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Re: Intel, it's worth mentioning their Phi coprocessor board. They zig-ed when they should have zag-ed. The Phi essentially had thousands of i486 CPUs on it, bu
by gosub100 3y ago
Re: Intel, it's worth mentioning their Phi coprocessor board. They zig-ed when they should have zag-ed. The Phi essentially had thousands of i486 CPUs on it, but apparently that isn't as useful for ML because (apparently) it's all about the FLOPs, whereas the less-mathematical but more logical Phi cores could do (something?) better?
I just think it's an honorable mention because had things gone a little differently, perhaps Intel could have been king of the hill instead.
- dzdt 3y agoIntel didn't just miss by a little, they missed by a lot. Nvidia has more software engineers than hardware engineers. Building the software ecosystem is the thing that makes the whole thing work. Intel didn't just have the wrong product with Phi, they had a product with no ecosystem. It was impossible to develop for. None of Nvidia's competitors have a serious answer to the ecosystem problem. Its not clear that Intel has even ever understood this.
- baq 3y agoIntel has had more software engineers than hardware since forever. They know the ecosystem argument in and out - they made x86, they are the argument. They lost the process lead and can’t figure it out for almost a decade now - we wouldn’t be having this discussion if their hardware worked out according to their plans.
- amadeuspagel 3y ago> Nvidia has more software engineers than hardware engineers. Building the software ecosystem is the thing that makes the whole thing work. One thing I never see people discuss in the context is that from the beginning NVidia drivers were closed source while Intel drivers were open source. If you don't see software as a competitive advantage that obviously limits the resources you can invest in it. Linus Torvalds said "Fuck you, NVidia" but who's fucked now?