In 1998, Intel and Real 3D co-developed their own first and also the 'final' discrete graphics card, the i740. Because of its good performance in 3D graphics performance, the i740 was also released quite a bit User and graphics card manufacturer's approval.
However, Intel alone significantly but not the success of the i740 continues, as Intel will improve the i752 graphics chip integrated into the 810 chipset, combined with Intel's Real 3D company due to poor management in 1999 declared the collapse, making Intel Completely abandoned the development of independent graphics and production planning, turned to integrated graphics development, so in the eyes of the public, Intel and discrete graphics has always been difficult to link together.
In fact, in the past 30 years, Intel did not make much in the field of discrete graphics, but intermittent from time to time there will be some related news in 2009, Intel released a code-named Larrabee GPU graphics card after a lapse of ten years Project, but eventually the project was canceled by the end of 2009 as performance and drive-driven development lags far behind the original plan.
Intel recently announced based on the 14nm process core display architecture alone significant design prototype
If you put aside the 'discrete graphics' category, Intel alone is actually very strong when it comes to GPUs, and in a way that "bundles" the GPU with the CPU in an integrated way, leaving almost every computer with an Intel Core Display , A large number of industrial-grade, enterprise-class computers, and almost all laptops have built-in Intel nuclear display.In this context, after Intel did not blindly die in the discrete graphics market is not difficult to understand the thing.
However, since last year, Intel seems to re-ignite the market was alone in the show, the first AMD graphics department chief Raja dug over, and then at the end of February at the ISSCC 2018 International Solid State Circuits Conference announced based on the ninth generation 14nm Process technology was the core of discrete graphics design ideas and prototypes. From this series of moves, Intel seems to have a new discrete graphics card for strategic layout.
Intel i740 discrete graphics
So, what areas will Intel bring in if it is truly introduced? What role will Intel play in the graphics industry? We might as well analyze Intel's recent ecosystem layout.
Intel's independence was only for PC design?
Unlike 'scratch', Intel is a very special place in the GPU arena, on the one hand Intel is taking a very high share of the GPU market on a nuclear-based basis, which is Intel's strength in the GPU space; on the other hand It is the face of NVIDIA, AMD, these veteran GPU chip makers, the weak performance on the discrete graphics.This contradiction in the IT field is very rare.
For the past ten years, Intel, which is rooted in the PC field, has not always tried its best to develop a discrete graphics card. Instead, it focused on the CPU and the integrated graphics, core graphics, Research and development.This to a certain extent, help Intel to gradually gain a foothold in the competition in the field of CPU, and become one of the super giant.
Without such a resource tilt but a 'multi-party enemy', whether in the field of CPU can make the current achievements, it is difficult to predict the And it is in these ten years, NVIDIA steal their own death Voodoo Of the body, met with ATI, AMD, bloodshed and eventually become a leader in the field of GPU step by step.
Today, PC semiconductor chip industry's dominance in the hands of both Intel and NVIDIA Intel in the PC processor market has maintained an absolute share, although this is a manifestation of strength, but from another point of view, if you do not do New breakthroughs and stick to this area, Intel is difficult to achieve higher growth in volume, so we see that Intel in recent years began to seek business transformation, and artificial intelligence, driverless and many other areas were opened up.
In addition, from the seventh generation of Core to the eighth-generation Core Duo update, Intel's core graphics card upgrade at a standstill, from which we can see that Intel's core graphics for the future development seems to be re-thinking.
Regaining discrete graphics development will help Intel make breakthroughs in the GPU space beyond the CPU in the traditional PC industry, although it could compete positively with NVIDIA and quickly grab more from NVIDIA and AMD Of the market share is also a question mark, but by virtue of Intel's technical strength and economic strength, hard work done something is not difficult.
More important, it may also be Intel's determination to develop a discrete graphics card, the root cause is helping to lay the groundwork for the future of artificial intelligence, driverless competition in the field to lay a solid foundation, so Intel's independence was only for the PC design , I personally do not think it is.
Broader space in AI and driverless
The rise of artificial intelligence, driverless, blockchain and other industries and technologies has created a market of $ 140 billion worth of NVIDIA today, of which the powerful floating-point computing power of the GPU is the key, which also allows emerging industries to recognize the value of NVIDIA more .
In recent years, Intel also has comprehensive and in-depth technical input in these areas.In the hardware, Intel builds the ecosystem based on Xeon processors, FPGAs, visual computing sticks, etc., and combines various optimized open source libraries and framework platforms , For developers to provide complete solutions.
However, hardware such as CPUs and FPGAs, while at the root of the R & D platform in emerging technologies, still have some disparity with GPU in terms of efficiency and applicability, which has led to Intel's failure to use artificial intelligence and driverless technology like NVIDIA , Blockchain and other industries fly to the east.
In this world, companies chase the interests of justice is a matter of course, 'neighbor' overnight look at the eyes, of course, not easily overlooked. Core Graphics in the PC field has actually reached a certain height, on the one hand AMD APU has long been under the pressure of the body; the other hand, has also completed its initial goal: a complete replacement of the low-end entry-level independence significant position.But in artificial intelligence, driverless and other emerging areas is very difficult Make a difference.
At the same time, in recent years, Intel's emphasis on emerging fields will only be higher than that of the traditional PC field. However, the importance of GPUs in the emerging fields seems to have surpassed that of the CPU. Therefore, the development of a discrete graphics card is of great importance for the present and future Future Emerging Areas Eco-layout Filling in the last brick is a tremendous benefit to Intel.
Taken together, Intel regained the independence of discrete graphics development, for the traditional PC industry and artificial intelligence, driverless, blockchain and other emerging industries, are of great significance from the traditional PC industry, Intel discrete graphics after all, The strong impact of the traditional GPU field pattern.The disclosed specifications show that Intel alone significantly performance will not be too strong, so its positioning may also be very different with NVIDIA, ADM.
NVIDIA GeForce, AMD Radeon alone was designed specifically for gaming, video and graphics design while Intel's discrete graphics based on nuclear display, the first is likely to be mainly used in enterprise-level, servers and other fields in order to achieve more efficient accelerated computing. Follow-up whether to develop more powerful discrete graphics to impact NVIDIA, AMD, Intel has a solid foundation in the accumulation of technology, the key is whether it will do.
From the artificial intelligence, driverless, blockchain and other emerging areas of view, the significance of discrete graphics on Intel's PC industry is greater than the PC industry in recent years from the point of view, the entire market saturation, the body has been very Difficult to have a big room for further pull up, while the absolute share of Intel has been to maximize the benefits in them, but Intel is not rests with the existing business, you want to achieve breakthroughs and growth, grasp the development of emerging areas, Building a new ecology has become even more important.
Therefore, the development of discrete graphics that can help Intel make up the last piece of hardware in the emerging field of 'short board', why not?
