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Intel Arc Pro B50 GPU Launched at $349 for Compact Workstations

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Re: Intel Arc Pro B50 GPU Launched at $349 for Compact Workstations

#41

It’s interesting that it uses 4 Display Ports and not a single HDMI. Is HDMI seen as a “gaming” feature, or is DP seen as a “workstation” interface? Ultimately HDMI is a brand that commands higher royalties than DP, so I suspect this decision was largely chosen to minimize costs. I wonder what percentage of the target audience has HDMI only displays.

There’s also weirdness with the drivers and hdmi, I think around encryption mainly. But if you only have DP and include an adapter, it’s suddenly “not my problem” from the perspective of Intel.

Re: Intel Arc Pro B50 GPU Launched at $349 for Compact Workstations

#42

The new CEO of Intel has said that Intel is giving up competing with Nvidia. Why would you bother with any Intel product with an attitude like that, gives zero confidence in the company. What business is Intel in, if not competing with Nvidia and AMD. Is it giving up competing with AMD too?

I thought that he said that they gave up at competing with Nvidia at training, not in general. He left the door open to compete on inference. Did he say otherwise more recently?

Re: Intel Arc Pro B50 GPU Launched at $349 for Compact Workstations

#43

A $350 “workstation” GPU with 16 GB of VRAM? I... guess, but is that really enough for the kinds of things that would have you looking for workstation-level GPUs in the first place?

The closest comparable on the Nvidia side is the RTX Pro 2000 which is 16GB vram for $650 (and likely more compute).

And likely much better support for that compute.

Re: Intel Arc Pro B50 GPU Launched at $349 for Compact Workstations

#45

It’s interesting that it uses 4 Display Ports and not a single HDMI. Is HDMI seen as a “gaming” feature, or is DP seen as a “workstation” interface? Ultimately HDMI is a brand that commands higher royalties than DP, so I suspect this decision was largely chosen to minimize costs. I wonder what percentage of the target audience has HDMI only displays.

There’s also weirdness with the drivers and hdmi, I think around encryption mainly. But if you only have DP and include an adapter, it’s suddenly “not my problem” from the perspective of Intel.

[deleted]

Re: Intel Arc Pro B50 GPU Launched at $349 for Compact Workstations

#47

The new CEO of Intel has said that Intel is giving up competing with Nvidia. Why would you bother with any Intel product with an attitude like that, gives zero confidence in the company. What business is Intel in, if not competing with Nvidia and AMD. Is it giving up competing with AMD too?

AMD has also often said that they can't compete with Nvidia at the high end, and as the other commenter said: market segments exist. Not everyone needs a 5090. If anything, people are starved for options in the budget/mid-range market, which is where Intel could pick up a solid chunk of market share.

Regardless of what they say, they CAN compete in training and inference, there is literally no alternative to W7900 at the moment. That's 4080 performance with 48Gb VRAM for half of what similar CUDA devices would costs.

Re: Intel Arc Pro B50 GPU Launched at $349 for Compact Workstations

#49

The new CEO of Intel has said that Intel is giving up competing with Nvidia. Why would you bother with any Intel product with an attitude like that, gives zero confidence in the company. What business is Intel in, if not competing with Nvidia and AMD. Is it giving up competing with AMD too?

AMD has also often said that they can't compete with Nvidia at the high end, and as the other commenter said: market segments exist. Not everyone needs a 5090. If anything, people are starved for options in the budget/mid-range market, which is where Intel could pick up a solid chunk of market share.

I’m interested in buying a GPU that costs less than a used car.

Re: Intel Arc Pro B50 GPU Launched at $349 for Compact Workstations

#50

It’s interesting that it uses 4 Display Ports and not a single HDMI. Is HDMI seen as a “gaming” feature, or is DP seen as a “workstation” interface? Ultimately HDMI is a brand that commands higher royalties than DP, so I suspect this decision was largely chosen to minimize costs. I wonder what percentage of the target audience has HDMI only displays.

DisplayPort is the superior option for monitors. High end gaming monitors will have DisplayPort inputs. Converting from DisplayPort to HDMI is trivial with a cheap adapter if necessary. HDMI is mostly used on TVs and older monitors now.

HDMI is still valuable for those of us who use KVMs. Cheap Display port KVMs don't have EDID emulation and expensive Display Port KVMs just don't work (in my experience).
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