RUMOURS : Intel Arc (and Optane) cancelled.

[Saracen999]

The rules have certainly evolved, as has the job and the methodogies but some basic 101 principles remain, one of which is that if you nail your colours that firmly to the mast and are wrong, then it's the firmness of the nailing that gets you roasted. And as bad as being shown up for a fool would be, it's nothing compared to being shown up as a knave that set this all up.

I'm out of that world, and it was never, in my day, quite like it is now, but unless you want to be caught with your tackle hanging out, in a hurricane, you still need to beware the modern evolution of those principles and be careful what you very overtly put your name to.

This all could be a carefully and professionally planned PR smear, and time will tell, but my sense is it's either worthy of a very good dirty tricks outfit, or there's at least a core of truth (which all the best lies need to have, to be credible). I think the art will be in trying to determine where the second stops and the first takes over .... if it does. Putting that a different way, where demonstrable evidence stops, and supposition and inference of what it means starts.

Also, for the smear job then yeah, it needs whoever set it up to benefit bigtime, but that same yardstick is a double-edged sword - if it comes unglued at the seams, the potential for damage to the setter-upperer is big, too.

And that, I think, might be a record mixing of metaphors, even for me in my most whimsical of moments.

[DanceswithUnix]

Among those sources are several AIB partners (and that narrows the list of possibilities a lot)

I can imagine right now there will be a lot of anger towards Intel from those companies, talking as someone working at a company where Intel can't be bothered to make the silicon we need. I know we are not the only ones.


That MLID was an interesting video. Intel have taken a (rightful) bashing in the past for dodgy integrated graphics hardware and drivers which despite being ancient computing history now I think they are only just getting over the stigma. If it looks like the Intel name is going to get a mud dragging from consumer GPU cards... well how much would that cost the company? Even a convicted monopolist needs *some* positive press

[Apex]

[DanceswithUnix]

<shocking video>

Just. Wow.

I know I'm not an Intel fan, but I'm quite stunned they could be making that much of a hot mess. And I'm into Italian cars so don't mind a bit of "character" in a product

[AGTDenton]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjYSeT-T5uk

I'm amazed we even know about the product if it's in that state.

I guess the bets are on if Intel cancel the project

[Saracen999]

Just. Wow.

I know I'm not an Intel fan, but I'm quite stunned they could be making that much of a hot mess. And I'm into Italian cars so don't mind a bit of "character" in a product

"Just. Wow." indeed. The LTT stuff (which was second hand) was bad enough but, Steve seemed to be trying VERY hard to hold in the rhetoric and even so, made his opinions pretty clear. And it's not only making it, but putting it on the market, that falls under "Just Wow".

And then, the very unusually step of sending two relatively senior people out on a media promotional tour. That is mind-bogglingly dumb.

This (for me at least) entirely puts to bed the notion that this whole "might be cancelled" thing is entirely dirty tricks from someone trying to scupper Arc. It's starting to look eminently clear Intel don't need third-party help scuppering this, when they're doing a world class job of that, themselves.

I'm neither a fan nor opponent of Intel (or nvidia, AMD etc) personally BUT, while I really wanted to see a third player in this market, personally, there's no way I'd put my own money into Arc at this point. They'd have a job getting me to reconsider that, come Battlemage .... if it ever does. The natural cynic in me says never offer to pay to be a beta-tester on new hardware (or OS/software for that matter) by being an early-adopter. Wait at least for second-gen, but I almost convinced myself to give this a shot. But no longer.

[jimbouk]

Coming bundled with a Dell desktop soon! *Cynic mode* I wonder if they're going to reduce the number of chips with built in graphics to make a market for this?

Shame if they can't sort this out, more competition would be good as said. I had a PowerVR Kyro II card back in the day which gave impressive bang for buck.

[kompukare]

Well, you got to hand it to Intel: they sure can spend big:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/in...-5-billion-usd

$3.5 Billion Lost
Jon Peddie estimates that Intel's has invested about $3.5 billion in its discrete GPU development and that these investments yet have to pay off. In fact, Intel's AXG has officially lost $2.1 billion since its formal establishment in Q1 2021. Given the track record of Pat Gelsinger, Intel's chief executive who scrapped six businesses since early 2021, JPR suggests that AXG might be next.

Larrabee was cheap at only $1 billion then.

[DanceswithUnix]

All that money and nothing released, sounds like the ideal GPU to play Star Citizen

[Saracen999]

All that money and nothing released, sounds like the ideal GPU to play Star Citizen

Oooooh, Miaowww.

Right, though.

[Saracen999]

Well, you got to hand it to Intel: they sure can spend big:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/in...-5-billion-usd

$3.5 Billion Lost
Jon Peddie estimates that Intel's has invested about $3.5 billion in its discrete GPU development and that these investments yet have to pay off. In fact, Intel's AXG has officially lost $2.1 billion since its formal establishment in Q1 2021. Given the track record of Pat Gelsinger, Intel's chief executive who scrapped six businesses since early 2021, JPR suggests that AXG might be next.

Larrabee was cheap at only $1 billion then.

Well, y'know how it goes, drop a couple of billion here, a few billion there and pretty soon you're talking about serious money.

[ik9000]

Poor Intel. Not only did they fail to make a decent GPU (again) but they also didn't get it to the market in time for the crypto boom. It's like a double bust surely? To not have it on the shelves when people needed something, anything, and were guaranteed sales as a result.

Where are all those people who were saying what's his chops would give them the know how to make something vega-like if not better? I called it larrabee#2 and it sounds like I was right.

[DanceswithUnix]

Poor Intel. Not only did they fail to make a decent GPU (again) but they also didn't get it to the market in time for the crypto boom. It's like a double bust surely? To not have it on the shelves when people needed something, anything, and were guaranteed sales as a result.

Where are all those people who were saying what's his chops would give them the know how to make something vega-like if not better? I called it larrabee#2 and it sounds like I was right.

Intel announced a Bitcoin mining ASIC back in April. They aren't very vocal about it, but looks like it is shipping and they have customers buying rigs based on them:

https://www.theregister.com/2022/06/...ining_asic_at/

I don't think this is *quite* as bad as larrabee, which just always felt like a dumb pointy haired boss idea to do graphics on x86. They could plough on and eventually get results from here, but will they?

[Apex]

[DanceswithUnix]

MLID are saying arc is now cancelled:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZr_LWAlDkg

TLDR: Next versions are coming out as low end only; no chance of catching the competition at the high end for the next gen and GPU prices are tanking so Intel are turning off the money tap.

[kompukare]

MLID are saying arc is now cancelled:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZr_LWAlDkg

TLDR: Next versions are coming out as low end only; no chance of catching the competition at the high end for the next gen and GPU prices are tanking so Intel are turning off the money tap.

Now all we need another official denial: then we can be sure it is being cancelled!