Rumor: Intel Larrabee may be delayed to Summer 2011

Posted on Wednesday, June 10 2009 @ 13:44 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Tom's Hardware speculated the Intel Larrabee GPU would measure a whopping 971 square millimeters if the chip was to be produced at 45nm, this would make the chip about 65 percent bigger than NVIDIA's GT200. However, the Larrabee is expected to be made on a 32nm process and that would shrink the chip's size to around 650mm².

The article also suggests the shipping date of Larrabee may be postponed to mid 2011, but provides no reason why Intel might take this decision.
Our source also indicated that Intel is looking to ship Larrabee two years later, putting us in summer of 2011. Of course, by that time, we will have GPUs that are 2 to 4 times faster than current GPUs from both AMD/ATI and Nvidia. However, at that time Larrabee may not be what it is today either.

One critical point we were told was that 1st and 2nd generation Larrabee GPUs will not be compatible with 3rd generation Larrabee. This is of course, highly speculative and very far out. According to the data, Intel's 3rd generation part will have an emulation mode for backwards compatibility. If this is true, then developers would have a hard time programming for Larrabee.


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.



Loading Comments