It would be nice if Battlemage displaced Alchemist.
VR is still a no-go, they're just barely keeping up with cards half the die size after a year of driver updates, and they quietly, angrily fired the literal head of the division.
If Intel graphics are going anywhere, they're being amazingly secretive about it because there's no signs that it's anything but a dying division.
I know that it's split nowadays on Windows but I gotta admit, I was skeptical of their long-term viability when their Linux releases shared the code base (obviously different paths but still) with some pretty old Intel graphics products.
I'm not saying AMD's approach is better, but it's not reassuring to see there's things in common dating from when VLIW5 was the dominant architecture. I would expect to see some core things be very different.
Intel graphics are absolutely going places -- Intel has at this point realized that they need discrete-class performance to compete with future AMD high-end laptops.
Whether or not it is a natural extension of their current lineage is a totally different question! Intel graphics will continue but Intel Graphics might not. AMD would probably license their graphics to go onto an Intel Chiplet. ImgTech surely would. ARM could license Mali and would probably love the opportunity.
Intel requires "good enough" performance in the iGPU department and there will always be at least one company setting the baseline/minimum. If it really mattered all that much, Intel wouldn't have the majority in PC graphics - they factually do have a claim to that crown even after many years residing at the bottom of the barrel.
The reality is that outside of the distortions of a Future PLC website or a Linus Tech Tips YT channel, very few people notice or even care about computer specifications beyond the most basic, limited understanding and even fewer care about playing video games - one of a tiny number of home computing scenarios where it might matter - which is in decline in terms of system requirements as more gaming ends up in a web browser with simplistic graphical demand.
That state of affairs is why Intel's iGPU products remain dominant and will continue to remain so regardless of what happens with any Battlemage (sounds like someone's tween son came up with that laughably silly product identifier) release, delay, or failure. It just doesn't matter and probably never will matter all that much for everyone aside from a few body odor basement dweller nerds that dream of being an "eSports professional" or make abortive attempts to generate income by streaming something alongside their unshaven, icky beard faces while making awkward commentary.
While GPUs may not matter for the general population, it is thanks to games that this technology, which has proved consonant with AI, has been developed.
At the moment, AI is unfortunately nothing but a tool and it needs much additional development to reach a singularity that would make it capable of destroying and replacing outrageously stupid human life currently infesting this planet. The fact that LLM systems exist is independent of the underlying hardware enabler. In a different branch of possibility, it could have been some other form of parallel processing technology that isn't derived from graphics chips.
I agree that AI is independent of the hardware, and the calculations could just as well be done on general-purpose CPUs but at a massively slower rate. What I'm hitting at is that this hardware, accidentally developed because of games, has proved key to other important fields.
While AI needs much more development, it is scraping the surface of what is going on in the brain. And I wouldn't be surprised that from a "hardware" point of view, the brain implements some sort of biological model that is performing massively-parallel floating-point calculations. With all our pretensions, perhaps in the end we'll learn that we're advanced calculators.
They may be different realms on the surface, but fundamentally, are they really so? Digital, at a lower level, is represented by analogue, and there have been analogue computers in the past. The brain is similar to both a computer and a neural network---which was inspired by the brain---and I see it as an advanced, analogue computation device, drastically ahead of today's computers in many ways and behind in others.
Battlemage is not looking too good right now. Rumors are they are behind schedule so badly that laptop makers have ditched the mobile variant. There is not even a rumor of what a finalized Battlemage lineup would look like and it's already March.
I'm kind of questioning if they can get products to stores in volume by the end of Q4.
If those 20A CPUs arrive on time (and all indications are that they will) then Intel will regain process superiority over AMD for the first time in many years. It seems likely to me that Zen 5 on TSMC 4nm will not be able to compete. AMD may be on the verge of another Core 2 Duo experience.
The upside for consumers is that there could be some nice price cuts from AMD in early 2025 as the new reality starts to settle in.
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Tilmitt - Friday, March 8, 2024 - link
Battlemage will displace AMDnandnandnand - Friday, March 8, 2024 - link
In Pat's dreams.mukiex - Friday, March 8, 2024 - link
It would be nice if Battlemage displaced Alchemist.VR is still a no-go, they're just barely keeping up with cards half the die size after a year of driver updates, and they quietly, angrily fired the literal head of the division.
If Intel graphics are going anywhere, they're being amazingly secretive about it because there's no signs that it's anything but a dying division.
Threska - Friday, March 8, 2024 - link
Graphics are hard. Maybe they should have started with 2D.lmcd - Friday, March 8, 2024 - link
I know that it's split nowadays on Windows but I gotta admit, I was skeptical of their long-term viability when their Linux releases shared the code base (obviously different paths but still) with some pretty old Intel graphics products.I'm not saying AMD's approach is better, but it's not reassuring to see there's things in common dating from when VLIW5 was the dominant architecture. I would expect to see some core things be very different.
lmcd - Friday, March 8, 2024 - link
Intel graphics are absolutely going places -- Intel has at this point realized that they need discrete-class performance to compete with future AMD high-end laptops.Whether or not it is a natural extension of their current lineage is a totally different question! Intel graphics will continue but Intel Graphics might not. AMD would probably license their graphics to go onto an Intel Chiplet. ImgTech surely would. ARM could license Mali and would probably love the opportunity.
Threska - Friday, March 8, 2024 - link
Unfortunately PowerVR never took off in the PC space.PeachNCream - Monday, March 11, 2024 - link
Intel requires "good enough" performance in the iGPU department and there will always be at least one company setting the baseline/minimum. If it really mattered all that much, Intel wouldn't have the majority in PC graphics - they factually do have a claim to that crown even after many years residing at the bottom of the barrel.The reality is that outside of the distortions of a Future PLC website or a Linus Tech Tips YT channel, very few people notice or even care about computer specifications beyond the most basic, limited understanding and even fewer care about playing video games - one of a tiny number of home computing scenarios where it might matter - which is in decline in terms of system requirements as more gaming ends up in a web browser with simplistic graphical demand.
That state of affairs is why Intel's iGPU products remain dominant and will continue to remain so regardless of what happens with any Battlemage (sounds like someone's tween son came up with that laughably silly product identifier) release, delay, or failure. It just doesn't matter and probably never will matter all that much for everyone aside from a few body odor basement dweller nerds that dream of being an "eSports professional" or make abortive attempts to generate income by streaming something alongside their unshaven, icky beard faces while making awkward commentary.
GeoffreyA - Tuesday, March 12, 2024 - link
While GPUs may not matter for the general population, it is thanks to games that this technology, which has proved consonant with AI, has been developed.PeachNCream - Tuesday, March 12, 2024 - link
At the moment, AI is unfortunately nothing but a tool and it needs much additional development to reach a singularity that would make it capable of destroying and replacing outrageously stupid human life currently infesting this planet. The fact that LLM systems exist is independent of the underlying hardware enabler. In a different branch of possibility, it could have been some other form of parallel processing technology that isn't derived from graphics chips.GeoffreyA - Wednesday, March 13, 2024 - link
I agree that AI is independent of the hardware, and the calculations could just as well be done on general-purpose CPUs but at a massively slower rate. What I'm hitting at is that this hardware, accidentally developed because of games, has proved key to other important fields.While AI needs much more development, it is scraping the surface of what is going on in the brain. And I wouldn't be surprised that from a "hardware" point of view, the brain implements some sort of biological model that is performing massively-parallel floating-point calculations. With all our pretensions, perhaps in the end we'll learn that we're advanced calculators.
Threska - Wednesday, March 13, 2024 - link
Or learn that analog and digital are different realms and that's why the "brain as computer" metaphor breaks down.GeoffreyA - Wednesday, March 13, 2024 - link
They may be different realms on the surface, but fundamentally, are they really so? Digital, at a lower level, is represented by analogue, and there have been analogue computers in the past. The brain is similar to both a computer and a neural network---which was inspired by the brain---and I see it as an advanced, analogue computation device, drastically ahead of today's computers in many ways and behind in others.meacupla - Friday, March 8, 2024 - link
That's a dream for sure.Battlemage is not looking too good right now. Rumors are they are behind schedule so badly that laptop makers have ditched the mobile variant. There is not even a rumor of what a finalized Battlemage lineup would look like and it's already March.
I'm kind of questioning if they can get products to stores in volume by the end of Q4.
m53 - Friday, March 8, 2024 - link
Please fix the typo: “Clearwater Forest” instead of “Clearwater Shores”Ryan Smith - Friday, March 8, 2024 - link
Thanks!Blastdoor - Sunday, March 10, 2024 - link
If those 20A CPUs arrive on time (and all indications are that they will) then Intel will regain process superiority over AMD for the first time in many years. It seems likely to me that Zen 5 on TSMC 4nm will not be able to compete. AMD may be on the verge of another Core 2 Duo experience.The upside for consumers is that there could be some nice price cuts from AMD in early 2025 as the new reality starts to settle in.