Project Larrabee: How Intel's First Attempt at GPUs Failed

[erek]

"Initially, Intel released these as co-processors --- PCI Express cards that were separate from the regular CPU. Shortly after, it opted to also release them as standalone CPUs rather than just co-processors. The last CPUs to come out with the Xeon Phi branding were equipped with up to 72 cores, and unlike regular CPUs, which come with regular hyperthreading that gives you two threads for every core, these chips came with four-way hyperthreading, giving you a whopping four threads for every core. These 72-core CPUs also had 288 threads as a result.

Xeon Phi saw use in specialized applications, as well as supercomputers such as the Tianhe-2. But they were very specialized parts for very specific computing needs --- not the same thing as a regular Xeon server CPU by a long shot.

How Intel Reignited Its GPU Efforts Years Later​

Intel's initial efforts to release a dedicated GPU with this technology came to an end, but it wasn't the end of Intel's ambitions in the GPU space. The company would eventually realize that the old-school approach was better, and decide to instead work on making really good graphics cards the tried and true way. This led Intel to announce, in 2018, its intention to put out a discrete GPU on the market by 2020."

https://www.howtogeek.com/896521/project-larrabee-how-intels-first-attempt-at-gpus-failed/

 

[NamelessPFG]

Oh, look, another author who forgot that the i740 - Intel's actual first GPU attempt - exists, and Larrabee would've been the second had it not been vaporware as a graphics device specifically.
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/i740.c1288

Of course, I shouldn't be too surprised that nobody remembers the i740 - poor thing got its ass handed to it by both 3dfx and NVIDIA despite being an early adopter of the AGP interface, so nobody cared.

As for Larrabee, perhaps a really general-purpose graphics processor would've enabled new types of rendering beyond the well-established Direct3D and OpenGL rasterization methods as well as acceleration of things other than graphics, but it would've suffered the same problem as the i740 did anyway - subpar performance in existing software, not enough market share to justify optimizing for it specifically.

 

[dogDAbone]

Well I witnessed the demise of both the i740 and Project Larrabee, so I certainly remember them, especially the ass-handing part.....and I jumped head first into 3dFX's offerings at the time, and never looked back until they started crumbling under Ngreedya's pressure...

 

[DrezKill]

Another article I also found interesting (from a few years ago): https://www.techspot.com/article/2125-intel-last-graphics-card/
And I saw this last year: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-larrabee-gpu-sold

 

[bigdogchris]

The only thing associated with Larrabee that I was interested in was Project Offset. Intel needs to bring it back now that they are doing GPU's again.

 

[NamelessPFG]

The only thing associated with Larrabee that I was interested in was Project Offset. Intel needs to bring it back now that they are doing GPU's again.

I've been wondering for over a decade now what the hell happened to that game! Did Intel just quietly cancel it when they realized Larrabee wasn't going to be a GPU any more?

 

[atp1916]

The only thing associated with Larrabee that I was interested in was Project Offset. Intel needs to bring it back now that they are doing GPU's again.

Had absolutely no idea they built a thing 'for' Larrabee... (even if it appears to be a clone/cross of Thief / Painkiller / Turok ???)

WILD - i'll allow it.

 

[atp1916]

Oh, look, another author who forgot that the i740 - Intel's actual first GPU attempt - exists, and Larrabee would've been the second had it not been vaporware as a graphics device specifically.
https://www.techpowerup.com/gpu-specs/i740.c1288

Of course, I shouldn't be too surprised that nobody remembers the i740 - poor thing got its ass handed to it by both 3dfx and NVIDIA despite being an early adopter of the AGP interface, so nobody cared.

As for Larrabee, perhaps a really general-purpose graphics processor would've enabled new types of rendering beyond the well-established Direct3D and OpenGL rasterization methods as well as acceleration of things other than graphics, but it would've suffered the same problem as the i740 did anyway - subpar performance in existing software, not enough market share to justify optimizing for it specifically.

We call that.. Intel GPU development over the years amirite

 

[NamelessPFG]

Had absolutely no idea they built a thing 'for' Larrabee... (even if it appears to be a clone/cross of Thief / Painkiller / Turok ???)

WILD - i'll allow it.

As I recall it going down at the time, Project Offset wasn't built for Larrabee per se - it was just another one of those forward-looking PC games at the time, kinda like Crysis and Supreme Commander were for their respective genres.

Only thing is, Intel bought it out during development, presumably to try and have a killer app for Larrabee. Would've worked better if they hadn't quietly cancelled it!