What is the impact on Apple if NVIDIA were to buy ARM?

[trs96]

Tim Cook's reaction when asked whether he's worried about Nvidia acquiring ARM holdings:

"Apple has always had the discipline to make the bold decision to walk away."

They've left Motorola, PPC and Intel so they may eventually even leave ARM behind too.

The other important thing to remember is that they always have a contingency plan in place.

 

[Solidww]

Nvidia is looking to buy Arm, in 'advanced talks'. The acquisition could be met with regulatory hurdles, however, as Nvidia is also currently a customer of Arm and rival customers like Apple, Qualcomm, AMD and Intel will require guarantees that they'll be given equal access to Arm's instruction set but does this change Arm’s model of being a neutral provider of chip technology to everybody from mobile phone makers, to Apple for its future Mac computers?

The Dollars And Sense Of Nvidia Paying A Fortune For Arm

Back in April, when we were talking with Nvidia co-founder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang about the datacenter being the new unit of compute, we

www.nextplatform.com

Great news report. I am following this and feel it’s a lot of hype. I of course am only stating a thought. Let’s see how this plays out.

 

[wstrohm]

Apple didn't snub them Nvidia kept releasing bad drivers...

I haven't built that many computers, but I have never had a bad driver version from nVidia.

 

[scottkendall]

I haven't built that many computers, but I have never had a bad driver version from nVidia.

Maybe the word bad is not the correct word however, it is a known fact that web drivers for High Sierra were shotty. Just because you are able to get video on the screen does not mean the system is a smooth as it can be.

The easiest way to compare it is that Nvidia drivers perform like an old UPS truck with a manual transmission, while AMD drivers preform like a new Audi with CVT transmission.

 

[wstrohm]

Maybe the word bad is not the correct word however, it is a known fact that web drivers for High Sierra were shotty. Just because you are able to get video on the screen does not mean the system is a smooth as it can be.

I have 2 computers running High Sierra. One uses a GTX 1050 Ti OC and the other uses an entry-level GT 1030. On both of those computers when playing Unigine "Heaven" or "Valley" graphics benchmarks, the grass is green. I also have one computer running Mojave with an AMD RX 580 Nitro+. On that computer, the same apps, run on the same monitor, display green grass with blue tips. The nVidia cards display videos that look better, although the RX 580 is superior in fps.

 

[scottkendall]

I have 2 computers running High Sierra. One uses a GTX 1050 Ti OC and the other uses an entry-level GT 1030. On both of those computers when playing Unigine "Heaven" or "Valley" graphics benchmarks, the grass is green. I also have one computer running Mojave with an AMD RX 580 Nitro+. On that computer, the same apps, run on the same monitor, display green grass with blue tips. The nVidia cards display videos that look better, although the RX 580 is superior in fps.

That is great for you; that does not change the fact that Nvidia drivers are buggy and were not up to snuff. Nvidia did not want to fix it and did not want to let apple fix it. It is possible that over the last few years they have tuned the HS driver so it does not have choppy performance any longer. Colors looking different is not a performance issue but instead a matter of preference. FPS on the other hand is a number that can be quantified. Green Grass with blue tips might actually be the way it was intended to be seen and the Nvidia in its more matted color render is not showing it.

 

[D.Houch]

Sorry to seem so vindictive, but after Apple's treatment of nVIDIA I hope with everything within me nVIDIA purchases ARM and they snub Apple, just as Apple snubbed them and those of us who prefer nVIDIA graphics... not to mention those who have nVIDIA graphics in our Macs.

Apple, as usual, at various times in their history (Steve Jobs era excluded), decides to change to some proprietary Apple-only API or they decide to further isolate themselves from the rest of the computing world in some manner (software or hardware), and they expect -- like the petulant little children they are at times -- EVERYONE to succumb to their whims, and we witness their resulting temper tantrums when industry people do not ask Apple "how high" when Apple demands everyone "jump".

I love the Mac OS, but I hate Apple with a passion right now! At the least, I hope nVIDIA purchases ARM and forces Apple to beg them for usage, and then ONLY after Apple agrees to sign-off on ALL MacOS drivers for nVIDIA wares, old and new, and tells Apple THEY MUST COMPLY with nVIDA's needs instead of nVIDIA bowing to Apple's whims... Apple's proprietary "Metal" demands included.

Sorry for offending anyone (except Apple)... but long live nVIDIA, and SCREW Apple at this point as far as I'm concerned!

I truly hope this news doesn't turn out to be wishful thinking and false hope on my part. I have never SO had it with Apple... not even during their idiotic 90's decision making -- before Jobs came back and showed them how to be a real company who actually serves their customers' needs rather than snubbing them.

 

[littlegreen]

What is interesting, imho is that NVidia do not utilize ARM designs in any of their products, aside from the Tegra CPUs, AFAIK.

Saying that, Tegra is long gone - maybe this will be a way for NVidia to come back to mobile. Either way, ARM will be the next corner stone in computing, I think - with everyone going lower and lower-power on the most popular platforms. It's phones and tablets today - with laptops just around the corner.... who knows - we may yet see a NVidia-powered add-in card in a MacPro...

 

[scottkendall]

Sorry to seem so vindictive, but after Apple's treatment of nVIDIA I hope with everything within me nVIDIA purchases ARM and they snub Apple, just as Apple snubbed them and those of us who prefer nVIDIA graphics... not to mention those who have nVIDIA graphics in our Macs.

Apple, as usual, at various times in their history (Steve Jobs era excluded), decides to change to some proprietary Apple-only API or they decide to further isolate themselves from the rest of the computing world in some manner (software or hardware), and they expect -- like the petulant little children they are at times -- EVERYONE to succumb to their whims, and we witness their resulting temper tantrums when industry people do not ask Apple "how high" when Apple demands everyone "jump".

I love the Mac OS, but I hate Apple with a passion right now! At the least, I hope nVIDIA purchases ARM and forces Apple to beg them for usage, and then ONLY after Apple agrees to sign-off on ALL MacOS drivers for nVIDIA wares, old and new, and tells Apple THEY MUST COMPLY with nVIDA's needs instead of nVIDIA bowing to Apple's whims... Apple's proprietary "Metal" demands included.

Sorry for offending anyone (except Apple)... but long live nVIDIA, and SCREW Apple at this point as far as I'm concerned!

I truly hope this news doesn't turn out to be wishful thinking and false hope on my part. I have never SO had it with Apple... not even during their idiotic 90's decision making -- before Jobs came back and showed them how to be a real company who actually serves their customers' needs rather than snubbing them.

When I read your post to me, it is you that is the little child stomping your feet. It is funny how Nvidia lovers think Apple did Nvidia dirty the reality is they both did each other dirty and parted ways. Also if you hate Apple so much move on you got Windows and Linux then you will not have to worry about Apple and their closed-loop.

 

[wstrohm]

Colors looking different is not a performance issue but instead a matter of preference.

Maybe you could look at the screenshots and decide which you prefer. You should be able to tell which is which. They were taken with my "Mini ITX 3" (GTX 1050 Ti) and "Mini ITX 4" (RX 580) computers listed below.