Insiders Say Intel to Build PlayStation 4 GPU

[Tindytim]

[citation][nom]afrobacon[/nom]whats the fastest card Intel has out right now? How does it compare to Nvidia/ATI?[/citation]

Intel doesn't have a single card out. Just a bunch of integrated solutions. None of which compete with any serious solutions, but none of them were meant to.

Although I found something rather interesting when I did a bit of research into the matter:

Comparison with the Cell Broadband Engine

Larrabee's philosophy of using many small, simple cores is similar to the ideas behind the Cell processor. There are some further commonalities, such as the use of a high-bandwidth ring bus to communicate between cores. However, there are many significant differences in implementation which should make programming Larrabee simpler.

* The Cell processor includes one main processor which controls many smaller processors. Additionally, the main processor can run an operating system. In contrast, all of Larrabee's cores are the same, and the Larrabee is not expected to run an OS.

* Each compute core in the Cell (SPE) has a local store, for which explicit (DMA) operations are used for all accesses to DRAM. Ordinary reads/writes to DRAM are not allowed. In Larrabee, all on-chip and off-chip memories are under automatically-managed coherent cache hierarchy, so that its cores virtually share a uniform memory space through standard load/store instructions.

* Because of the cache coherency noted above, each program running in Larrabee has virtually a large linear memory just as in traditional general-purpose CPU; whereas an application for Cell should be programmed taking into consideration limited memory footprint of the local store associated with each SPE (for details see this article) but with theoretically higher bandwidth.

* Cell uses DMA for data transfer to/from on-chip local memories, which has a merit in flexibility and throughput; whereas Larrabee uses special instructions for cache manipulation (notably cache eviction hints and pre-fetch instructions), which has a merit in that it can maintain cache coherence (hence the standard memory hierarchy) while boosting performance for e.g. rendering pipelines and other stream-like computation.

* Each compute core in the Cell runs only one thread at a time, in-order. A core in Larrabee runs up to four threads. Larrabee's hyperthreading helps hide latencies and compensates for lack of out-of-order execution.

http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larrabee_(GPU)

I'd like to have faith in Intel, considering their great success with their SSDs on their first try. But that was a relatively new technology, that doesn't have a large market for it. So I can only hope it does well.

 

[Guest]

" Hatecrime69 02/07/2009 4:04 AM
intel doing the gpu? I don't know..considering how little experience they have with it"

With current GPU technologies - yes. But if they go along a completely different path? After all Tim Sweeney mentioned that next generation consoles would support Ray-Tracing. Also Intel has the money and Intel knows how to make silicone. So what's the big deal if they decide to make a different kind of processor?

Also before GF3 there weren't any programmable GPUs at least made by NVIDIA. So they didn't have any previous experience but it was a tremendous success and the first XBOX had it inside, didn't it?

 

[moe2freaky]

Intel GPU(multiple cpu's) + Cell CPU = Programming nightmare???

Intel GPU(multiple cpu's) + Intel CPU = Programmers dream. Money lost on Cell research.

With Sony ditching Nvidia we might lose backwards compatibilty with ps3 games like what happened to microsoft. Unless they will do software emulation for every game.

 

[apache_lives]

The team working on Larrabee is separate from the Intel GMA team. The hardware is being designed by Intel's Hillsboro, Oregon design team, whose last major design was the Pentium 4. The software and drivers are being written by a newly-formed team. The 3D stack specifically is being written by developers at RAD Game Tools (including Michael Abrash).[

Intel Hardware + Pro Driver/Software teams? I can see this working.

I wonder if the desktop variants will have "extreme edition" on it...

 

[Zoonie]

C'mon people, don't hate yet. I too feel this can go straight to the woods, but think back a little.

PowerVR was a company who always tried to put a nice gfx card on the market for gaming PC's and failed over and over to match the competition. Yet the Dreamcast had an easy programmable and good gfx chipset.

Only time will tell.

 

[Guest]

Seriously people?? This is THE ENQUIRER we are talking about. Im surprised toms hardware even posted an article linking to them. Disregard pretty much anything from THE ENQUIRER.

 

[Cheshyr]

I think the Intel angle is less interesting than the NVidia angle in this article. Intel is known for moving into and out of markets, and I invite them to give this segment a shot.

Nvidia blacklisted from the console market? What happened? Did I miss some big f-up that got everyone all pissed at them?

 

[davidgbailey]

In a system you have a processor and memory. On a graphics card you have a processor and memory. All 3 companies deal with that on a regular company. They all make chipsets as well. I'm surprised Intel waited so long. They obviously have the technological advantage in making chips. Their specialization has given them an advantage (along with tons of money pumped into research). We'll see if they can handle expansion without losing some of their lead. Yet more competition leads to yet more advancements and yet lower prices.

 

[davidgbailey]

Blessedman is right. They've made tons of chipsets for onboard graphics.

 

[Slobogob]

Charlie Demerjiana


The second i read it, i knew all of this was just speculation. Junk.

 

[pug_s]

It is possible for Intel to build a gpu that is as good as nvidia and ATI as they know how to cram a bunch tranistors into a small sized chip. The problem with Intel is writing drivers for them. With making the PS4, they could probably get help from sony to make drivers for their system.

 

[yoda8232]

[citation][nom]1raflo[/nom]http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larrabee_(GPU)According to this article, Larrabee is expected to have nearly 2 teraflops of computing power (a lil more raw computing power than a single 4870X2, lets w8 until the first benchmarks ...)[/citation]

We'll see.

 

[ADM-86]

mm this turn out to be pure BS...damn TH you are becoming the new inquirer or at least #1 supporter of it.

 

[JonnyDough]

A move by Sony to reduce future console costs with an increase in component competition. A chance for Intel to make a good profit.

Perhaps Sony is doing this in response to plans by NVidia of wanting to create a console of their own?

 

[tipoo]

whoa, does anyone else thing Sony is being EXTREMELY risky, going with a company that has NEVER made a discreet GPU? maybe they liked what they saw behind closed doors though, thats something we dont know.

 

[coolgamer512]

"According to The Enquirer" means this information is probably wrong.

 

[kewl munky]

The funniest part of this article is that it's based on a rumor that Sony already pronounced as false.

http/www.techradar.com/news/gaming/sony-shoots-down-intel-gpu-in-ps4-rumours-525563

 

[apache_lives]

as for nvidia in all this - wouldnt blame em, i aint trust there products like i used to.

 

[San Pedro]

As stated before this looks to be totally false.

http/www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11885&Itemid=1

 

[mavroxur]

First thing that comes to mind when I hear of a console utilizing Intel graphics......a console that must be built for browsing the web and checking email.