We've seen some early
USB 3.0 gear
here and there, but it looks like the successor to everyone's favorite serial bus is off to a rocky start, with AMD and NVIDIA claiming that Intel is withholding crucial specifications necessary to develop an open host controller. Although Intel apparently already has working silicon, it's not willing to share -- so AMD and NVIDIA are working on a competing spec that will be introduced alongside Intel's. The first meeting of the alternate spec group is scheduled for next week, according to sources, but there could be problems with this diverging roadmap down the line: sources close to Intel say that the only reason the specs haven't been released is that they're not done, and that Intel doesn't want incompatible chipsets based on different versions of the spec out there. Sure, sure, but we're certain both sides are playing a little fast and loose with reality here -- good thing all these fools have until 2010 to get this sorted.
[Via
Everything USB]
posted June 11th 2008 4:16PM
Why would Nvidia do anything with AMD. AMD needs to do something like...uh...oh I don't know...maybe make a chip that doesn't suck ass before they start worrying about peripherals.
Just a little clarification:
The USB spec consists of multiple pieces. The part the outlines the protocol (what data goes over the wire) as well as the physical spec (connectors, cables, etc.) is controlled by the USB standards body. Intel is not withholding anything related to that.
What Intel has done is design the host controller. This is the logic that implements the USB protocol over the wire and interfaces to a PC. With USB 1.1, 2.0, (and FireWire), the host controllers follow various standards (OHCI, UHCI, or EHCI) that allows the PC driver software to work with any host controller that follows the same standard, regardless of who made it.
Of course, a host controller is a very complicated beast, as it is the "engine" that drives the USB protocol. Having everyone design their own engine from the ground up will likely lead to lots of compatibility issues, so it's much better if the groundwork is done in common and set out in a standard.
But all this takes a lot of work, and Intel is balking at doing all the hard work and letting others freeload off of it. It's not completely unreasonable, but if the standard is to be successful, they can't keep it all to themselves.
i hope they just start rolling this out whatever they end up on deciding
no Mr. T reference?
I'm dissapointed.
Ugh we just got over the BD/HD-DVD war, I hope this stops here.
People, people, people....this is NOT going to lead to another format war a la Blu-ray/HD-DVD. If anything it will more closely mimic this whole 802.11N debacle.
The reason for this is that the final word on what implementation is going to be the standard known as "USB 3.0" is not going to be the consumers buying power...it's going to be the IEEE. Even if Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and my grandmother for all that it's worth come up with an implementation of a new expanded serial communications standard for peripherals they would ALL still have to submit it to the IEEE, who will then pick exactly ONE, and slap a label on it that says "USB 3.0". And that will be that.
Now, that's basically what's been going on with 802.11N, except the standards orgs involved still haven't slapped that label on anything. But, and here's the part that is potentially bad/dangerous for consumers, the manufacturers weren't willing to wait, so they all just plowed ahead and made suites of products to their own spec. There's nothing really wrong with that except that those products aren't certified, which means that they won't necessarily work with any other vendors products. Virtually everything in the computer world was like that ~30+ years ago...that's why those standards orgs were created.
Eventually 802.11N will become a ratified standard in some form, and then you can be reasonably sure that certified products from different vendors will work with each other as their supposed to (or at least as well as b and g have...). Many people are waiting for that before buying anything N, but some people want the increased functionality NOW and are willing to risk non-interoperability (and frankly I don't totally blame them...if people bought 'draft N' equipment when it first came out they've probably already gotten their monies worth and N STILL isn't ratified).
Worst case scenerio for USB 3.0 (and it's pretty unlikely) would be roughly the same thing. AMD and Nvidia release their own spec and some OEMs make products based on them. If you're worried about interoperability JUST BE PATIENT, and wait till the IEEE weighs in before you buy anything.
And don't forget, competition is GOOD. There's always the dark horse possibility that AMD and Nvidia could come up with something BETTER than Intel. If it's still backward compatible with USB 1.x/2.0, cheaper to license, and the vendors make products for it, I say bring on NvidiAMD.Link, and let USB3.0 go the way of Firewire (which actually should have become the domminant standard in the first place).
they might as well wait for intel to finalize... look at the other "partners" HP, MSFT, and TI... this is very much a "club" that will have "just enough" differences that only the "club" knows about to hold everybody back for the first year. The quicker a real objects come out everybody can measure and test against to ensure compatiblity with what will be released and not what's on paper.
Hi, I work for Intel. For Intel's side of the story, pls read this: http://blogs.intel.com/technology/2008/06/usb_30_for_the_masses_dispelli.php
AMD has now been upgraded to douchebag threat level 3.
Meanwhile Nvidia is sitting at douchebag threat level 5.
this has NOTHING to do with Intel. People can spin it any way they like but at the end of the day its AMD and Nvidia being asshats. AMD because they couldn't complete in the performacne realm if they were thrown a 100 billion in free money, and Nvidia who has some sort of phobia based on Intel entering the SoaC arena. If these people would sit back and relax a finalized spec would be implimented and then work with that. As if there won't be draft specs that can't be used prior to the final release. That's what a certified standard is all about. Something USB3 will be...*sighs*...in time.
"AMD has now been upgraded to douchebag threat level 3.
Meanwhile Nvidia is sitting at douchebag threat level 5."
And what about Intel? Douchebag infinitum?
Hi, I work for Intel. For Intel's side of the story, pls read this: http://blogs.intel.com/technology/2008/06/usb_30_for_the_masses_dispelli.php
Nick
finally a guy who works for intel!
but i wouldnt blame intel for this
and the government should have nothing to say about this because its not like we give away our secrets of say the F23 Phantom or the Airborne laser, so according to the government, they have no reason to be mad at intel for doing thsi
so good luck NVIDIA and AMD on getting this through law
this could be good for AMD because they can make a special port than can fully use their standard 1600 MHz FSBs
Jesus Christ, AMD, Intel, and Nvidia are having a war right now. GPUs, CPUs, and now USB.