Key Takeaways
1. Intel has officially ended support for its Deep Link technology, which aimed to enhance performance by integrating Intel CPUs and Arc GPUs.
2. Deep Link was designed for improved efficiency in video streaming, encoding, and AI acceleration, requiring 11th to 13th Gen Intel CPUs and Arc Alchemist GPUs.
3. Users experienced significant issues with Deep Link, including instability and compatibility problems, particularly with applications like OBS and Handbrake.
4. The announcement of the end of support was made informally in a GitHub discussion rather than through a press release.
5. Existing users can still use Deep Link on compatible hardware, but no future updates or fixes will be provided for any issues.
Intel has formally ceased support for its Deep Link technology, a software package that was launched in late 2020 to enhance performance by integrating the capabilities of Intel CPUs and Arc GPUs. This announcement was made not through a traditional press release but instead via a GitHub discussion where an Intel representative acknowledged the end of support after a user inquired for a month about issues with Stream Assist in OBS Studio.
Purpose of Deep Link
Deep Link was created to provide better efficiency and performance for activities like video streaming, encoding, and AI acceleration. It necessitated a setup that included Intel’s 11th, 12th, or 13th Gen CPUs along with Arc Alchemist GPUs. The suite included four main features: Dynamic Power Share, Hyper Encode, Stream Assist, and Hyper Compute. These features facilitated intelligent power distribution between the CPU and GPU, allowed for multi-processor encoding, offloaded streaming tasks, and provided AI acceleration through OpenVINO.
User Experiences
Over time, many users reported issues such as instability or complete failure of the technology, particularly in applications like OBS and Handbrake. Additionally, some features needed support from specific vendors. Another complication was the widening compatibility issues as new CPU architectures, like Meteor Lake, were released without support for Deep Link.
Final Confirmation
While Intel had been quietly moving away from promoting Deep Link with newer releases like Battlemage, the definitive announcement came from an Intel staff member “Zack-Intel” in response to a GitHub thread – stating, “Deep Link is no longer actively maintained and will not be receiving future updates.” Users whose hardware remains compatible can still utilize Deep Link, but any upcoming driver or software problems will not receive fixes.
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