4 ms·

"Nvidia is Definitely Working on an x86 Chip"

13 points by mdasen 18y ago

acangiano 18y ago
Snarky remarks aside, I sincerely hope it's true. Intel needs some serious competitors and AMD is failing to be an adequate one.
- viraptor 18y ago
  Does it really look like a competition for Intel?... When I read the article, my first reaction was: now they will control the whole "processing power". That's what people really spend the money on right now (in home desktops at least). nforce + cpu + gfx == thin-client made by nvidia? nforce + cpu + gfx + some cheap stuff (storage is cheap and home users don't really care about the sound) == PC based gaming platform? Or if someone likes conspiracy theories: while working on their gfx chip they discovered something that's easily portable to x86 and will make a massive difference. Now they're secretly producing a new x86 chip that will change the cpu market as we know it...
  - niels_olson 18y ago
    The defiant tone of the author suggests to me that this was a bit of a screed piece by someone who feels threatened by any move that could change the balance of the wintel duopoly. I agree, Intel needs challengers.
- f3lix 18y ago
  Hmmm. I don't think the problem is just with design. The problem probably lays with fabrication. Intel is large enough to both upgrade their fabs and CPU design alternate years. Fabs are becoming more capital intensive to build each year. Furthermore, Intel can afford to make mistakes. This is the reason why AMD is being killed - its 45nm process was way behind Intel's. AMD is now being split up into a foundry and CPU design company (but the future is bleak). nVidia will never be a serious competitor – it is a fabless semiconductor company (its stuff gets manufactured by TSMC). The looming Intel monopoly will be worse than Microsofts monopoly. IMHO the only hope for competition is for for companies such as Via to manufacture low-end CPUs at foundries.
jderick 18y ago
Competition is great.. but if they are planning to go head to head with Intel, that is a recipe for failure. Hopefully that have something novel in mind.
- snprbob86 18y ago
  How is that possibly a recipe for failure? Nvidia has a ton of great chipset makers whom have routinely produced stellar, incredible hardware. Intel has far more x86 experience, but Nvidia is no slouch. I don't see how they could possibly fail to produce a chip worth selling at SOME price point. It is only a matter of time before they develop the expertise to sell a chip at ANY price point.
  - f3lix 18y ago
    nVidia is a fabless semiconductor company that is entering patent-mine field.
KaiP 18y ago
Interesting news, although pretty light on the details. Also, why is the author so angry?
jemmons 18y ago
Save yourself time, ignore the linked article (biased, angry, and irrelevant) and read the source: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/162/1017162/nvidia-stexar-move-turns-gun-turrets-on-amd-intel http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/162/1017162/nvidia-... http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/103/1031103/nvidia-has-balls-and-may-circumvent-x86-licences http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/103/1031103/nvidia-...
jodrellblank 18y ago
I've wondered how one (company) gets into a really high tech industry. Wouldn't they have to do an awful lot of research - basically reinventing most of Intel's wheels for the past decade? I guess hiring an x86 processor development team would give them a jump in, but without lots of existing work, documents, schematics, etc. would a team of people know enough to rebuild such complex work from scratch?

13 points by mdasen 18y ago

Snarky remarks aside, I sincerely hope it's true. Intel needs some serious competitors and AMD is failing to be an adequate one.

viraptor 18y ago
Does it really look like a competition for Intel?... When I read the article, my first reaction was: now they will control the whole "processing power". That's what people really spend the money on right now (in home desktops at least). nforce + cpu + gfx == thin-client made by nvidia? nforce + cpu + gfx + some cheap stuff (storage is cheap and home users don't really care about the sound) == PC based gaming platform? Or if someone likes conspiracy theories: while working on their gfx chip they discovered something that's easily portable to x86 and will make a massive difference. Now they're secretly producing a new x86 chip that will change the cpu market as we know it...
- niels_olson 18y ago
  The defiant tone of the author suggests to me that this was a bit of a screed piece by someone who feels threatened by any move that could change the balance of the wintel duopoly. I agree, Intel needs challengers.
f3lix 18y ago
Hmmm. I don't think the problem is just with design. The problem probably lays with fabrication. Intel is large enough to both upgrade their fabs and CPU design alternate years. Fabs are becoming more capital intensive to build each year. Furthermore, Intel can afford to make mistakes. This is the reason why AMD is being killed - its 45nm process was way behind Intel's. AMD is now being split up into a foundry and CPU design company (but the future is bleak). nVidia will never be a serious competitor – it is a fabless semiconductor company (its stuff gets manufactured by TSMC). The looming Intel monopoly will be worse than Microsofts monopoly. IMHO the only hope for competition is for for companies such as Via to manufacture low-end CPUs at foundries.

jderick 18y ago

Competition is great.. but if they are planning to go head to head with Intel, that is a recipe for failure. Hopefully that have something novel in mind.

snprbob86 18y ago
How is that possibly a recipe for failure? Nvidia has a ton of great chipset makers whom have routinely produced stellar, incredible hardware. Intel has far more x86 experience, but Nvidia is no slouch. I don't see how they could possibly fail to produce a chip worth selling at SOME price point. It is only a matter of time before they develop the expertise to sell a chip at ANY price point.
- f3lix 18y ago
  nVidia is a fabless semiconductor company that is entering patent-mine field.

KaiP 18y ago

Interesting news, although pretty light on the details. Also, why is the author so angry?

jemmons 18y ago

Save yourself time, ignore the linked article (biased, angry, and irrelevant) and read the source: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/162/1017162/nvidia-stexar-move-turns-gun-turrets-on-amd-intel http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/162/1017162/nvidia-... http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/103/1031103/nvidia-has-balls-and-may-circumvent-x86-licences http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/103/1031103/nvidia-...

jodrellblank 18y ago

I've wondered how one (company) gets into a really high tech industry. Wouldn't they have to do an awful lot of research - basically reinventing most of Intel's wheels for the past decade? I guess hiring an x86 processor development team would give them a jump in, but without lots of existing work, documents, schematics, etc. would a team of people know enough to rebuild such complex work from scratch?