NVIDIA could enter the desktop CPU market with performance equal to AMD and Intel

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/110319/nvidia-could-enter-the-desktop-cpu-market-with-performance-equal-to-amd-and-intel/index.html

211 points · 71 comments · view on lemmy.world

71 Comments

Omega_Jimes@lemmy.ca · 239 pts · 170d (8 replies)

Do I want another option in the desktop CPU space? YES

Do I want that option to be Nvidia? NOPE

semperverus@lemmy.world · 43 pts · 169d (1 reply)

I'm looking forward to the MilkV chipsets that are RISC V architecture. They have like a microATX board that just takes regular computer components and has functioning graphics drivers for AMD. Nothing is optimized for it but its a 64 core CPU if I recall correctly, and its ridiculously low wattage for what it does.

Sxan@piefed.zip · 3 pts · 169d

Ditto. RISCV will catch up, eventually, and it'll be a Chinese company which does it. Most of þe RISCV solutions are Chinese silicon.

Cethin@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 169d

I'm likely never buying one, but more competition is good. It'll bring prices down because some people won't care.

ageedizzle@piefed.ca · -2 pts · 169d (4 replies)
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WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works · 14 pts · 169d (1 reply)

they are recently destroying the desktop PC market by selling at overinflated prices, and by being the manufacturer that ends up using all the memory components that's been removed from the manufacturers of the PC market.

but for a very long time before that, they were making very shitty, buggy, unstable drivers for linux. we might just get to be taught that CPUs also need drivers, so far that just wasn't a problem because they was just working fine.

CybranM@feddit.nu · -2 pts · 169d

Nvidia is just the person selling pickaxes, blame the AI companies for paying insane amounts for memory

eleitl@lemmy.zip · 12 pts · 169d

They are extremely hostile to open source.

Trilogy3452@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 169d

Probably them investing mostly in AI hardware nowadays (not sure what %) is the reason

hark@lemmy.world · 180 pts · 169d (1 reply)

They should try entering the desktop GPU market.

massacre@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 169d

/thread

EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com · 53 pts · 169d

If it ever becomes the standard desktop processor, they'll pull the rug like they have with graphics processors and push everything to AI datacenters.

Hard pass

etchinghillside@reddthat.com · 42 pts · 170d (6 replies)

Are they hedging against AI collapsing? Not sure I see the motivation.

Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works · 35 pts · 170d (1 reply)

I think that's 100% what this is, and it's a very smart play if that's the case. Intel are reeling from some significant setbacks, while Nvidia is swimming in cash. There's never been a better time for them to make a play for the desktop CPU space.

And they've got absolutely no illusions about what's happening with AI. They're the ones who are literally paying AI companies to buy their chips. They know the space is collapsing. But as the guys selling the picks and shovels, they can ride out that collapse if they're smart.

End of the day, if what we get out of this is a new, serious competitor in the CPU space, that'll at least be some kind of win. With Nvidia's money and expertise they could really force Intel to get their shit together. AMD chasing their heels is the only that's ever kept them from completely going to shit, but more competition is even better. With all three major companies playing in both the CPU and GPU spaces, that could be really good for consumers.

T156@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 169d

It might also be groundwork for more complicated things on their GPUs.

The article says nothing about nVidia actually planning to enter the desktop CPU market, only that a bunch of unrelated analysts compared the CPU performance, and said it was about equal to what's on the market.

empireOfLove2@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 16 pts · 170d

Both that and vertical integration. They can capture even more of the market by creating all in one Nvidia-only machines that you have to buy the whole rig to use their accelerators

Technus@lemmy.zip · 9 pts · 170d

Yeah, that was my question. Why the hell would they develop new silicon when 99% of their fab space is dedicated to feeding the AI bubble?

jollyrogue@lemmy.ml · 5 pts · 169d

Nvidia wants to be the equal to Intel and AMD. They want to be the 3rd major hardware house.

In ~2009, Intel didn’t renew a contract which allowed Nvidia to produce chipsets for Intel processors, and since then Nvidia has wanted a CPU of their own to keep from getting locked out again.

Nvidia tried to buy Arm when SoftBank was trying to sell, but that got scuttled. They had Tegra in the past which was a phone processor and successful in the Nintendo Switch. They can’t buy Intel because of poison pills in the x86 licensing between AMD and Intel which would kick in.

Blackmist@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 169d

They're doubling down. It's a special CPU for more AI slop.

Eat_Your_Paisley@lemmy.world · 34 pts · 170d (1 reply)

I don’t think I’ll ever purchase anything made by NVIDIA

tabular@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 169d

I mean if it's 2nd hand.. and the free (libre) drivers are good.. and AMD hasn't gone full Intel.. maybe??

phar@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 170d (3 replies)

Does it work without ram?

Edit- removed "and"

totesmygoat@piefed.ca · 11 pts · 170d

Don't worry. It will only be used for ai data centers.

ArkimedesWasRight@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 169d (1 reply)

Probably, of you throw enpugh cache at it. 😅

boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 169d

4D V-cache!

breadsmasher@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 170d (10 replies)

clock speed of 4GHz, which is far below AMD and Intel's 5GHz.

phrasing is odd. 25% lower clock speed isnt “far below”

but also fuck nvidia

markz@suppo.fi · 40 pts · 170d (5 replies)

I don't think it should even be comparable between totally different architectures.

Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works · 26 pts · 170d

Yeah, we've been through this exact same game with multiple iterations of Intel and AMD chips. When AMD first started doing consumer CPUs they badged them according to their equivalent Intel clock speed because one to one comparisons were misleading.

What's the L1 and L2 cache? What are the bus speeds? How many cores and how are they architectured? Multi-threading? How many steps is the instruction cycle? There are so many factors beyond just clock speed that play into real world performance.

Peffse@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 170d (1 reply)

I can't believe people still look at Hz and think it's a sole metric that can be used for performance.

Do you think they look at the 2005 Pentium 4's 3.8GHz and assume it's only slightly worse than what Nvidia will put on the market?

BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 169d

I'd take one of those. My P4 is only 3.0 GHz.

obbeel@lemmy.eco.br · 1 pts · 170d (1 reply)

I'm hopeful ARM will follow more the licensing path than the going full Android path. I think stronger ARM computers, built at the ISA level by any company are also stronger RISCV computers. Builders like Rockchip (China) show that ARM and RISCV computers will bring alternatives to people, possibly with smaller fabs or on demand.

eleitl@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 169d

Truly open/libre systems will have to be RISCV. They don't have to be the fastest.

Sturgist@lemmy.ca · 13 pts · 169d (2 replies)

25% lower clock speed isnt “far below”

AHEM! AKTCHEWALEE..... it's 20% which is even less qualified to be "far below" the other two.

breadsmasher@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 169d (1 reply)

Thanks! Thats more accurate

Sturgist@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 169d

No worries bud! The wording is still ridiculous...and also fuck Nvidia 😒🖕

ramble81@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 169d

You willing to take a 25% pay cut? Yeah that’s hella far. Especially when you’re up in the GHz range.

BeatTakeshi@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 169d

I'm not buying this news, and if I'm wrong I'm not buying the product. Fuck Nvidia

Tharkys@lemmy.wtf · 22 pts · 169d

Good, I won't be buying them either.

Seasm0ke@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 169d (2 replies)

I will not buy another nvidia retail product again. Could make an exception for a second hand shield from an earlier generation, but nvidia is dead to me. AMD is my new best friend.

Dagamant@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 169d (1 reply)

AMD is still trying to get in on the AI cash pile. The only thing they have going for them is pretty solid Linux support. I still pick them over nvidia and intel, they just aren’t much better than the others when it comes to “consumer first” ideologies

Seasm0ke@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 169d

I'm a fickle mistress and sadly also a captured audience so totally expect to hate them one day... for now it plays mhwilds hi res on ultra great on garuda.

skymtf@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 20 pts · 169d

Let me guess, it won't work with Linux once so ever without a propetairy nvidia kernel

RblScmNerfHerder@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 169d (2 replies)

Yeah, but, it's Nvidia, the same company who's a key figure on the AI-Govt circlejerk.

The absolute best thing we can do is boycott them AND OpenAI, because neither company gives a F about the People.

While Huang and Nvidia continue their current trajectory, I'll never buy another Nvidia product.

phx@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 168d (1 reply)

Yeah, seriously. Nvidia is too busy fucking over the consumer PC market to be interested to produce a CPU that'd sell in that same market. My bet is that any CPU they release would be targeted at cloud/AI as well.

RblScmNerfHerder@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 166d

Absolutely.

solrize@lemmy.ml · 15 pts · 169d (3 replies)

This is more about the Arm X925 core than about Nvidia. The X925 is a new superscalar ARM core that's the first one competitive with current x64 at single threaded compute.

vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org · 1 pts · 169d (2 replies)

Apple M-series are ARM64. Are they not competitive?

solrize@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 169d (1 reply)

They get fairly close from what I understand. But while they are more power efficient, they're still behind in pure speed. The X925 goes for speed at the cost of power, at least per this:

https://chipsandcheese.com/p/arms-cortex-x925-reaching-desktop

PagPag@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 169d

I don’t see where this beats a comparable latest M-series chip.

Anyone beating Apple at this game would be significant news even if it consumes 25x the power.

There’s probably a reason why Apple or any offering thereof has zero mention here.

Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 12 pts · 169d
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mlg@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 169d (3 replies)

I am literally just waiting for China to catch up and knock over all 3 of these TSMC suckers.

I don't care if they throw a 2000% tarrif on it, I will figure out a way to bypass it so I can enjoy pre inflation PC prices again when high end GPUs were going for $300, SSDs became so cheap that the HDD market actually started falling behind, and you could chuck RAM sticks around like spare change.

eleitl@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 169d (1 reply)

It would be nice to see hardware smugglers.

matlag@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 168d

If the tariffs last, emergence of some smugglers is unavoidable.

Add to that that they would be tracked by Kash Patel's ruined FBI, and the risk assessment is even more in favor of smuggling.

SharkAttak@kbin.melroy.org · 1 pts · 169d

If you think China is consumers' friend, think otherwise.

thedeadwalking4242@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 169d

Yeah I think I'd rather stick a CPU up my ass then use a Nvidia CPU an any computer I own.

cecilkorik@piefed.ca · 9 pts · 170d

Maybe they should start making RAM /s

etherphon@piefed.world · 9 pts · 169d
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oyzmo@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 169d

so... they have spare production capacity then?

DJKJuicy@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 169d

I mean, of course they could.

But where's the money in that?

YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 169d

Big lol. I'll believe it when I see benchmarks.

THE_GR8_MIKE@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 168d

A lot of companies could do stuff. We know it'd all go to AI slop anyway, so whatever.

SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 170d (1 reply)

if they don't tank on AI first.

eleitl@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 169d

Couldn't happen to nicer guys. Godspeed.

Hadriscus@jlai.lu · 4 pts · 169d

kindly nationalize nvidia now

thank you

devolution@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 169d (2 replies)

eleitl@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 169d (1 reply)

Doesn't render.

devolution@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 169d

It's the monopoly man announcing that Nvidia is effectively a monopoly.

nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 168d

well they start making decent drivers for linux or will they suck ass like they do now

vext01@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 169d

Could they please make cheap ram?

melfie@lemy.lol · 2 pts · 169d
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MuskyMelon@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 169d

Why not better? Why just equal? Make the decision simple.

network_switch@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 169d (1 reply)

The tegra boards are good on Linux. They need to get this out so software developers can work out the software kinks and hardware integrators make some good designs. I want a whole lot more Steam Machine sized devices to choose from

jjlinux@lemmy.zip · 0 pts · 168d

No, they don't. Fuck them and everything they stand fkr.

rmpbklyn@lemmy.org · 0 pts · 169d (1 reply)

good, need to brake away from ms and apple that donate to trumpedo

eletes@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 169d

Jensen has had dinner with Trump. I'm sure he donated in order to soften tariffs or get better deals. They're all in the same club