Intel Buys Altera for $16.7B

Re:Intel Buys Altera for $16.7B by listic on Monday June 01, 2015 @03:05PM (#9641290)

I knew something like this had to exist. Shouldn't this approach extend to modern hardware? E.g. surely there must be cases where it is effective to use custom FPGA-based hardware fit for the job, rather than (or in addition to) CPU and GPGPU?

I heard counter-arguments to the tune of 'hardly anyone wants to program their FPGA' which sounf strange to me: after all, hardly anyone wants to program their pixel shaders, either.

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Re:Intel Buys Altera for $16.7B by kevinnk on Monday June 01, 2015 @04:42PM (#9641999)

The real problem with FPGAs is that for 99% of use cases, CPU/GPGPU is good enough. And in the cases you really do need the extra speed, its rare you also need the flexibility, in which case you'd make an ASIC. There is a niche for FPGAs (especially in prototyping), but it's not as big of a market as you would imagine.

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