Things in life change, and so do things in the IT industry. The previous three or four years around the early 2000's, was somewhat slow in growth. But in the last two years, things have really picked up again.
This leads us to CPUs. Even in the CPU landscape, things are rapidly changing. Architectures are getting increasingly more efficient, clock for clock. But CPUs themselves aside, even manufacturers are changing. Just this year, AMD decided to spin-off its manufacturing arms into what's now known as Globalfoundries.
However, there's one quaint company, called Nvidia, that's been promoting how powerful its GPUs are for more than just graphics. But don't think of Nvidia's products as the traditional GPU anymore like they once were. With such things as CUDA, Nvidia represents a very powerful option for the future. Although Nvidia has denied much about creating a full-fledged CPU, I can tell you now that it's very possible. That said:
The question of the day is: Do you want Nvidia to make CPUs to compete with Intel and AMD?
There's no doubt, that this is a very hot topic.
Given the recent stand-offs between Intel and NVIDIA I really doubt Intel would actually grant NVIDIA a license for x86 and as a result I doubt Microsoft or Apple would put in the effort to port their codebase to a new architecture without some significant performance figures to justify it, especially as Apple's already done it recently for the Intel Macs.
Sure, we'd probably see Linux kernels built for NVIDIA but it'd all be done to enthusiast geek projects.
On top of that, even IF Intel did grant NVIDIA access to x86 NIVIDIA would have a long way to go to be a competitor product to Intel or AMD.
That being said, this is all talk about NVIDIA developing a CPU for the desktop - there's a ton of other avenues they could go and no doubt carve themselves some marketshare.
True as that may be, Intel owns x86 so NVIDIA would have to be licensed to build a x86 CPU as with everybody else, and it gets messy given that AMD own the 64-bit superset and license that back to Intel.
So the big issue as I said is whether NVIDA could even get that license if Intel decided to be difficult.
I guess we'd have to see. Certainly NVIDIA wouldn't even consider making the attempt if they didn't have a genuine shot at it, so perhaps they'd surprise us all.
Tech forums and magazines such as Tom's would no doubt jump all over an NVIDIA CPU to see what the crack is, but I think it'd take some pretty special performance numbers or some other significant benefit for system builders to move away from the proven commodity that are Intel and AMD - and it's that perception gap they'd need to make up, not a technological one.
Competition is not the only reason.
As far as GPU manufacturers go (and im not just saying this because i have an Nvida GFX card, previous was ATi 1900xt) they seem to push new tech not only to make more money for themselves which is natural. But also to push the limits of what is available on the market.
As a tech meyself i fully apreciate this, bew technology is not only a way forward in general terms but is essential in terms of creating new industries and oppertunaties therein.
( Excuse the spelling, it's late
But the question is if you want Nvidia to make a CPU to compete with AMD & Intel. And my answer is definitely yes. More competition the better
Of course! Competition is always good for the consumer and if NVIDIA make any impact on Intel as "another choice" then Intel will have to do something about it.
Now if they do the same and get the virtualization bandwagon as a bridge, they could bring some true 64bit processing and paralelism to CPU. This is the only chance any late-in competitor could have, in my opinion.
And just side note - It's not matter of Intel letting Nvidia in, it's how much it will cost.
simple as i answered the question
I'd add - I dream of a time when incompatibly betweens CPU and GPU could be linked to one company's parts. I'd also like the think that there would be some sort of magic speed up by using the parts in conjunction.
It will never happen!
Why do they keep bugging us with the questions and why do I answer? They are keeping us from bitching about the other articles.
waxdart ,
Companies want to know what we think, not because we know something but because they need to know if marketing department, PR and brand management is doing it's work.
Was kinda thinking myself that all these question topics recently was a marketing thing.
Glad im not the only one. Now i don't feel so crazy for looking over my shoulder lol.