Santa Clara, California-based Intel is expected to make its debut into the world of discrete graphics, by introducing its highly anticipated Larrabee-based many-core processing unit. The world's leading chip maker has recently showcased at the IDF (Intel Developer Forum) Spring 2009 a 300mm wafer containing Larrabee chips. This can only prove that we are getting even closer to Intel's first discrete graphics solution, by which time we shall have a stronger competition in the market of computer graphics.

 

At IDF, Pat Gelsinger, Intel's senior vice president and general manager of the Digital Enterprise Group, took to the stage to talk about the company's recently launched Xeon 5500 processors, the Nehalem architecture in both of its server and desktop product families, 32nm Westmere chips and the highly anticipated Larrabee chip. Unfortunately, Mr. Gelsinger didn't reveal any specific details on its upcoming chips, regarding the core frequencies, memory and overall design.

 

However, he did state that the company expected the first Larrabee-powered graphics card to become available later this year or by the start of 2010. Either way, the chip maker is currently in the process of testing the Larrabee, which is also confirmed by the showcased 300mm wafer that contained the Larrabee chips. According to a recent news-article on French-language Hardware, the chips were significantly large, similar to those of NVIDIA's 65nm-based GT200 models. Their size and many-core architecture would most likely require a lot of transistors.

 

One of the main mysteries surrounding Intel's upcoming Larrabee chips is related to the process technology that is going to be used in their manufacturing process. There are some reports that suggest Intel is going for the 45nm approach, but given the company's plan to ramp up the adoption of 32nm production lines, there's a good chance we'll be seeing 32nm Larrabee chips sooner rather than later.