It's Come Back Up That Intel Is Reportedly Licensing Radeon Graphics IP

[microcode]

Enjoying post-college life.

Graduated in May 2016, jumped around my hometown doing random IT jobs. Ended up falling into a job with one of the big 5 tech companies around September 2016. Relocated to the DC area in October for said job. Did my Fedora + Nvidia article in October / November. Since then I've just been enjoying living on my own and settling into the new job. Didn't wind up in Journalism, which is what my major was, but I can't exactly complain with where I have ended up, especially as my first big job out of college.

It's kind of weird how I have -more- free time now than I did back in college. I come home from work, kick my shoes off, play with the 4 legged roommate and then enjoy some games with friends, read a book on the balcony, or clean up around the apartment. I was expecting to have less free time, but that's not the case.



Possibly. Total War Shogun 2 is getting a Linux port at the end of the month, and I already own the game, so I might do a port report on that one. I'll definitely do a review of Fedora 26 in a few months. I'm looking to pick up a Macbook Pro in the fall, so I'll probably give my thoughts on that as well. There's a few pieces of hardware that I'm looking to pick up in the next few months, so we'll see how Linux compatibility is on that front as they come in.

If it's a Macbook Pro these days, it's probably not going to run Linux ever. These things have become increasingly dicey over the years for it, and I had a 2015 MBP for work reasons, the hardware behaved such that it hung at some point right after boot and there was basically no information online except "yeah dude, me too".

[grndzro]

If there is one thing everyone can agree on is that Intel graphics are horrible. I could see a deal allowing Intel to use Radeon graphics in their chips as long as it specifies that GPU performance cannot exceed a specified % compared to AMD APU's. 60% performance of Raven ridge graphics would be a huge step up from Intel's iGPU performance, and it wouldn't damage Raven Ridge's sales.

AMD gets a bit of $ in return, Intel gets to cut it's iGPU division. It makes sense when you consider the fact that AMD will have an APU with Ryzen/Vega. Intel's APU sales will be pretty much gutted.

That probably isn't what the deal is about, but I wouldn't be shocked if it is. Intel is smart enough to realize what AMD getting the next 2 major consoles as well means. AMD's driver optimizations will be very good in the future, which is another area Intel could cut out. The deal might save Intel $, give AMD $, and result in a better ecosystem all around while not costing AMD anything. In fact it would benefit both AMD and Intel.

[Ericg]

If it's a Macbook Pro these days, it's probably not going to run Linux ever. These things have become increasingly dicey over the years for it, and I had a 2015 MBP for work reasons, the hardware behaved such that it hung at some point right after boot and there was basically no information online except "yeah dude, me too".

That's fine. I work with enough Linux servers at work, plus my desktop dualboots. The Laptop is for video & audio editing, staying up to date on macs (also support those at work), and the amazing battery life.

[trek]

if that's true, why can't nvidia sue them for previous inspirations from nvidia patents? The fact that it is possible to switch patent protection providers implies that patents don't actually say anything in particular.

this is a very american thing: no software patents in the rest of the world!

[L_A_G]

Knowing that the main reason to go for AMD's APUs over Intel's CPUs with integrated GPUs has been that the APUs actually have pretty decent GPUs I can't escape the feeling that AMD is shooting themselves in the foot here.

Either that or then the actual purpose of this deal is to function as a shield against patent lawsuits from more established graphics companies AMD and Nvidia. Rather than AMD having tech Intel wants, AMD simply offered protection from companies like itself for a price lower than what Nvidia previously did.

[chithanh]

The IP deal can be for patents, like the one between Intel and NVidia. But to my knowledge, Intel already has access to AMD graphics patents due their traditional cross-licensing deal.
More likely IMO, this is for GPU designs, like the deal that Intel has with Mali and PowerVR.

I can't escape the feeling that AMD is shooting themselves in the foot here.

Not necessarily. For example, Intel could use AMD graphics IP exclusively in CPUs with 8 or more cores. AMD reportedly doesn't plan to offer 8-core APUs (except for gaming consoles) so there would be no competition between the two vendors.

[riklaunim]

If there is one thing everyone can agree on is that Intel graphics are horrible.

Well, not really. They aren't 60-100W+ gaming parts, they in most cases are "few" watt parts that handle everything else you need from a GPU - operating system works, media plays and the battery like is good. If they put something that performs like RX 470 / GTX 1050Ti then they also have to power it and - no magic there - it will have very similar power requirement.

i7-7700HQ is a 45W laptop CPU. Rumored Kabylake-G with HBM2 and stronger GPU are... 65-100W. If it's actually true those could be APUs between A10 and CPU + dGPU.

[L_A_G]

Not necessarily. For example, Intel could use AMD graphics IP exclusively in CPUs with 8 or more cores. AMD reportedly doesn't plan to offer 8-core APUs (except for gaming consoles) so there would be no competition between the two vendors.

The problem with that is that APUs are supposed to be a cheap all-in-one solution and an 8 core Intel part definitely won't be cheap unless it's based on their Atom offerings or some type of ARM core (they have made ARM parts back in the 90s) and thus end up competing with AMD's embedded parts.

[wizard69]

The Latter almost cetainly, can you imagine... using GPUs in your product manufactured by your competitor...it would be a nightmare. If they do use GPUs of the same design as radeon they will at the very least have in house hardware design teams so they don't have to worry about AMD holding them hostage.

You might be surprised here, they could very well use AMD's architecture and instruction set. It would be good for the industry as we have a proliferation of GPU architectures. Fewer architectures makes for more focused development.

I'm actually wondering if the coming Apple GPU is AMD derived. Maybe we will get some info with the coming WWDC, but going with AMD IP would result in a fast development cycle and some protection from patent lawsuits.

[wizard69]

If it's a Macbook Pro these days, it's probably not going to run Linux ever. These things have become increasingly dicey over the years for it, and I had a 2015 MBP for work reasons, the hardware behaved such that it hung at some point right after boot and there was basically no information online except "yeah dude, me too".

I run Linux in a VM with no problem at all. I certainly wouldn't buy a Mac to erase the hard disk and install Linux, this provides a solution for my Linux needs and is problem free.