Larrabee and Ray-Tracing

[fraggelrock]

I found this article about Intels new Larrabee chip:

http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/...ions_larrabee/

It sounds like Intel has put some serious money into this thing, but more important it seems like Intel is trying to take over the 'graphics' market owned by nVidia and ATI!!

Could this be true?

The game developers seem to think this chip will be great for 'Ray-Tracing' which is used in Quake 4.

What exactly is Ray-Tracing, and does anyone really think Larabee will make for on-board graphics that will be better then nVidia or ATI PCI-E cards?

I also read something in another forum, where the Larrabee chip will be used on graphics cards, and would be faster then anything nVidia or ATI will put out.

Is this real??

[SH64]

Hmm page not found. check URL name.
I guess this ? :
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/02/21/intel_s_presenter_mentions_larrabee/

Anyway i think its a little too early to speak of a "takeover" .. the chip first has to prove itself , also GPU's will still be needed to help in the graphics rendering even if we assume the game is to be built around RT. remember new GPUs are more of a GP-GPU's which can be used for different functions. i recall an article that speaks of the G80 used for RayTracing & compared to the Cell processor .. or something like that. maybe someone can post the link ..
EDIT : oh yeah there it is :
http://gametomorrow.com/blog/index.php/2007/09/05/cell-vs-g80/

so as you can see the chip wars will still go on & on even when Intel enters the graphics game. by that time most likely all graphics vendors will focus on making all those "stream-processors" work on parallel to provide the best performance for RT rather than rasterisation as the situation is right now.

[jolle]

raytracing emits rays from the camera, that bounce around a scene, and using that you can calculate reflections, by rendering the color values that the ray hits after bouncing of a reflective surface.
Also used for refractions by the ray passing through a surface and its path altered by the density and thickness of the surface.

[Bman212121]

From what I've read on this subject is that both Intel and NVidia seem to have different approaches to what you can use ray tracing for. Right now most games use rasterization to achieve the same effects that ray tracing would do. It seems as though there are a few things that ray tracing will be able to do better than rasterization but as far as Nvidia is concerned rasterization is better. Intel on the other hand believe that ray tracing is the best thing since sliced bread so it will be interesting to see where both companies can take their ideas and provide the best solution.

Pcper has published a couple of different articles with takes from both sides.

Nvidia:
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=530

Intel:
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=506

Intro to Ray tracing:
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=334

[Noriega]

I have only hope that Larabee will not only show ray tracing but will be a Intel's BIG STEP into GPU market.

[Redeemed]

I have only hope that Larabee will not only show ray tracing but will be a Intel's BIG STEP into GPU market.

Correct. Intel becoming a major player in the GPU market will possibly ligthen the pressur on AMD with CPUs while increasing pressure for both AMD and nVidia with GPUs. Could be interesting what the outcome would be. nVidia purchasing AMD to compete with Intel with CPUs and GPGPUs maybe? :lol:

[fraggelrock]

Hey, great info in pcper link.

I also read that Larrabee will be a GPU on a graphics card, and it could be 4X faster then anything nVidia will have at the time.

Don't know how true that is, and a lot of such claims have gone unfullfilled, but it is clear Intel is stepping into the GPU game.

[Noriega]

It's interesting what Larabee is going to be. Will it be only CPU for Ray Tracing or will it be graphic card for everything including Ray Tracing.

http://www.pczilla.net/upload/200801181427453327.jpg

[SH64]

Check what Carmack has to say about hybrid rendering .. interesting read :
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=532&type=expert

[AirRaid]

Larrabee represents Intel's first new attempt at 3D graphics since the announcement in 1996 that Intel would partner with Lockheed Martin's Real3D graphics division which lead to the development of the Auburn chip, the codename for the i740 graphics accelerator, released in early 1998.