CPU blues: Cell, Larrabee, Fusion; IBM/Sony, Intel, AMD

[diogen]

An interesting article about Cell and its fate...
End of the line for IBM's Cell

Diogen.

 

[navychop]

Wow. RISC redux.

 

[mike123abc]

It makes Sony look ahead of their time when they picked the cell for the PS3. Perhaps too far ahead where compiler technology and development tools were not there yet. Essentially it looks like there will be a big move to cell type architectures in the future.

 

[diogen]

There have been rumors for a while that Intel will introduce a multi-core x86-compliant CPU where some of the cores (depending on need) can be used as a GPU.

Considering Intel's GPU history, I wouldn't bet on it. But if this does happen and is at least comparable with on-die AMD+ATI, I think the direction of CPU development will be set for many years: gazillion multi-purpose cores. That doesn't mean that a PlayStation won't have a custom built CPU, but the likelihood of it is small considering the shrinking life cycle of the consoles.

Diogen.

 

[diogen]

Larrabee as a product is cancelled but stays on as a program
AnandTech

The article claims that "Intel is still launching Carkdale and Arrandale with on-chip GPUs next year", but, as always, Intel's graphics programs will never leave you bored...

Diogen.