Larrabee

So it would seem that Intel is serious about joining the GPU market.

The idea of having one processor to do it all is interesting, but still seems a bit backward. This is the way computers were in the beginning. But somewhere around 1999 or so, computer graphics split off into its own world as 3D graphics became more popular. Isolating the rendering on a seperate chip, allowed games (and other apps) to really flourish. By combining these again into one chip, seeps like a step backward.

The logic bind the new Larrabee is that Intel can make a smaller faster chip that can do it all. Well thats great, but its still software based. History has proven that doing specific tasks in hardware is much faster than doing them in software. When you eliminate all the variables, you can create a highly specialized solution.

If Intel's chip can compete in the GPU space, it wont be long before NVIDIA and ATI follow suit and make similar dedicated purpose GPUs that will dominate the multi-purpose CPU/GPU. I really dont think Intel can win this battle with this approach.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3367