No Windows XP driver for Intel Larrabee GPU

Posted on Friday, November 07 2008 @ 20:09 CET by Thomas De Maesschalck
FUD Zilla heard from anonymous sources that Intel is only working on Windows Vista and Windows 7 drivers for its upcoming Larrabee GPU, which is planned for 2010.

This might lower the sales of Larrabee a bit as many people will still be using Windows XP by the time Intel's GPU arrives, but it's a logical move as Windows XP doesn't support the latest gaming technologies, such as DirectX 10 (and 11).
Intel simply wants to move away from this operating system and invest its development time in the future, which is obviously Windows 7. The Vista driver is reality, as this operating system is gaining market share as we speak as most of the systems do come with Vista and you almost don’t have a choice to go back to Windows XP especially when you buy your PC in local retail store.

Desktop / gaming Larrabee will probably come much later after workstation simply as workstation driver is complex and hard but at the same time you only need to optimise OpenGL as this is what most of the workstation software use, while in gaming DirectX plays a much more important role.
A Linux version should also be available, as Intel will reportedly first go after the lucrative workstation market.


About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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Re: No Windows XP driver for Intel Larrabee GPU
by Anonymous on Saturday, November 08 2008 @ 1:26 CET
Larrabee isn't even out of the gate yet and they are limiting driver support.

Sorry Intel, but that's not a good sign given all the issues that require support on a GPU. I can see the long list of games that won't get support now, with a cute phrase like "no driver support is likely to be enabled for game xxx due to it's being rather old."

Think about it. If they aren't going to support a year old OS, what makes you think they are going to offer patches for games that are just 2 or 3 years old?

This is a very, very bad sign of exactly how much resources they have for Larrabee. And it doesn't seem to be much.



Re: No Windows XP driver for Intel Larrabee GPU
by Thomas De Maesschalck (lsdsmurf@dvhardware.net) on Saturday, November 08 2008 @ 1:57 CET
Larrabee won't arrive until sometime in 2010, by the time you'll find it on retail shelves millions will already be running Windows 7 and Windows XP will be more than eight years old.

It's sad for people who will still be using Windows XP but I can understand the logic behind it. Larrabee will be a high-end GPU and people who buy these chipss want the best game experience they can get. About 18 months from now Windows XP won't be able to deliver this because it doesn't support the latest technologies, such as DirectX 10/11 or better multi-core support.

Honestly, I see little reason why Intel should invest resources into a Windows XP driver. It's not like the latest cards from NVIDIA and ATI still support Windows 98. Both firms stopped supporting this operating system about three years ago.