Re:Intel with Radeon RX Vega Graphics: Core I7-8809G with 3....
by ksec on Tuesday January 02, 2018 @12:28PM
(#16053426)
It only saves money If
1. It will only make sense if Intel were actually manufacturing the GPU themselves as well. In this case they dont. And EMIB is an Intel specific technology, AMD doesn't use it when they package HBM with their dGPU.
2. AMD makes a profit before selling it to Intel, and Intel has to make a profits for integrating it with EMIB, i doubt the cost saving of using EMIB together with HBM, if that was true, out done the profits margin of both companies.
Routing HBM to the GPU using PCB traces is expensive, and in the low-to-mid end, saving money on PCB and cooling matters. If EMIB is going to be used anyway, why not have the GPU in there as well. With 1024-bit 4GB HBM on package, memory bandwidth won't be a problem, and the i7-8809G will likely be faster than a PS4, which means it'll be good enough for 1080p gaming.
KabyLake was probably chosen because this design was finalized before Coffee Lake. The next iteration will likely have more cores.