Intel to offer Larrabee graphics at "preferential" prices?
updated 09:30 am EST, Tue November 3, 2009
Intel offering Larrabee GPU to China card makers
(Updated with official stance) On a recent trip to China, Intel's CEO Paul Otellini has been talking about the chipmaker's upcoming high-end Larrabee GPU with China-based graphics card makers, DigiTimes reported on Tuesday, citing sources at the card makers. They claim Intel is planning on offering preferential pricing for the GPU both on its own, as well as bundled with other Intel products. The Larrabee is expected to compete with NVIDIA's GeForce and AMD's Radeon products and is due for a 2010 launch.
Some of the first-tier graphics card makers are apprehensive about early adoption of the Intel GPU due to a fear of bugs in early examples, but they expect the Larrabee to be competitive in about two years.
The 32-core Larrabee is Intel's first genuine attempt at a high-performance graphics chipset and should be much more flexible than current dedicated video chipsets as each core is a full Pentium-based processor capable of regular x86 code as well as visual effects.
Update: Intel denies to Electronista that Otellini made such a visit and casts doubt on the report.
