Intel announce a new CPU with AMD graphics and HBM2 memory

Maybe we get some nice Kodi boxes out of this :)

Isn't an Intel IGP good enough for Kodi? I feel this would be overpowered.

Mostly, yeah, but that is as long as hw/sw have support for the codecs etc. I thought maybe we could get something that can brute force stuff for once, instead of having some big fat desktop CPU.
I guess it would be good for emus etc. too :)

Sayyy Whaaaaat?! Mind Explosion!

I don't think so. It's not forbidden not to have competitors - it's forbidden to abuse the powers that come with it.

While I agree with this, from a practical point of view, if you have no competitors it's very easy for anyone to label anything you do that they disagree with as "abusing your monopoly" even if you have no intention of doing so. Keeping a nominal competitor around just so they have someone to point to and say "See? We're not the only game in town!" could be a very pragmatic move on Intel's part.

By helping AMD, Intel keeps regulators off its back by avoiding being labeled a monopoly. (While the current US administration is unlikely to care about monopolies, the EU does tend to take a stronger stance against them, and of course there is a lot of CPUs sold in the EU.)

I don't think so. It's not forbidden not to have competitors - it's forbidden to abuse the powers that come with it.

I'm not saying that monopolies are illegal... I said they avoid more regulation and scrutiny by having a healthy competitor. While they look for abuse, it is better to find it before all the competition is gone so that remedies can be applied.

Look at what Google is going through right now... Especially in Europe the EU is fining them for search results and how they are displayed with ads... Google has roughly 80% of the search engine market... similar to Intel's CPU share of computers. Google has roughly 85% of the Smartphone market... the last fine is pennies compared to what the EU will fine them if they think that requiring other base apps with the android market is abuse. And from my perspective, Apple sure looks a lot healthier than AMD.

I think Intel had no choice, but to choose either nVidia or AMD as graphics partner. Intel could very likely and easily create their own GPU architecture to compete with nVidia and AMD. However, I think Intel was restricted by all the patents owned by nVidia and AMD, making it nearly impossible to create a viable alternative the GPU architectures they design.

Actually, the fact that it says "semi-custom" makes me think, that AMD gave and leased their design in a way that doesn't infringe the patents that AMD has.

Nevertheless, I think it is a very interesting development, although, for my next laptop I will strive to get one with a Ryzen APU.

EDIT: to me the EMIB sounds just like the Infinity Fabric that AMD uses with their Ryzen CPU's, but with a different name, which just backs the patent theory.


Last edited by MasterSleort on 6 Nov 2017 at 11:14 pm UTC

So AMD is going to compete with itself? Or drop APU's? I don't get it. :S:

No, AMD simply, and rightfully, thinks it's better that people buy Intel+AMD laptops than Intel+nVidia. People who prefer an Intel CPU are not going to switch to AMD's APUs for the sake of the higher GPU, they will instead buy an Intel+nVidia laptop instead. So, they are simply competing with nVidia.

By helping AMD, Intel keeps regulators off its back by avoiding being labeled a monopoly. (While the current US administration is unlikely to care about monopolies, the EU does tend to take a stronger stance against them, and of course there is a lot of CPUs sold in the EU.)

I don't think so. It's not forbidden not to have competitors - it's forbidden to abuse the powers that come with it.

Or more to the point, you are not allowed to use your monopoly in order to gain traction in other markets. Now consider that Intel could be accused of doing just that with them integrating GPU:s in their CPU:s i.e. And Intel also creates motherboards, motherboard chips, NICs and so on so it's in their best interest to not have a monopoly or a monopoly like situation.

So AMD is going to compete with itself? Or drop APU's? I don't get it. :S:

No, AMD simply, and rightfully, thinks it's better that people buy Intel+AMD laptops than Intel+nVidia. People who prefer an Intel CPU are not going to switch to AMD's APUs for the sake of the higher GPU, they will instead buy an Intel+nVidia laptop instead. So, they are simply competing with nVidia.

Oh, that reminds me. Maybe we get something that is more streamlined than the optimus crap (at least on Linux) we have now with optirun and what not.

AMD has been winning the nice "package" setup for a while. Think about consoles. I think all of them are AMD this generation and most of last gen were AMD as well.

AMD has been winning the nice "package" setup for a while. Think about consoles. I think all of them are AMD this generation and most of last gen were AMD as well.

Nintendo Switch?

I want Ryzen with nVidia GPU just to troll.

I want Ryzen with nVidia GPU just to troll.

What about Tegra CPU with Intel HD Graphics? Worst of both worlds.

I want Ryzen with nVidia GPU just to troll.

I want Ryzen with nVidia GPU just to support AMD and still have very good performance and drivers.

AMD has been winning the nice "package" setup for a while. Think about consoles. I think all of them are AMD this generation and most of last gen were AMD as well.

Nintendo Switch?

Yes the Switch uses a Nvidia Tegra X1 chip. Damn fine console it is too.

At first I thought hell had frozen over with this deal, but I suppose it makes sense. Intel drops its rubbish inbuilt graphics, and Nvidia loses sales, win-win for AMD.

The Tegra X2 is a 2TFLOP capable GPU/CPU isn't it? shame the switch didn't use that. I hope the Switch 2 tries for 4k support, while Nintendo innovates often, they seem to have a habit of choosing very last gen performing parts.

AMD has been winning the nice "package" setup for a while. Think about consoles. I think all of them are AMD this generation and most of last gen were AMD as well.

Nintendo Switch?

I forgot the Switch existed.

This is great news, and also shows intel and AMD might have a "healthy" business relationship.
It's good for us, as AMD does help opensource, and the bigger the foothold of AMD in the gaming world, the less problems we have with "only works with nvidia because nvidia allows/encourages bugs in our code which every sane driver would not accept".
Of course, there is a world of difference between AMD drivers for windows and opensource drivers for linux. Would be interesting if someone started backporting the vulkan opensource drivers to windows.
I also hope this means intel will help writing the open source drivers.
And what I mostly hope is that this will be in the gpd win 3.
As I just finished a task in saints row 3 with 5..10 frames per second on my gpd win running almost stock ubuntu 17.10 (using some gpd pocket .debs and the gpd pocket kernel).

This is Huge!

Excited to see the real world performance and benchmarks. Especially versus Ryzen. It's a great and exciting time for the world of computers.