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Nvidia is proposing a beast of a CPU system for Windows PCs

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Re: Nvidia is proposing a beast of a CPU system for Windows PCs

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I am not sure how many people will run AI models locally. It still seems like a niche application to me. However, it will make decent machines to play video games..." This is the 2026 edition of Ken Olsen: "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home"

> This is the 2026 edition of Ken Olsen: "There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home" Digging into this: > In conclusion, there is evidence that Ken Olsen did doubt the need for computers in the home, but the evidence is based primarily on the testimony of David Ahl who was perturbed when the personal computer project he championed at DEC was not supported by Olsen in 1974. > Olsen’s resistance may…

It doesn't really need this much explanation.

People take these quotes out of context all the time. Said in a business context, there was no need, at that time, for someone to have a personal computer.

There's no business justification in 1977 for a personal computer department at a business. It's similar to the gates quote about RAM (I think it was 64KB?).

These statements aren't meant to be forever quotes. Their business plan quotes.

Re: Nvidia is proposing a beast of a CPU system for Windows PCs

#94
post #15

"I am not sure how many people will run AI models locally. It still seems like a niche application to me. However, it will make decent machines to play video games." I don't know who will be the winner but with some of the recent releases from gemma it seems more probable that you may run some models locally if only from a cost perspective, not even considering business security. Not sure how this type of architectur…

> "Ranked in the top 2% of scientists globally (Stanford/Elsevier 2025) and among GitHub's top 1000 developers"

This made me laugh. I can only image how insufferable this person is to deal with.

Re: Nvidia is proposing a beast of a CPU system for Windows PCs

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It uses LPDDR5X instead of VRAM and will still sell for a premium while pushing their presence even further in every side of the AI market. This was one area AMD was ahead in and now Nvidia is probably better off making this to compete on that front while still being better off than making a 5090.

That doesn't answer the question. If the high margin enterprise GPUs are saturating the fab capacity you wouldn't expect them to be pushing this. But IIRC those all have oodles of integrated HBM at this point so I wonder if fab capacity for that has become a bottleneck.

[deleted]

Re: Nvidia is proposing a beast of a CPU system for Windows PCs

#96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s too strong of an assertion. Local models aren’t deterministically equivalent in capabilities to foundation models. Home computers are turing complete; just like a mainframe. They are just slower. Often not slower enough to matter.

Most people are ok with slower. An AI that lets you edit a family picture, in say 30 seconds, locally is preferable to one that is instantaneous but requires you to submit that picture to examination/storage/training/sale in someone else's AI ecosystem. If i want to crop my ex out of family photos, i should not have to first give that photo to Microsoft. If want an LLM to write a book report for me, i dont want it al…

> Most people are ok with slower. An AI that lets you edit a family picture, in say 30 seconds, locally is preferable to one that is instantaneous but requires you to submit that picture to examination/storage/training/sale in someone else's AI ecosystem.

Maybe if you ask them that question, but if you show them two products, they'll definitely prefer the faster one. 30 seconds is a long time to watch a progress bar.

Re: Nvidia is proposing a beast of a CPU system for Windows PCs

#97
post #15

"I am not sure how many people will run AI models locally. It still seems like a niche application to me. However, it will make decent machines to play video games." I don't know who will be the winner but with some of the recent releases from gemma it seems more probable that you may run some models locally if only from a cost perspective, not even considering business security. Not sure how this type of architectur…

The HN crowd is, by and large, not the target audience for his self promotion. I guarantee there is one and this is more or less effective.

Re: Nvidia is proposing a beast of a CPU system for Windows PCs

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It uses LPDDR5X instead of VRAM and will still sell for a premium while pushing their presence even further in every side of the AI market. This was one area AMD was ahead in and now Nvidia is probably better off making this to compete on that front while still being better off than making a 5090.

That doesn't answer the question. If the high margin enterprise GPUs are saturating the fab capacity you wouldn't expect them to be pushing this. But IIRC those all have oodles of integrated HBM at this point so I wonder if fab capacity for that has become a bottleneck.

I believe it does - the reasons why are exactly differences like LPDDR5X vs HBM3e. Not every fab is capable of making any type of chip another fab makes. If you can make a product with different chips and still sell it for a premium why would you not just because the fabs for your DC product's chips are busy?

Looking at it more, I believe the story repeats with the TSMC processes used for the CPU vs chips like GB200 as well.

Even if none of the above were the case, the question still isn't "why not make the enterprise GPU" it's "why not make the higher margin per chip area product". If the NV1/GB10 take less die space and cost a lot it's not immediately apparent the enterprise GPU actually nets Nvidia more $ per die or not. That's why it's relevant these will be sold at a premium.

Re: Nvidia is proposing a beast of a CPU system for Windows PCs

#99
post #15

"I am not sure how many people will run AI models locally. It still seems like a niche application to me. However, it will make decent machines to play video games." I don't know who will be the winner but with some of the recent releases from gemma it seems more probable that you may run some models locally if only from a cost perspective, not even considering business security. Not sure how this type of architectur…

> "Ranked in the top 2% of scientists globally (Stanford/Elsevier 2025) and among GitHub's top 1000 developers" - side note but this guy puts this everywhere, gives me probably the inverse of what he is marketing for. Lol yeah seriously, that stinks "I ask AI to generate a huge amount of bullshit and upload it to pad irrelevant stats". Absolute loser.

That lines looks very cringe indeed, but the guy has some crazy good blogposts on SIMD stuff.

Re: Nvidia is proposing a beast of a CPU system for Windows PCs

#100
This is the RTX Spark [1].

The obvious comparison here is the M5 Max where you can buy a Macbook Pro with 128GB of also unified memory. Obviously CUDA cores are specific to NVidia so it's hard to directly compare but I've seen claims that the M5 Max is roughly equivalent to ~4000 CUDA cores. This obviously depends on workload and whether the CPU supports the precision you want to use (eg FP4).

The M5 Max has memory bandwidth of 819GB/s. The RTX Spark I believe is ~600. So it might be slightly better than the current generation of Macs but likely worse than the expected M5 Ultras of the new Mac Studios (likely Q3 2026).

For comparison, a 5090 has >20k CUDA cores and 1800GB/s memory bandwidth with 32GB of VRAM. The RTX 6000 Pro (at ~$10k) has 96GB of VRAM, same bandwidth and ~24k CUDA cores.

We have to see what RTX Spark systems sell for but the DGX Spark is in the Mac Studio price range (~$4k).

I do think Apple has a real opportunity here but there offerings aren't quite there yet. The M5 Ultras might be a really attractive option for local LLMs. I expect them to be in high demand.

[1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48352939

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