What does the future of the CPU look like?

[jtl310]

**Now i am not a tech savvy individual which is why i wanted to hear from people who have a better understanding of the industry and changes in technology. So please go easy on the terminology - thanks!**

I just finished reading the article on the new sandy bridge Core i5/i7 processors (which was a terrific review!) and what intrigued me the most was the integration of CPU and GPU into a single unit.

So i guess its safe to say Intel is trying to make a move into this new field of processor development, which would allow the average you-tube surfing consumer to enjoy videos and basic graphics without a separate low end video card.

Does this mean Intel is trying to shrink ATI and Nvidia's consumer base? A few years back i read an article about how video and graphic intensive applications/videos will become the norm, which would increase the consumer base for low end/entry-level graphics cards. But with the new direction Intel is taking will low end and mid level graphic card be extinct within 5 years?

-how long will it take for intel to raise their IGP power to match those of low/mid level graphics cards? can it be done?

- Is this the future of CPUs a marriage of power and graphics?

I still see the need for high end graphics cards for high level graphic processing for a long time. But i just found this new direction extremely interesting considering the biggest factor being the ability to shrink the size of the laptop even further and also increasing its efficiency through better integration of systems.

- I apologize if the question is mute or simply ... silly.

[Dead Things]

Read up on something called "Larrabee" - it should give you an idea of the direction Intel is trying to go in. Intel has run into a number of roadblocks in Larrabee development, but sooner or later they'll figure it out.

[Soultribunal]

Or even look to what nVidia and Microsoft are working on with ARM Processors. That very well could be another future path we see for CPU's and the likes.

My thoughts,

Dead Things is right however, Larabee much like Lightwave will soon be the new tech. Just, not yet.

ST

[Arinoth]

We'll see processors go much faster stock whenever chip manufacturers actually address the chip housing and the parasitic inductance that is causes by running small wires from a small chip inside our big housing to the pins we know and see. There are some methods, each more effective then the last however that increases the overall cost as we'll looking at something like 10 to 30 cents per pin extra for a manufacturer to perform some of these upgrades. The benefit is being able to run stock faster, meaning we wouldn't be at this approximately 4ghz stock wall that we are now. The down side is that we'd see those few new generation of chips costing a lot more, 1366 pins * 30 cents = $409 extra cost, which means bigger cost to the end user.

[MAC]

Originally Posted by jtl310

-how long will it take for intel to raise their IGP power to match those of low/mid level graphics cards? can it be done?

From this point on, Intel's IGPs should consistently be able to compete with low-end models from AMD/NVIDIA, but I don't envision them creating an IGP that can compete with mid-level or mainstream cards.

Intel's next processor family, Ivy Bridge, will have an IGP that features twice as many Execution Units (EUs) as Sandy Bridge, and much higher operating frequencies as well. It will also support DirectX 11. However, since AMD & NVIDIA continue to improve their line-ups, the performance situation should be about the same as it is now.

- Is this the future of CPUs a marriage of power and graphics?

Absolutely, AMD is also heading in this direction right now (with even more GPU-centric offerings) in the form on their Fusion APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) chips.

However, the mainstream and high-end graphics card market won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

[jtl310]

Thanks for the great replies - seems like i have lots of reading to do

The future looks extremely interesting and fun :p !