ATI is out of the high end GPU market for Intel PCs, it looks like Intel has a chance to move into that market...Damn this is looking really $hitty for the consumer, as far as having choices goes.
Wait... you say that Intel may move into the high-end GPU market - but this reduces choice in the marketplace?
I don't follow, you just contradicted yourself.
If Intel did decide to move into the performance GPU market then this would be an interesting decision that could only
increase the variety in the marketplace.
Oh, and those people that keep saying that 'ATI is out of the high end GPU market for Intel PC's', what have you been smoking?
If Intel made this move to exclude ATI GPU compatibility from their CPUs/Chipsets then this would mean that the
only hardware that supports the widest selection of GPU's would be AMD and its supported platforms.
Given the current graphics card climate (where nVidia and ATI take it in turns to be 'top dog'), when the polar behaviour of the graphics card swings towards ATI, Intel would be
damaging its own market share. I personally wouldn't buy from a company that tried to dictate which graphics hardware I could use.
I certainly can't envisage AMD breaking compatitibility with nVidia GPU's for the same reason.
Not to mention that anti-trust laws would prevent Intel from breaking support with ATI graphics cards just because they were made by a company competing in another area. That would be like Microsoft preventing Firefox from working on Windows XP.
What I meant is that we will only have one idependent GPU maker, Nvidida. If Intel enters the high end market then they will only make them for their platforms. Amd will do the same, thus we only have Nvidia as an independent GPU maker. Oh and by the way I just ready that Intel has already cancelled Ati's license for chipsets. I think that from what I'm reading this deal is not going to make a new company called AMD/ATI or AMTI, but only one company... AMD. ATI will not be a separate entity but will be run by Ruiz, so I think it would be strange for them to make GPU's and more so chipsets that run on Intel platforms. They might, but I doubt the will make them shine.