Intel to Introduce GPGPU Functions Into Westmere

Despite Intel's shelving of Larrabee (at least what we knew of the first version), the company still sees a future in offloading tasks to the GPU.

According to X-bit labs, Intel said last week that its upcoming Westmere processors will offload some of the video transcoding duties from the CPU over to the integrated GPU.

Both the Clarkdale desktop and Arrandale notebook will feature a dual-core 32nm CPU and a 45nm GPU on the same chip (but not the same die). Intel did say that systems shipping with Clarkdale and Arrandale chips won't initially support such GPGPU functions, but it will come at a later date through a driver update.

Of course, those with much beefier graphics chips from AMD or Nvidia will likely have little use for what Intel's IGP can do, but it's a good signal from Intel that the chip giant still believes in GPGPU utility.

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Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • cknobman
    Intel = FAIL
    Reply
  • Zoonie
    2 heads ARE better than 1 :D:D:D ;)
    Reply
  • falchard
    What about when the other head is a complete retard?
    Reply
  • lowguppy
    They'll get it all on one die eventually, and it will be more cost effective than manufacturing separate dies, but they'll never compete in gaming class graphics. Having the whole platform, including graphics, on one die will make it hard for nVidia to compete in enterprise graphics markets. AMD could do something similar, though they haven't moved in that direction yet.
    Reply
  • JMS3096
    GPGPU on an Intel GMA IGP? Intel IGPs can barely handle the graphics processing that already gets thrown at them!
    Reply
  • DjEaZy
    ... it iz emulating the FUSION blef...
    Reply
  • DjEaZy
    ... that mean new MoBo?
    Reply
  • pbrigido
    cknobmanIntel = FAIL
    Hey AMD Fanboy, get over it. Intel and AMD are both great companies.
    Reply
  • vider
    About freaking time!
    Reply
  • pbrigido
    Zoonie2 heads ARE better than 1 D
    So that explains why guys are better than girls...I knew there had to be a reason.
    Reply