Intel Corporation demonstrated the anticipated Larrabee graphics processor earlier this week at the Intel Developer Forum. Sean Maloney, chief sales and marketing officer for Intel, showed off a working version of the chip rendering a game environment built on ray tracing, a resource demanding technique for generating high-quality 3D graphics and often used with professional animated features.
The Larrabee chip was used in conjunction with the hexa-core "Gulftown" processor scheduled for release next year. The graphics processor is based on "Westmere" 32-nanometer architecture. Intel's first Westmere-based chip is due to ship in the final quarter of 2009.
Maloney said that Larrabee will eventually be used for a discrete graphics card used in high-end gaming PCs and workstations. "We've got a discrete product coming up," he said. It will be incorporated in system-on-a-chip (SoC) products for handheld devices, according to Maloney. He said it will be an easier programming platform for developers since it is built on x86 architecture.
"We're keeping the programming model very close to what would be seen as conventional," Maloney said. In the mean-time, Intel is reading new integrated graphics technology, an area that the chip-maker dominates in.
Maloney said that Larrabee will eventually be used for a discrete graphics card used in high-end gaming PCs and workstations. "We've got a discrete product coming up," he said. It will be incorporated in system-on-a-chip (SoC) products for handheld devices, according to Maloney. He said it will be an easier programming platform for developers since it is built on x86 architecture.
"We're keeping the programming model very close to what would be seen as conventional," Maloney said. In the mean-time, Intel is reading new integrated graphics technology, an area that the chip-maker dominates in.
