Re: Compatibility?
My guess -- and this is just a guess -- is that although current Intel GPUs present an interface to the programmer that appears to be PCIexpress, that (since they are generally built into an Intel chipset, not on an add-in card) they are actually using whatever interface suits Intel. So Compute Express, rather than being some "standard" that Intel and only Intel uses (... no problem when it's an Intel-compatible board taking only Intel CPUs to connect to an Intel chipset), it's one that other vendors use (... if it catches on at all.)
The standard on ARM (for on-board peripherals) is AMBA -- this was originally an ARM-only "standard", but is now used by MIPS, PowerPC, RiscV, etc. systems simply due to it being royalty-free, and additionally simply by ARM's "momentum" meaning there were far more AMBA-compatible peripherals available than for a MIPS or etc. (These peripherals are not usually purchased as physical chips, they are "resource blocks" that are placed on the main chip, the ARM, MIPS, or RiscV CPU and the peripherals will be laid out on a single chip.)
I wonder if this Compute Express is going to be like an AMBA extension (so it can fall back to AMBA speeds) or if the CPU must support Compute Express? I mean, either way it's fine, but of course Intel may sell more GPUs if one can decide to support full-speed Compute Express, or not bother and get whatever speeds they can over AMBA.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
