Interestingly, Gamasutra has recently been testing a solution of game "cloud" based on Larrabee, or at least the chip that is derived from its efforts on Intel "GPU". The originality of this demonstration is that the game was a version of "Ray Tracing" Wolfenstein (in its iteration 2009). The principle is simple: a computer "server" computes the data and sends it to a machine "client", which displays it.
OnLive already allows such things and alternatives exist, but that Intel is interesting on several points. First, the image management: if OnLive encodes a video game (with a proprietary codec) and others use the H.264 standard, the Intel solution is based on the transfer of still images.
In fact, each image is compressed by DXT1, DirectX codec widely used in games. The solution provides a proper compression (8:1) but still requires a high bandwidth. For the test, the "server" was based on a Core i7 980X (six cores) and a PCI-Express Knights Ferry. This last result directly from developing Larrabee, actually contains a massively multicore chip.
In the tested version, there were 32 cores, each capable of executing four threads. In practice, one of the cores is reserved for managing I / O and there is therefore actually of 124 threads. The client was a classic notebook, with a Core 2 Duo and a 13-inch screen 1280 x 800. Both machines were connected via Ethernet, with a link to 1 gigabit / sec The embarrassing point of the solution is finally latency, which depends heavily on the hardware.
First input devices (mouse, keyboard), then the network, Wi-Fi and Ethernet do not have the same latency, like ADSL, cable or fiber optics, and finally power of the customer. With Intel Technology in DXT1, a customer with a less powerful entry-level IGP can be much slower than a model with a good processor and a dedicated graphics card that will decode the image in its dedicated memory.
In practice, the solution is effective for games that do not require precision - latency is very irritating on games of micromanagement - or very fast movements, such as SPF. But for racing games, for example, the solution is very effective. 
OnLive already allows such things and alternatives exist, but that Intel is interesting on several points. First, the image management: if OnLive encodes a video game (with a proprietary codec) and others use the H.264 standard, the Intel solution is based on the transfer of still images.
In fact, each image is compressed by DXT1, DirectX codec widely used in games. The solution provides a proper compression (8:1) but still requires a high bandwidth. For the test, the "server" was based on a Core i7 980X (six cores) and a PCI-Express Knights Ferry. This last result directly from developing Larrabee, actually contains a massively multicore chip.
In the tested version, there were 32 cores, each capable of executing four threads. In practice, one of the cores is reserved for managing I / O and there is therefore actually of 124 threads. The client was a classic notebook, with a Core 2 Duo and a 13-inch screen 1280 x 800. Both machines were connected via Ethernet, with a link to 1 gigabit / sec The embarrassing point of the solution is finally latency, which depends heavily on the hardware.
First input devices (mouse, keyboard), then the network, Wi-Fi and Ethernet do not have the same latency, like ADSL, cable or fiber optics, and finally power of the customer. With Intel Technology in DXT1, a customer with a less powerful entry-level IGP can be much slower than a model with a good processor and a dedicated graphics card that will decode the image in its dedicated memory.
In practice, the solution is effective for games that do not require precision - latency is very irritating on games of micromanagement - or very fast movements, such as SPF. But for racing games, for example, the solution is very effective.
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