nVidia and CPU's -- What happened?

[sandlotje89]

So it appears that nVidia has just gone under the acquisition of VIA. A lot of speculation says that it is a step in getting the x86 architecture. However, it seems as though talk of nVidia making processors was hyped up for a while and dropped. Am I missing something?

What do you all think? Do you all think nVidia will start making CPU's? Will they try basing their GPU's off of the x86? With they "hybridize" the GPU and CPU to create a CGPU? Is all of this an attempt to merge with Intel in the future, similar to AMD and ATI?

Also, nVidia says the CPU is dead. Their explanation for it being dead seemed somewhat accurate, but the title is fairly off. I believe their claim is that CPU's have maxed out as far as real potential and benefits in speed and cores (I mean come one, what is the point of 8+ cores? -- I'm talking about skulltrail here).

So what do you all think?

 

[Tuffie]

So it appears that nVidia has just gone under the acquisition of VIA. A lot of speculation says that it is a step in getting the x86 architecture. However, it seems as though talk of nVidia making processors was hyped up for a while and dropped. Am I missing something?

What do you all think? Do you all think nVidia will start making CPU's? Will they try basing their GPU's off of the x86? With they "hybridize" the GPU and CPU to create a CGPU? Is all of this an attempt to merge with Intel in the future, similar to AMD and ATI?

Also, nVidia says the CPU is dead. Their explanation for it being dead seemed somewhat accurate, but the title is fairly off. I believe their claim is that CPU's have maxed out as far as real potential and benefits in speed and cores (I mean come one, what is the point of 8+ cores? -- I'm talking about skulltrail here).

So what do you all think?

Lol, I think maybe nVidia saw profit in the purchase of Via and I don't really see it as any more then that.

When you talk about merging Intel with the future, in what way are Via the future, they really are quite small. The idead of a CGPU is absolutely crazy, even now the idea of the two combining makes me cringe.

I think that the CPU will soon advance beyond our computing needs, which isn't really a problem as in time I am sure we will find better methods of using several cores, and find more CPU intensive uses for our computers.

Tuffie.

 

[sandlotje89]

Yeah, I agree; esp. with your comment about VIA's size -- I hadn't even heard of VIA until I read the news article! I just wonder what happened to nVidia's possibility with CPU's??

 

[Steelshivan]

A lot of people think (this I'm sure is old news) any sort of gaming, etc is pretty much at a wall graphics-wise. Many of the same people also think raytracing in real time is a way past the current wall we're at and have been at. The only problem with real-time raytracing is that our current top end video cards have no chance of doing this even halfway well, they simply aren't fast enough.

Of course for awhile now, companies have been researching and working on a way to combine cpus and gpus so that processor speed can work in tandem with the gpu core(s) to maybe achieve real-time raytracing.

So far, we all know it has been unsuccessfully implemented. But if we want to get past this current graphics wall we are at, combining cpus and gpus WILL be necessary.

Where will graphics be at 5 years from now? 10 years? I know I'd be disappointed if graphics still weren't over the wall we are currently at in 10 years time.

 

[hermeslyre]

With they "hybridize" the GPU and CPU to create a CGPU?

It's referred to as a GPGPU: General purpose GPU. It's not so crazy because rather than combining both GPU and CPU, they simply expand the GPU's repertoire and allow farther processing ability, allowing two physical processing units in one machine: co-processors. It's quite the natural progression.

I've seen the Nvidia's article claiming the CPU is dead. I don't think they're being realistic, sounds like an Nvidia wet dream. GPGPU's still have a long ways to go, And it's still pretty restrictive on what exactly they can do. Is it possible for the CPU to die or become less of a center-point in the future? Sure. Is it possible that Nvidia is just blowing air out their ass? Positively.

 

[diduknowthat]

Yeah, I agree; esp. with your comment about VIA's size -- I hadn't even heard of VIA until I read the news article! I just wonder what happened to nVidia's possibility with CPU's??

Really? Go on newegg and you can see that almost all of the budget motherboards use VIA chipsets. Via also makes some integrated low power consumption processors.