NVIDIA to announce an x86-compatible chip next week?
NVIDIA might be on a big GPUs-as-CPUs kick right now, but rumors of the company developing a straight-up x86-compatible CPU are as old as the hills, and it looks like they're back for another round. This time it's the Inquirer doing the mongering, with whispers of a release at Nvision next week -- we've got to say that we doubt it, especially given how much trash NVIDIA's talked about Intel and Intel CPUs recently, but we'll certainly be watching this one.
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
MadMike @ Aug 20th 2008 2:36PM
The more competition the better, IMHO.
Joshua Walters @ Aug 20th 2008 4:20PM
Agreed.
And with the way things are looking over on the AMD front, we could use some fresh competition for Intel.
Setnev @ Aug 20th 2008 6:14PM
Its only a matter of time before we start seeing NVidia release its own motherboard with integrated Nvidia processors and integrated nvidia video cards, and nforce chipsets. Nice job NVidia, keep the pressure on Intel cause everyone knows the Intel GMA sucks ass.
Verx @ Aug 20th 2008 2:38PM
Yawn
icepop4who @ Aug 20th 2008 2:38PM
why can't companies make what they are good at? Here we have intel wanting to make one of its multicore cpu a gpu, and here nvidia wants the vice versa. KFC now have fish sandwiches, and chinese restaurants serving tacos. What has this world gone to?
Andrew @ Aug 20th 2008 2:56PM
Same could be said about other parts of the processor.. "Why can't CPU companies stick to what they are good at ... Letting chipset makers make the memory controller OR making CPU cache. OR the FPU.. " eventually memory and GPU (and who knows what else .. maybe the chipset?) will all be part of the CPU. No more of this "dedicated graphics memory" crap that stays idle when your system is maxing out it's Physical memory. It will, on demand, reserve the amount needed for graphics computations and/or program necessity.
Johan S @ Aug 20th 2008 3:06PM
Because I want a fish sandwich too when I go to KFC .. it saves me money and I won't need two trips.
Companies try to produce what they think consumers will buy. That's a good thing .. gives consumers choice .. most people don't want an expensive cpu so why should they pay the premium so that the few who do want expensive cpus can get them.
carl @ Aug 20th 2008 3:53PM
Apple didn't know anything about mp3 players or the music business, but look where that venture got them. Granted those industries were fledgling when Apple started, but there were already other companies that had a fairly good head start.
initialxy @ Aug 20th 2008 4:20PM
kind of off topic, but did you know nintendo used to make playing cards and then host love hotels before moving into the gaming market?
TRAFFICBLOWS @ Aug 20th 2008 9:40PM
not sure where the world is going, but I have to say, the asians running the mexican joint near my house can make one helluva quesadilla with a wok!
Jon Niola @ Aug 20th 2008 2:43PM
With what I have seen in the quality of their mobile GPU's no thanks.
Kamokazi @ Aug 20th 2008 5:30PM
You mean:
"With what I have read on Engadget lately because I am clueless and have no idea how to form my own opinion"
I personally own 3 of the affected GPUs (And before you call my a fanboy, do let it be known that I have a HD3870 in my HTPC) and have installed or have friends with a dozen more. Not a single one of us has had a problem with any of our GPUs. It does affect both moble and desktop chips, and I have both-8600GTS in my workstation, 8600M GS in my laptop, and an 8800GTX I just pulled from my gaming PC which will find its way to eBay soon. The 8800GTX and 8600GTS have been running flawlessly for about 18 months each, and the 8600M GS I have had for a little over a year now. I know several people with 8600GTs, 8800GTs, etc. that also have experienced no issues (I would be the first they would call if they failed...ugh).
Yeah, nVidia did royally mess up, but it's not like the GPUs are dying left and right. Most work just fine, and some that get a little hotter than average may develop issues over time.
My big question is that I thought nVidia didn't have the proper licensing to produce x86 CPUs. I was under the impression that Intel, AMD, Via, and maybe IBM were the only ones allowed to do so. I suppose they could enter an agreement with Via or IBM or something.
loosely_coupled @ Aug 21st 2008 6:06AM
Agree with the above comment. I've had at least five mobile nvidia GPUs over the years, and haven't had any problems whatsoever. And even today, they are still the best until AMD gets a 4800 mobile part. Every company that is fabless like nVidia runs into manufacturing issues with 3rd party manufacturers in China. This situation only assures that future nVidia parts will be checked more thoroughly than any other GPUs...
Chris Gregg @ Aug 20th 2008 2:45PM
This does seem to be a reply to Larrabee:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larrabee_(GPU)
edward @ Aug 20th 2008 2:58PM
Drool
Carl Vitullo @ Aug 20th 2008 3:03PM
The inquirer?
Really?
Jerry @ Aug 20th 2008 3:37PM
Exactamundo! I would trust one thing the Inquirer reported on. Sure, they get it right every once in a while, but if it's not corroborated elsewhere I don't believe them.
vileta2 @ Aug 20th 2008 3:28PM
I know.
Apparently not everyone is aware of "that thing about The Inquirer".
Jeremy K. @ Aug 20th 2008 4:30PM
"News, reviews, facts fiction."
At least, that's what I think it says.
Zuke @ Aug 20th 2008 3:14PM
Nvidia needs to settle the current problems with their GPUs first!
I need to buy a laptop w/fast graphics, but can't because they won't confirm or deny whether current OEM models are shipping with the defective GPUs!!!
Thaxium @ Aug 20th 2008 4:15PM
This is pretty exciting, IMO. It feels like it's been Intel and AMD in the consumer market for processors forever, and with AMD lagging I'm more than happy to welcome another desktop CPU provider. If this is true, and nVidia does enter the consumer CPU market I could definitely see some pretty cool innovations as the result, and would be more than happy to be an early adopter.
That, and from the read link, I'm getting a bit tired of hearing about all of these patent battles. It's really becoming apparent that they're killing off innovation and causing detriment to the consumer. Hopefully the ends justify the means...
Also, as a side note, I'd be much more happy (and feel less dirty) sticking an nVidia CPU in my computer than an Intel graphics solution, but that's just me.
Steve @ Aug 20th 2008 4:17PM
Engaget would do good to keep there prejudice to themselves. I have read comments here about nvida but interesting if they knew what the real problem with the chipset was they would be equal or more criticism of Dell and less of HP. My personnal experience with Two laptops from Dell,both XPS models have been absolutely horrible not because of Nvidia but because Dell refuses to back up its products. The waranty they have stinks and basically takes advantage of the consumer. For example if Dell can't ascertain what the problem is over the phone with there technical staff and you have to send your computer back to them your waranty is void. What kind of crap is that. Have you ever had to deal with the bozo's from Dell's technical staff. My gosh you will call back multiple times to get something fixed and that is if they can figure it out...Dell needs to go out of business. I have had it with them and this is after many years of patronage and tens of thousands of dollars spent with them... Nvdia has brought graphics to level Intel and Ati can only aspire to. I hope they are around for a long time and that they continue to provide graphics chips and other innovative products to us as consumers and to industry so as we advance as a society. With regards to this X86 chip, well the CEO of Nvidia is a straight shooter,so lets see is the bs artist here.
Jeremy K. @ Aug 20th 2008 4:31PM
I really wanted to read what you wrote, but I couldn't get past "there".
phanbouy @ Aug 20th 2008 4:44PM
same as Jeremy...except for the 'wanted' part
broli @ Aug 20th 2008 7:31PM
You know you have too much time on your hands when you write essays as a comment.
wootman @ Aug 20th 2008 8:02PM
i stopped at would.
tl:dr to the max.
Fara @ Aug 20th 2008 5:19PM
Question: Does nVIDIA have a x86 license? otherewise they're not gonna be allowed to release a x86 chip.
Fara @ Aug 20th 2008 5:21PM
I found an Engadget article from 2006, that claimed the exact same thing. And it also had the Inquirer as a source
http://www.engadget.com/2006/10/19/nvidia-has-x86-cpu-in-the-works/
Nimblesquirrel @ Aug 20th 2008 7:20PM
A few moths ago, nVidia and Via announced they were entering into a technology sharing partnership (which put to rest the rumors of nVidia buying Via). That partnership will most likely include patent sharing of Via's x86 technologies. Via and nVidia share a pretty close relationship.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/09/via-and-nvidia-sitting-in-a-tree-k-i-s-s-i-n-g/
More recently, nVidia has paid for a license for all of Transmeta's patents and patent applications: the same patents that Intel was forced to license when they realised they wouldn't win a patent war with Transmeta.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/08/nvidia-pays-transmeta-25-million-for-longrun-technology/
NVidia have made it clear that they are not going to compete with Intel on the high end (for now at least).
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/11/nvidia-continues-to-hate-on-intel-promises-sub-45-integrated-c/
Maybe we will see an nVidia variant of the Via Nano, with on chip GPU (with PhysX and SLI), northbridge and southbridge. Much like the Tegra is for the ARM11. Or maybe nVidia plan to use Transmeta's code morphing and VLIW technology to emulate x86 on a GPU.
Either way, I'm looking forward to nVidia's offerings.
Paul @ Aug 20th 2008 5:48PM
Maybe someone said this already but, is this the new chip that Apple "might" use in there new hardware. People were talking about Apple switching to Nvidia chipsets, but maybe its the whole bag? CPU, GPU, Chipset.
Just a thought.
PC
Nimblesquirrel @ Aug 20th 2008 9:24PM
A few moths ago, nVidia and Via announced they were entering into a technology sharing partnership (which put to rest the rumors of nVidia buying Via). That partnership will most likely include patent sharing of Via's x86 technologies. Via and nVidia share a pretty close relationship.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/09/via-and-nvidia-sitting-in-a-tree-k-i-s-s-i-n-g/
More recently, nVidia has paid for a license for all of Transmeta's patents and patent applications: the same patents that Intel was forced to license when they realised they wouldn't win a patent war with Transmeta.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/08/08/nvidia-pays-transmeta-25-million-for-longrun-technology/
NVidia have made it clear that they are not going to compete with Intel on the high end (for now at least).
http://www.engadget.com/2008/04/11/nvidia-continues-to-hate-on-intel-promises-sub-45-integrated-c/
Maybe we will see an nVidia variant of the Via Nano, with on chip GPU (with PhysX and SLI), northbridge and southbridge. Much like the Tegra is for the ARM11. Or maybe nVidia plan to use Transmeta's code morphing and VLIW technology to emulate x86 on a GPU.
Either way, I'm looking forward to nVidia's offerings.
N328KF @ Aug 20th 2008 10:01PM
This will be a lot harder for NVIDIA than it was for AMD. AMD had a cross-licensing agreement with Intel on x86 properties back in the 1980s. It's still in force, and it goes in both directions. This agreement (which Intel surely has spent lots of time regretting) basically allows either party to use the x86 technologies developed by the other, which is how Intel managed to take the AMD64 ISA and implement it as EM64T.
This does nothing for NVIDIA, and they are open to the lawsuits that AMD won.
Jon Doe. @ Aug 20th 2008 10:40PM
Ha. Nvidia's shit is so hot and power inefficient...good luck with that Nvidia. Intel is going to wipe their ass with your wares and then flush it. You might make good GPU's but a CPU? Nope.
crsh @ Aug 21st 2008 6:39PM
The only chip maker Nvidia would have a shot at hurting is AMD, not Intel by a long shot; at best, I expect Nvidia to stick to low-power CPUs for netbooks and handhelds like the VIA Nano/Intel Atom/AMD..whatever-it's-called.