New Larrabee silicon taped out weeks ago

Plagues of bugs quashed

Sep 16, 2009 by

IT LOOKS LIKE Larrabee, Intel’s upcoming GPU++, is about to have new silicon in short order. The B0 stepping taped out about a month ago, so there should be some public showings soon.

B0 taped out on August 15, and the silicon is winding it’s way through the fabs now. Even with Intel’s manufacturing prowess, making those parts and bringing up the new silicon takes time. It is going to be a really close call on them making showable boards before IDF or not. Here’s to hoping.

Word on the street is that Larrabee has a host of bugs which prevented public showings of the Ax silicon. This is not uncommon for a new architecture, and a new paradigm only adds to the pain. That said, almost all problems are said to be fixed in the move from Ax to B0 silicon. If schedules don’t allow for the new stepping to be shown at IDF next week, expect a flood of demos at the next major conference.

From the looks of things, Larrabee is going to be pulled from a shroud of mystery and negative rumor into the light very soon. Only then will we see if it lives up to the hype or not. Game on in a matter of weeks.S|A

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Charlie Demerjian

Roving engine of chaos and snide remarks at SemiAccurate
Charlie Demerjian is the founder of Stone Arch Networking Services and SemiAccurate.com. SemiAccurate.com is a technology news site; addressing hardware design, software selection, customization, securing and maintenance, with over one million views per month. He is a technologist and analyst specializing in semiconductors, system and network architecture. As head writer of SemiAccurate.com, he regularly advises writers, analysts, and industry executives on technical matters and long lead industry trends. Charlie is also available through Guidepoint and Mosaic. FullyAccurate