Intel Larrabee performance apparently on par with GeForce 285

[Things change I've changed]

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Larrabee-Said-to-Perform-as-Fast-as-the-GTX-285-113325.shtml

"One of the most anticipated products due to be released by the Santa Clara, California-based Intel is the company's first discrete graphics processing unit, also known as the Larrabee chip. This new product is said to place Intel as a strong competitor in the graphics market, challenging the industry's leading graphics chip makers, NVIDIA and AMD. However, according to some recent reports, early samples of Intel's Larrabee
chip can only perform at approximately the same level as NVIDIA's high-end single-GPU GeForce GTX 285 card. Although we are still months away from a possible release, this doesn't come as good news for Intel, considering that both NVIDIA and AMD should have new cards out by the time Larrabee will be on the market.


According to a recent news-article on tomshardware citing sources close to the manufacturer, the much-anticipated Larrabee currently performs like NVIDIA's single-GPU flagship card, the GeForce GTX 285. This could change before the chip maker officially debuts the new cards, but for the time being it appears NVIDIA and ATI will be the only competitors in the high-end graphics market.

The rumor isn't necessarily bad for Chipzilla, which could still place its upcoming graphics chip as a competitor in the mainstream, mid-segment market, where the real money is. However, it's interesting to note that Intel has been working on Larrabee for a good while now and needs to compete with products that haven't yet been released. This will be a relatively new challenge for the chip maker, which has focused its business on providing consumers with x86 processors for both desktop and portable PC markets.

In light of the recent rumors, we should note that both NVIDIA and ATI are currently expected to announce new cards, before the end of this year, with the former said to be preparing a completely new architecture altogether."

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http://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-larrabee-nvidia-geforce,7944.html

"Intel's 'Larrabee' on Par With GeForce GTX 285

This time however, we wanted to find out a little bit more about what Intel had up its sleeve for Larrabee--the company's next generation graphics solution, that's suppose to blow the water out of everything in the market.

According to one close Intel partner that wished not to be named, this isn't the case. We were told that Larrabee is currently only capable of performance levels similar to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 285. While this isn't a bad thing in by any measure, it doesn't quite line up with a lot of the heat that we've been told.

The partner said that with current Larrabee silicon, things may change down the line, but it did not expect Intel's graphics solution to take the high-end of the market. At the time of Larrabee's release, both AMD/ATI and Nvidia will introduce newer and faster versions of its GPUs. Despite this, it's still important to keep in mind that Intel has always been an enabler of technology, pushing other industry leaders to adopt new technology. This was the case with Intel's infamous i740.

Intel told us several weeks ago that Larrabee would be taking the same approach as Intel's SSD drives. Silent. No frills. But market dominating when released.

At this point, we still think it's a bit too early to draw very solid conclusions, but, this is what we were told".

Interesting stuff, obviously by the time it is released it won't really be that high end compared to what ATI and Nvidia will be offering but they could make a big impact on the 'price to performance' (mid-range) card space, also perhaps the start of some decent onboard video solutions for Intel motherboards, that could shake things up a little.

 

[mrk]

Will these integrated chips be finding their way to netbook sized laptops?

If so then my NC10 is being sold sooner than later!

It would mean a cheap netbook capable of 1080p and gaming coupled with one of those new micro pocket projectors for on the move cinema action

 

[Sash]

The first quote seems a bit negative lol 'only' performing as well as the 285 gtx. What did they expect? This is a new technology and they are expecting to kick nvidias ass on the first try? These guys have been doing graphics cards for years.

 

[thegoonden]

Yes, but nobody is gonna say "I'll buy a Larrabee instead of AMD or NV, cos they've tried SO hard and made such a good effort".

It needs to be an AMD/NV killer right from launch or it'll go belly up in 2 years.

 

[mrthingyx]

Yes, but nobody is gonna say "I'll buy a Larrabee instead of AMD or NV, cos they've tried SO hard and made such a good effort".

It needs to be an AMD/NV killer right from launch or it'll go belly up in 2 years.

Not really: GTX285 performance with an 65W power draw at full load, passive cooler (!) and scaleabale performance through a system similar to SLI/Crossfire would be enough to tempt me away from a similarly priced solution with 15% more performance, but with (as is current) 200W power draw...

Depending on a whole host of other criteria, Larrabee could still clean up in the mainstream market. It could also go the way of S3...

 

[D13]

Perform on par with a 285 on what? gaming, 3d mark?

 

[Talrinys]

Not really: GTX285 performance with an 65W power draw at full load, passive cooler (!) and scaleabale performance through a system similar to SLI/Crossfire would be enough to tempt me away from a similarly priced solution with 15% more performance, but with (as is current) 200W power draw...

Depending on a whole host of other criteria, Larrabee could still clean up in the mainstream market. It could also go the way of S3...

I completely agree, i want a low-power, silent chip now more than anything, i've grown up from just wanting raw power.

 

[Sash]

Either way a bit of competition from someone other than nvidia or ATI is good.

I think we all knew it might not be on par with the other two companies because this is only a first go. Rarely do companies get it right first time.

We also have to remember this is still early versions and not set in stone performance. A lot can happen in a few months.

 

[bledd]

glad to see this, competition is good

I'd love to see ati and nvidia dabble in the soundcard area

out of the current soundcard manufacturers, the only company with solid and regular driver updates are realtek! the other companies really let themselves down with shoddy support

nvidia and ati both release drivers very often, and usually improve performance/stability on each release

 

[Lightnix]

Will these integrated chips be finding their way to netbook sized laptops?

If so then my NC10 is being sold sooner than later!

It would mean a cheap netbook capable of 1080p and gaming coupled with one of those new micro pocket projectors for on the move cinema action

Actually Larrabee is a discrete card. That said, given most of what Larrabee renders is done in software on its shader cores, that gives a lot of room for optimisation in software. Even then, the GTX285 is a fast card, I think Intel's done quite well to get such a radically divergent (from normal graphics cards) approach to 3D rendering up to such a level.

 

[psychas]

it does not matter if ati and nvidia will release faster ones. if intel will price them right. i guess it will include dx 11 and more other features.


whats the thing about silent like ssd ? no fans bad for overcloking nobody wants a grill in there pc ;/

 

[queamin]

Actually Larrabee is a discrete card. That said, given most of what Larrabee renders is done in software on its shader cores, that gives a lot of room for optimisation in software. Even then, the GTX285 is a fast card, I think Intel's done quite well to get such a radically divergent (from normal graphics cards) approach to 3D rendering up to such a level.

I do think their drivers need to be spot on as a lot more is done in software, but i do think they will be more flexible on the software front with dx and so on.

 

[Big.Wayne]

I've got high hopes for Intel® Larrabee

Sadly as brilliant as Intel® can be sometimes they don't always get it right with new technology so we just have to wait and see, the anticipation is slowly building up!

 

[Rroff]

Main problem with intel tho - their drivers have always been pretty plain, functional and rarely updated...

Which is fine for the mainstream, but doesn't really cut it in the gaming/enthusiast arena where games inevitably need driver updates to get the best out of them.

 

[Trunks9486]

It costs more to make compared to GT285...

And power consumption is unknown yet i think

not to mention but by the time its going to be released amd and nvidia will have far better products in the market

 

[Duke]

I've got high hopes for Intel® Larrabee

Sadly as brilliant as Intel® can be sometimes they don't always get it right with new technology so we just have to wait and see, the anticipation is slowly building up!

It will be interesting to see how it comes out.

(®®®®®®®®)

 

[lumpeh]

This is great news for raising the mainstream performance bar. The sooner we get away from crappy intel integrated gpus the better.

 

[Zarf]

I wouldn't pin my hopes on vastly improved integrated graphics for a while. Larrabee isn't going to be massively more efficient than the ATi or Nvidia solutions ... meaning similar amounts of transitors ... meaning similar costs and power/heat.

The only advantage they've got is if Intel can keep ahead on the process game and fit more transistors in for the same cost, but from what i last heard Larrabee is going to be 40nm, and 32nm is being saved for cpu's, so nothing there for them.

It'll make the Intel integrated stuff competitive features and performance wise (with the ati and nvidia integrated solutions), but it's not going to be a revolution - the physics just won't allow it.

 

[RizlaKing]

Another company in the gfx card market can only be good news for us customer's regardless of whether their first attempt is upto the high end of nv or ati. It will prevent either of them sitting comfortably for any length of time and therefore allow the stupid pricing that crept in not so long ago. I look forward to it and can't right now see a negative side to intel involving themselves in the gfx market so hurry up intel and lets get things going. As i am enthusiastic about intel does that mean i am on my way in OcUK forum land to being an intel gfx fanboy .

 

[Widge]

If a laptop comes out with uber gaming performance, I'm there. I thought my DDR3 8600GT was alright as far as on the go graphics went.