AppleInsider › Forums › Mac Hardware › Future Apple Hardware › NVIDIA Settles with Intel
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

NVIDIA Settles with Intel

post #1 of 7
1/10/11 at 9:07pm
Thread Starter 
Came across this article, not really on a website I would have expected it:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6286178.html

It talks about how the case between NVIDIA and Intel has been settled with NVIDIA getting $1.5 billion and Intel getting access to a whole lot of NVIDIA patents (although it doesn't really say which ones). NVIDIA came out without the rights to make the chipsets some of us were hoping for, so it looks like it's back to the old fashion of Intel chipsets with discrete graphics... which is too bad, because I think we could have gotten some pretty neat new systems.
Reply
Reply
post #2 of 7
1/10/11 at 9:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by LighteningKid View Post

Came across this article, not really on a website I would have expected it:

http://www.gamespot.com/news/6286178.html

It talks about how the case between NVIDIA and Intel has been settled with NVIDIA getting $1.5 billion and Intel getting access to a whole lot of NVIDIA patents (although it doesn't really say which ones). NVIDIA came out without the rights to make the chipsets some of us were hoping for, so it looks like it's back to the old fashion of Intel chipsets with discrete graphics... which is too bad, because I think we could have gotten some pretty neat new systems.

See this:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...1_5b_deal.html
Reply
Reply
post #3 of 7
1/11/11 at 8:52am
I wonder what this means for Apple. Perhaps we will see NVIDIA GPUs incorporated directly into Sandy Bridge processors. All this hooha about whether next gen MBPs should use the Intel GPU or a third party GPU now seem irrelevant. Question is when such products will appear.
Reply
Reply
post #4 of 7
1/11/11 at 10:58am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tailpipe View Post

I wonder what this means for Apple. Perhaps we will see NVIDIA GPUs incorporated directly into Sandy Bridge processors. All this hooha about whether next gen MBPs should use the Intel GPU or a third party GPU now seem irrelevant. Question is when such products will appear.

The agreement Gives Intel access to patents (unspecified) but there is no indications that NVidia will be designing a GPU to integrate on the die. It is possible but there is no indication this will happen. Intel is likely to continue to design their own GPUs but are now free to incorporate NVidia tech.

As far as the hooha that changes nothing. There is still limits on thermals and space when you try to put everything onto one die. Pro level machines will continue to need descrete graphics cards.

The reality is that many users already have enough CPU power but a far greater number do not have the GPU power they need. Of course many do not yet realize that GPU performance is very important with respect to how they experience their PCs. People are learning slowly though and I think this has Intel running scared of AMD. In a nut shell this deal was critical for Intel as it removes technology blocks that imped GPU development.

Why would Intel be scared of AMD? Well look at AMDs Bobcat based Zacate for an example. This device is about the same physical size as ATOM but performs much better. So much better that AMD can compare it to some of Intels more advanced ULV processors. At least this line of Fusions have caused Intel to take notice of AMD again.
Reply
Reply
post #5 of 7
1/11/11 at 12:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post

The agreement Gives Intel access to patents (unspecified) but there is no indications that NVidia will be designing a GPU to integrate on the die. It is possible but there is no indication this will happen. Intel is likely to continue to design their own GPUs but are now free to incorporate NVidia tech.

I agree, this doesn't seem like Intel wants to use NVidia GPUs. NVidia and AMD are going to 28nm later this year but Intel will jump to 22nm round the same time and Ivy Bridge can double their IGP performance vs Sandy Bridge.

The NVidia GPU would have better compatibility and may even give better performance but I don't think Intel will put an NVidia chip inside their CPU. They will use whatever patented designs and innovations from NVidia to improve their own IGP. This might not manifest itself until the Ivy Bridge successor though.

There are now 3 companies in the CPU/GPU competition:

- AMD Fusion
- Intel with their own IGP
- NVidia with ARM CPUs
Reply
Reply
post #6 of 7
1/13/11 at 10:24pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin View Post

The NVidia GPU would have better compatibility and may even give better performance but I don't think Intel will put an NVidia chip inside their CPU. They will use whatever patented designs and innovations from NVidia to improve their own IGP.

The question is, can Intel succeed in making use of the NVidia designs that they've acquired? They've never proven themselves to be very savvy when it comes to graphics. Perhaps an insight into a good GPU company is all they need, or perhaps it's an inherent problem within their company that will hold them back even now.

Even if they do succeed in making a great GPU, do you think the years of bad graphics will cause computer-buyers who actually look at the specs to shy away, just because it's "Intel Inside"? I wouldn't be surprised, at least at first.
Reply
Reply
post #7 of 7
1/14/11 at 10:11am
Quote:
Originally Posted by LighteningKid View Post

Even if they do succeed in making a great GPU, do you think the years of bad graphics will cause computer-buyers who actually look at the specs to shy away, just because it's "Intel Inside"? I wouldn't be surprised, at least at first.

Sandy Bridge will be their first step to fix this. Some games even have a GPU blacklist and just won't try to run for certain GPUs and Intel's chips have pretty much been the reason for the blacklist.

They do need to repair this damage and once they do, it will start to sway casual to mid-performance gamers to settle for lower priced machines.

People who don't care about the GPU are already buying in volumes to allow them to have over 50% share. This performance jump and NVidia being out of the x86 race will move that percentage higher.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Future Apple Hardware
AppleInsider › Forums › Mac Hardware › Future Apple Hardware › NVIDIA Settles with Intel