Quote:The recent conflict between Intel and Nvidia moved from the market to the personal arena, where the two competitors are throwing offenses at will. The latest hit comes from one of Intel's vice-presidents, in a private e-mail message claiming that the GPU is dead and has long since run out of steam.

The private mail message was intercepted by tech website Inquirer, and holds Roy Tayler's opinions regarding Nvidia's graphics processors. The letter is dated April 10, but the final recipient is currently unknown.

"Basically the GPU is dead. Yes, that graphics card you see advertised everywhere from Nvidia. It’s run out of steam. The fact is that it no longer makes anything run faster. You don’t need a fast one anymore. This is why ATi is in trouble and it’s why Nvidia are panicking," Tayler claimed in the message.

"They are panicking so much that they have started attacking us. This is because you do still [need] one chip to get faster and faster – the CPU. That Intel chip. Yes honestly. No I am not making this up. You are my friends and so I am not selling you. This s*** is just interesting as hell," he continued.

However, Intel claims that the above message does not reflect any official stance whatsoever. According to the company’s spokesman Brian Burke, the message is not a public statement and "the views in Roy Tayler's e-mail do not mirror the views of Intel."

It might be true that the e-mail message reflects Tayler's own opinions, yet, the company stated a while ago that "you need nothing beyond the most basic GPU," in order to get things done. This means that Intel thinks that the GPU might not be dead yet, but it's just one step closer to its grave.

Nvidia, of course, completely disagrees with Intel's allegations. It couldn't be otherwise, given the fact that the company is at the moment the biggest GPU manufacturer in the world and its GPU business accounts for the lion's share of the revenue.

"Wee believe that both a great CPU and great graphics are important in a PC. Any PC purchase - including the capability level of components inside it - is a decision that each user must make based on what they will be doing with that PC," said Nvidia spokesperson Dan Snyder.