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Rumour control: Nvidia hints at CPU with integrated graphics
Nvidia already has the technology; it's just a question of what it does with it
Rumours about an Nvidia desktop CPU are extremely common these days, but Nvidia has so far kept curiously quiet about the matter. However, Nvidia today hinted that there may be plans for a CPU that's capable of more than just general processing.
Nvidia's director of product PR for EMEA and India, Luciano Alibrandi rightly pointed out to Custom PC that 'Nvidia does produce a CPU' in the form of the APX2500. As Alibrandi says, the APX2500 'includes a CPU, graphics, video processing, imaging, display and I/O functionality on a single chip.' Basically, Nvidia already has the technology to produce a CPU, so it's a question of where it takes this technology in the future.
'CPUs are not particularly magical,' Alibrandi told Custom PC, 'they are designed and sold by a wide range of companies, big and small.' However, he also added that 'from our perspective, the interesting problems and computing problems to be solved for the next century are highly parallel, and require a combination of heterogeneous processing that a CPU alone simply cannot address.'
Of course, this ambiguous statement could mean allsorts of things, including Nvidia simply trying to use GPUs for more general computing tasks, as it does with its CUDA language, and leaving the CPU work to Intel. However, what's interesting is that there's no flat denial that Nvidia is considering producing a CPU, which is what we asked about. This is particularly curious when you consider that Nvidia's CEO, Jen Hsun-Huang, previously said that Nvidia 'is not going into that business' in June last year.
This suggests to us a hint that Nvidia has changed its plans and is considering developing an all-in-one part, perhaps similar to AMD's Fusion technology, which can act as both a multi-core CPU and GPU, and may also have other features such as an integrated memory controller.
This is all speculation, of course, but it looks like a hint to us. Could Nvidia compete with Intel and AMD in the CPU market if it was to produce an all-in-one chip? Let us know your thoughts.
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All this seems to lead in one direction,,,, Nvidea entering the console market????? Who knows. I will say this much though, Even if N,videa do manage to produce an Uber consol, the chances of sucses are slim in my opinion. Who can forget the I\'ll fated dream cast!!! It was a fantastick mashine with loads of really good games, way ahead of it\'s time with internet functionallity better graphics than nintendo or sony\'s consoles, but it failed miserably,,, why? who know\'s,,,, Probably due to the fact that consumers seem more interested in \
Comment by ramos001 at 12:00am 30th November 1999
All this seems to lead in one direction,,,, Nvidea entering the console market????? Who knows. I will say this much though, Even if N,videa do manage to produce an Uber consol, the chances of sucses are slim in my opinion. Who can forget the I\'ll fated dream cast!!! It was a fantastick mashine with loads of really good games, way ahead of it\'s time with internet functionallity better graphics than nintendo or sony\'s consoles, but it failed miserably,,, why? who know\'s,,,, Probably due to the fact that consumers seem more interested in \
Comment by ramos001 at 12:00am 30th November 1999
if it did happen then it would be bad news for all . With AMD/ATI down but not out then Nvidia , this would push pc games backward SONY and the consoles would be clear winners . Nvidia shoul grab ASUS
Comment by j7dunwiddie at 1:13pm 15th March 2008
Blathering on about integrated graphics is a recognised symptom of Alzheimer\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s disease and/or excessive exposure to soft-porn. Experts say victims are often unconsciously trying to escape the real, unairbrushed, world where sluts have stretchmarks and pimples on their bums. These intellectually challenged individuals have completely missed the fact that anyone with ambitions to run current PC games as they were designed to be played needs a 10 inch GPU (or two seven inchers) and a PSU\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\' capable of delivering three quarters of a kilowatt, much of which energy is converted into heat. Oh, and of course a 3Gig dual-core processor (at least). And it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s still not enough, nowhere near if Crysis is the benchmark. So the solution is that those clever guys at Intel and AMD are going to come to the rescue by putting the GPU into an onboard chip are they? How are they going to do that then? The best that can be expected is that integrated graphics will be able to assist the main GPU. And that will continue to get more and more powerful so short-term need a die-shrink to 45nm keep power-requirements down. After that it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s back to soft-porn.
Comment by Cybersciver at 2:50pm 14th March 2008
Personally rather than buying AMD/ATI I think that Nvidia is really stuck and is going into a major decline over the next 2 - 3 years. . Firstly I doubt they will purchase AMD/ATI, there are too many problems with the X86 license and the fact that purchasing the only other major discrete graphics producer would not be allowable because it would be creating a monopoly. So they are going to be stuck with their graphics and chipset business. . Secondly, and this is a problem they have brought on themselves by aggravating Intel over the SLI issue. It is now quite possible that Intel will deny Nvidia a license for it\'s CSI technology which will be utilized on the forthcoming Nehalem platform. . The result of this is that Its chipset business will take a huge hit as it will be restricted to AMD platforms or last generation Intel platforms. Like wise their discrete graphics business will also be badly hit as SLI will only be available on those platforms. So both legs of their business will be severely damaged. . Conversely the AMD division Of AMD/ATI will have a silght boost from those that want an SLI platform at any cost and the ATI division will see huge gains offering the only option for a multi gpu setup on an Intel platform. There is also going to be no room for Nvidia at the lower end of the graphics market which will be dominated by Intel\'s and AMD/ATI\'s integration of CPU/GPU. . So starting later this year with Nehalem release I believe we will see the decline of Nvidia and the rise of AMD/ATI and in a couple of years when Intel enter the discrete graphics market with Larabee we could well see Nvidia drop under the radar and the main competition will be AMD/ATI vs Intel both of whom would have complete platform solutions.
Comment by technogiant at 4:43pm 11th March 2008
Reading this article... http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=J1EV2T4HHJ5C4QSNDLPCKH0CJUNN2JVN?articleID=206900811&pgno=2 ... gives me the impression that NVidia HAS to try to get into the CPU market, since integrated GPUCPU concept is clearly the way we're headed. Intel are poised with Larrabee http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1447 on the sidelines, I'd suggest that NVidia HAS to acquire AMD for the survival of both companies... and if both companies fail (nvidia is almost certain to, unless it enters this market space - AMD is the obvious way), and Intel is the sole player in the market, who has the monopoly then? I'm guessing that this x86 licence problem will be cast aside by the courts.
Comment by RickA at 11:42am 11th March 2008
If you needed a small, low-power x86 core to integrate with a graphics processor, you could do worse than to grab VIA. Their future as a chipset maker for mainstream x86 seems fairly bleak at this point, and their own x86 efforts (the latest one apparently being quite good and quite small) could probably do fairly well as the basis of a Fusion-style design linked with whatever NVidia has cooking.
Comment by drivebyposter at 7:31am 11th March 2008
You're right, but this analyst says Nvidia could buy AMD regardless, expecting a "rearchitecture": http://tinyurl.com/23samq *** EDITED BY MODERATOR FOR FORMATTING ***
Comment by RickA at 7:32pm 10th March 2008
Nvidia would need an X86 licence to produce processors which it does not have. Even if it buys AMD their licence is not transferable so its a little bit no go.
Comment by technogiant at 4:34pm 10th March 2008
The major advantage of incorporating a GPU into a standard CPU is twofold, firstly the GPU information to/from the CPU does not have to go through a relatively slow bus (and yes even PCI-e is slow compared to the clock speed of a CPU) as the two devices will most likely by created on a single die. Secondly the hybrid device will most likely have a single cache/main memory (RAM) based memory hierarchy making life much simpler for the designers and thus much quicker for the likes of us!
Comment by KoopaKingTurtle at 12:52pm 10th March 2008
It is a big hint at confirmation of this market rumour ... Analyst Expects Nvidia to Acquire AMD http://www.neowin.net/news/main/08/02/15/analyst-expects-nvidia-to-acquire-amd Buy up those AMD shares, kids!
Comment by RickA at 1:40pm 10th March 2008
might be good, keep amd and intel on there toes. interesting to see if they market it specifically at enthusiast markets or general. i don't see them doing budget, so it only looks good if they do.
Comment by TBallS at 12:39pm 10th March 2008
Currently a CPU and GPU communicate over a bus whereas if they were on the same chip they wouldnt be limited by that factor. Thats my take on it anyway but im no expert.
Comment by pveater at 12:41pm 10th March 2008
A third name in the High end CPU market can't be bad thing can it? Can anyone tell me the advantages of a GPU built into the CPU? I personally can't see any, apart from selling a single unit, not 2.
Comment by joeamnesiac at 12:30pm 10th March 2008
personally I know if nvidia could produce a chip that will compete in games against any other CPU for the same price then I could be tempted to buy one. But hitting the market with the right performance at the right price will not be easy. Especially with intel currently holding the crown as much as they do.
Comment by reashlin at 12:14pm 10th March 2008
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