Infinity Fabric is here and proven, wouldn't that be something if intel ends up licensing Infinity Fabric instead of the other way around? AMD doesn't need EMIB, IF works and works well, and will get even better over time.

 

[magomago]

trash is probably being harsh; i'm sure its as good as it can get in the face of patent minefields.

Probably the death knell for intel's GPU ambitions. They are trash, they only sell because they are glued together with their CPUs, not because they are any good. Looking forward to announcements from AMD for what else they have cooking.
As for intel's EMIB, is there any real data for proof on whether or not the thing even works properly? Some people seem to be just assuming it is a forgone conclusion that does. Maybe it does, maybe it's junk like many of intel's other ambitions. Infinity Fabric is here and proven, wouldn't that be something if intel ends up licensing Infinity Fabric instead of the other way around? AMD doesn't need EMIB, IF works and works well, and will get even better over time.

 

[PeterScott]

trash is probably being harsh; i'm sure its as good as it can get in the face of patent minefields.

There is no GPU Patent minefield for Intel. Intel has licensed all of NVidias past GPU Patents in perpetuity.

They could build a GPU with all the advanced patented features of NVidia Pascal if they had the desire/talent.

The problem with Intel IGP solutions is that they stopped developing the a couple of years ago when they reached "good enough" status.

Too many people make all kinds of unwarranted, wild speculations that don't pass go in the logic department.

There is no sign that future Intel processors are going to replace Intels "Good Enough" IGP solution with one that forces them to pay a license fee to AMD for each CPU they sell. That would be epic failure for Intel.

This product doesn't integrate Intel CPU and AMD GPUs any more than putting them both in the same laptop does.

 

[LightningZ71]

The ONLY product that I see this really impacting for Intel is their Iris Pro product with eDRAM. That's an expensive product to make and keep around in limited numbers. This solves the market that that was reaching for neatly in a way that works for Intel (no need for a special die that has limited economical reuse elsewhere) and AMD (gives them additional volume and revenue). I feel that this product can eventually be price competitive with other laptops that currently use dgpus (it's simpler to integrate onto the motherboard and arrange cooling), can offer compelling performance for all but the most demanding of use cases, and can be scaled up and down as needed with respect to power and performance. With AMD and Intel both offering APUs, AMD offering an APU that performs about as well as Nvidia's bottom tier dGPU solution that likely gives them the most volume, this new product offering better power/performance combined stats than Nvidia's mid tier dGPUs, the only place left for Nvidia is at the very top end. They can attempt to sell at sharply reduced prices in the mid market, but that just erodes their profits (though, it helps out consumers). I also feel that Nvidia's dominance in the top end may come into question next year when we should see a second generation product that features a VEGA chip, likely produced at a better process node. With what would be expected efficiency gains, it will have more performance available in the same power and thermal envelope. This means that you don't have to build a massive and complex laptop to support Nvidia's top end dGPU setup to experience high end gaming. You can have a normal sized notebook with normal components. That will be a massive gain for manufacturers (lower cost components, lower prices for additional volume). Nvidia, to compete, would have to make great strides in the power/performance efficiency and actual package size of their dGPU solutions to compete. An improved process node would help, but it will still need a good amount of cooling, motherboard space, and power routed to a second place on the board. None of that is trivial.

 

[Elixer]

Can't say I was expecting this, and, obviously, it makes sense to Intel for whatever reason, which I am thinking has to be related to AMD's IPs to allow them to do this kind of thing quickly (as in, not reinvent the wheel to get around AMD's patents).