Intel Bails Out On Key Graphic Chip

[thejode 0]

Intel, the world's largest semiconductor chip creator (based on annual revenue) announced on Friday that it will be pulling out on a so called "trillion operations per second" chip, code named Larrabee.

 

Since April of 2007, Intel has been discussing the chip, stating that it will generate complex graphics for video games, and carry out extremely complicated mathematical formulas, plus other computer laboring chores.

 

Larrabee has aroused quite a bit of attention by leading graphic chip companies, such as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), and NVidia, due to the fact that the chip will open up a new business front in their already multi-billion dollar business.

 

Larrabee has been seen as a test for Intel's goal to generate a microprocessor that uses dozens of calculating brains rather than the traditional total on basic processors, which simply consists of 1-4 calculating engines. While AMD and NVidia are concentrated to do the designated task of driving a PC's graphic core, the initial basic Larrabee was expected to have 32 processors complete more generalized tasks, similar to a regular x86 microprocessor.

 

Intel's initial claim-to-fame was that it would be easier to program. But faced with the threat of the rapidly accelerating performance of competing companies, and its demonstration in September, which left computer experts and users alike, deeming it "unimpressive", things were starting to get hot and heavy.

 

Larrabee was supposed to come out in 2009; but Intel later stated that it might not come out until 2010. Finally, on Friday, they declared that it will be coming out mid-late 2010. There won't be a commercial version available, but privately available to programmers interested in developing applications to carry out computer tasks in a parallel fashion.

 

Intel does not plan to publically disclose any more information on Larrabee, but still trying to get programmers excited about the chip. They demonstrated its power to handle scientific computing chores at an industry conference in November, where it preformed a trillion operations per second. Larrabee still hasn't been proven to be able heavy duty graphic tasks as well as Intel guarantees it can. So for the time being, AMD and NVidia have a sizeable amount of breathing room.

[rayzoredge 2]

I don't understand why Intel even showcased Larabee if it wasn't impressive to begin with. Yes, engineers and project designers were probably wow'd by its capabilities, but to Joe Schmoe, it's not going to matter what it can do unless it can compete with discrete graphics card manufacturers. Someone didn't think that idea through... and thanks to that, no one is excited about Larabee anymore. We can actually wait for mid-2010.