The MS Larrabee 720 Console

[Lestat]

ok well not really the Larrabee console, but the xbox 720 console.

but Intel appearantly is pushing very hard to have larrabee installed in either the xbox 720 or another console
unless the larrabee turns out to be an outdated turd, i think MS would be stupid to refuse such offers.
now, once again larrabee is nothing but vaporware in my eyes since it only exsists on paper so far as the public is concerned, BUT... the potential is there.

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/10071/...e_in_xbox_720/

[DTU_XaVier]

The silliest thing in that article is their insistence on calling MS' next console the 720.... It's getting old...

Best Regards

[Macadamia]

Larabee on the XBX3 would not be cheap.

There's no point in using a smaller config- Larabee is beautiful when it's a large-scaled massive cluster of sorts.

So yeah, should be G80 size or above. Not too cheap for a console that's supposed to kill the Wii 2.

[Lestat]

Larabee on the XBX3 would not be cheap.

There's no point in using a smaller config- Larabee is beautiful when it's a large-scaled massive cluster of sorts.

So yeah, should be G80 size or above. Not too cheap for a console that's supposed to kill the Wii 2.

well you have to realise that Intel is the one who would make it cheap or not.
the board itself is cheap, its not going to be expensive to make, all you are paying for is the R&D.
also they are not going to price the Larrabee so far out of reach that the average guy couldnt buy one. Intel is going to push larrabee hard and affordable i bet.

intel will cut a deal with MS for some crazy goodness.

but only time will tell.....
if MS feels the graphics prowess of the Larrabee isnt good enough then they wont do it.
the Xbox 3 or 720 or 1080 or xbox 666 lol isnt going to be as powerful as the xbox360. i look for it to be atleast twice as powerful.

[MomijiTMO]

Yeah I think by the time that happens I'll be a console gamer.

[spicypixel]

Well, consider size, all indications show the larrabee to be a whole PCIe board sized cluster, ive got a feeling from space they will consider the single die of nvidia for this reason.

[Cooper]

I sincerely hope all next gen consoles will be using DirectX or whatever else standard and Larabee ain't on that list. Having to develop for two different architectures will not make anything good for both developers and consumers.

[Hornet331]

I sincerely hope all next gen consoles will be using DirectX or whatever else standard and Larabee ain't on that list. Having to develop for two different architectures will not make anything good for both developers and consumers.

larrabee can do every api you throw at it since its x86, the only thing that has to be done is a software renderer that understands dx/ogl or whatever you want.

imagine a console not beeing outdated within one generation of pc graphics cards. With a larabee like gfx in a console, just update the software rendere and you can do all the new and nifty stuff, without gimping the older games.

[Macadamia]

Sorry, SM4.0 and above is already extremely flexible, most devs aren't even touching it yet.

There aren't much advantages in custom APIs, Glide was fast and lean but it still died, and nowadays every GPU in consoles use lean APIs anyway; Larabee would just be a follower not a pioneer.

It's just not worth the risk compared to ATI/nVidia GPU solutions, which will probably be the better GPUs.

[BulldogPO]

That will be very interesting console if it never sees daylight.

[Helmore]

There is one problem with this rumor, that's the fact that Microsoft likes to have all the chip designs that go into the X-Box for itself. That way they will be ordering fabs to manufacture their chips, instead of buying chips from someone. They did this with the 360 to give them more flexibility. So for Intel to have to sell Larrabee's design to Microsoft or offer a very very compelling deal for them to get Larrabees in the next Xbox.

[bowman]

There are a lot of things speaking against this idea, and I sure as hell hope a Larrabee console will never see the light of day.

Nvidia and ATI are happy to cash in on console designs and console titles - Intel is the third player, and has no stake in the current consoles.

http://softwarecommunity.intel.com/v...isualComputing

Look at this video, look at what this Intel guy says about consoles. Larrabee is our only hope for PC gaming, might kick the other two back to their proper platform and stop fiddling with the toy boxes. If they sell out, bend over and drop their pants for the toy box makers like the other two I'll just take up stamp collecting or something. Game over.

[[XC] Lead Head]

I doubt Intel wants to license larrabee out to microsoft, and I doubt there are many fabs besides AMD and Intel that could produce a hip like larrabee. I highly doubt TSMC could do it, and Microsoft sure as hell does not want to start buying chips from the manufacturer directly anymore. They got screwed on the Xbox 1 because they were still buying the equivalent of a Geforce 3 and Pentium 3 from nVidia and Intel.

[Shintai]

I doubt Intel wants to license larrabee out to microsoft, and I doubt there are many fabs besides AMD and Intel that could produce a hip like larrabee. I highly doubt TSMC could do it, and Microsoft sure as hell does not want to start buying chips from the manufacturer directly anymore. They got screwed on the Xbox 1 because they were still buying the equivalent of a Geforce 3 and Pentium 3 from nVidia and Intel.

And now they just buy some X1000 from AMD
While Sony buys 7000 series Geforce.

[Cooper]

And now they just buy some X1000 from AMD
While Sony buys 7000 series Geforce.

It's R600 not X1k

[Cooper]

larrabee can do every api you throw at it since its x86, the only thing that has to be done is a software renderer that understands dx/ogl or whatever you want.

imagine a console not beeing outdated within one generation of pc graphics cards. With a larabee like gfx in a console, just update the software rendere and you can do all the new and nifty stuff, without gimping the older games.

So what's the reason to make such a device if the S/W simulation of whatever can be used on pure H/W will result in <70% efficiency ?

[ownage]

It's R600 not X1k

Actually it is the precursor to the R600.
From what i know the PS3 GPU is just a plain 7000 series chip, which means BIG FAIL!

[Hornet331]

So what's the reason to make such a device if the S/W simulation of whatever can be used on pure H/W will result in <70% efficiency ?

cause hardware is limited, if you want to do dx/ogl you only can do that nothing more, with software -> write a new rendere and you can support anything.

imho thats the futere even for ati/nv, skip away from highly specialized hardware that only can fulfill one thing.

[Shintai]

So what's the reason to make such a device if the S/W simulation of whatever can be used on pure H/W will result in <70% efficiency ?

Software seems to work out quite well for AMD...

[[XC] Lead Head]

And now they just buy some X1000 from AMD
While Sony buys 7000 series Geforce.

Well considering the Xbox part has unified shaders, it is not an x1k. The GPUs are not bought from ATI. The design was licensed, then Microsoft themselves outsources production to TSMC. The CPU is an IBM design, once again licensed out and manufactured by Chartered.

[Mechromancer]

Intel knows gaming software development innovations happen on consoles now. Smart move by Intel. Still, for the record, I doubt larrabee's abilities. I would like to be proven wrong because a similar product from AMD wouldn't be unrealistic. Larrabee will need competition to become a better product and build a software market to support it.

[koc]

If the new Xbox support DirectX10 , blue ray DVD , 1080p and it has mouse & keyboard for all games , it will be awesome

[Swatrecon_]

If the new Xbox support DirectX10 , blue ray DVD , 1080p and it has mouse & keyboard for all games , it will be awesome

why even call it a console?

[ColonelCain]

There is one problem with this rumor, that's the fact that Microsoft likes to have all the chip designs that go into the X-Box for itself. That way they will be ordering fabs to manufacture their chips, instead of buying chips from someone. They did this with the 360 to give them more flexibility. So for Intel to have to sell Larrabee's design to Microsoft or offer a very very compelling deal for them to get Larrabees in the next Xbox.

Thank you! Though, this is not the extent of it. Why did ms buy the rights to xenos? To avoid the hassle that they experienced concerning xbox 1 with intel & nvidia. Example: backwards compatibility with the 360 was dificult to implement due to their liscence with nvidia for xbox 1's gpu.

So no, I don't think ms will use it.

[hollo]

a cluster of x86 cores is a pretty freakin sexy architecture for a GPU ...
if intel can make rendering on a many-thread x86 processor viable their future CPUs are gonna be like a 4p-server + tri-sli on a chip. would a larrabee based console even need a seperate CPU?