I’m taking inspiration from this thread
As you know, the Mac platform has been exclusively ARM for quite some time. Cyberpunk 2077 was recently released for Switch 2, which is also an ARM-based platform. The release of Cyberpunk 2077 seems to be made possible because much of the game’s libraries and binaries have already been ported to ARM; by publishing on Mac (i.e., ARM), CD Projekt appears to be trying to recoup some of their investment. The point I want to raise is whether we’re approaching a paradigm shift where PC gaming genuinely opens up to RISC platforms.
For those unfamiliar, here’s the short version: at the moment, the fundamental pillars of PC gaming are called x86. Globally, only two companies have the right to define this standard: Intel and AMD. Furthermore, the standards that govern graphics (GPUs) on x86 are basically a triopoly: Intel and AMD, with Nvidia—by far the dominant force—added to the mix.
On the ARM side, we have over 10 companies developing CPUs and around 8 developing GPUs (Intel abstains because they profit more from x86, but that’s really an ideological reason).
What’s interesting is that Steam is already, in essence, an ARM store: there’s a native Steam client for ARM that distributes ARM games (for Mac). Valve has historically been slow to innovate consistently (just look at the long wait for Steam Deck/Index 2), but it’s undeniable that the foundations for a PC industry switch towards RISC (ARM or, hopefully, also RISC-V) are all in place. There are already Micro-ATX mainboards with ARM and RISC-V CPUs available on the market.
With Nvidia being “super-hyped” by CryptoCurrency and AI and not appearing interested in supporting the PC gaming industry… am I the only one who thinks that introducing 10–15 new companies into the development of core PC gaming tech (CPU and GPU) is exactly what we need?
hyphen ( “—” ) and shit were added by AI translation
I am interested in ARM handheld PCs to see what they can manage in the sub 10w TDP range. Past that I’m even more interested in RISC-V devices. It’ll be many years for solid support though. ARM for Linux has been around for decades and ARM for Windows since at least Windows 8. It’s been a slow grind for high end ARM on desktop/portable PCs. My impression is on Linux box64/86 and FEX are pretty good and the MS one for Windows seems solid. Linux Qualcomm said they’d be fast on support and they’re definitely not AMD/Intel/Nvidia fast to support Linux machines
I’m sure RISC-V vendors will be better with Linux. ARM ones, Qualcomm has been mediocre. Mediatek+Nvidia, at least Nvidia is well experienced with Linux deliverables for hardware drivers.