News Intel releases discrete GPU prototype details

Back on topic, Intel's been in touch to deny that what it is showing off at ISSCC is in any way what it's planning to launch as its first discrete graphics product. Per the update I've just published:

Intel has issued a statement denying that the hardware on show at ISSCC represents a glimpse at its promised discrete graphics products. 'Last week at ISSCC, Intel Labs presented a research paper exploring new circuit techniques optimised for power management,' an Intel spokesperson has clarified. 'The team used an existing Intel integrated GPU architecture (Gen 9 GPU) as a proof of concept for these circuit techniques. This is a test vehicle only, not a future product. While we intend to compete in graphics products in the future, this research paper is unrelated. Our goal with this research is to explore possible, future circuit techniques that may improve the power and performance of Intel products.'

 

That's fair enough, but in doing so you're calling Past Forsyth a liar - which certainly brings his reliability into question when using Present Forsyth as the source for what Larrabee is or is not and did or did not become.

(Fun aside, while I'm here: all it takes to turn a consumer-grade GeForce GPU into a Tesla accelerator is a switch to ECC memory and un-crippling the double-precision performance. Doesn't mean that GeForce chips weren't designed as GPUs...)

Regardless, whether Larrabee was set up to make a graphics card or not, the fact remains: as the article states, the Larrabee GPU project was cancelled and the technology developed to support that project lives on as MIC.

Everything copacetic now?