Posted 04.23.2012 at 6:22 pm
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Intel Ivy Bridge Processors
Intel
If you buy a cheapie laptop, you're going to get onboard graphics--historically underpowered, since they exist on the same die as the CPU, and thus historically crappy. To play serious games, or do any real video editing, you'd need to upgrade to a discrete graphics card. But that looks like a thing of the past: today, Intel unleashed its new generation of processors, which go by the name Ivy Bridge, and what had seemed like an incremental upgrade actually has a pretty interesting element: these processors have onboard graphics that basically outclass the entire market of entry-level graphics cards. That means your next computer will be able to run games you'd never be able to run now--with no necessary hardware upgrades.
PCWorld has a good overview with a whole bunch of benchmarks, if you're interested in seeing the specifics, but the basic idea is that Intel has placed a much higher focus on the onboard graphics capabilities, a focus continued from the current-gen Sandy Bridge line--so much so that they actually surpass the current crop of entry-level aftermarket graphics cards. (Otherwise these chips are focused mostly on size and power consumption rather than major new features or power.) That's due to some careful internal restructuring of the GPU, according to PCWorld:
Intel has made enhancements to the GPU engine to improve efficiency, but other factors help to mitigate the clock-rate differential, too. First, the new HD 4000 GPU contains 16 execution units, versus the 12 built into Sandy Bridge. Second, Ivy Bridge supports DDR3-1600 memory, as opposed to the Sandy Bridge memory controller, which officially supports only DDR3-1333. Ivy Bridge gains 25 percent more parallel compute power and higher potential throughput due to the added memory bandwidth.
What we like here is that beyond all the wonkiness, the new chips have some big, obvious improvements for users. There are two levels of GPU, the HD 2500 and HD 4000. The latter will allow gamers to play graphics-intensive games like the new Metro 2033 and Just Cause 2 at playable framerates--definitely something that wasn't possible before with onboard graphics. Both the 2500 and 4000 support DirectX 11 and three independent displays, too. And these chips will be everywhere: Mac, Windows, laptops, desktops, big power hogs, svelte ultrabooks. Everywhere. Which is great! And it also probably means you should hold off for a month or two if you're shopping for a new computer.
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Tom's Hardware has also done some extensive benchmarks, and although it is improved over Sandy Bridge this chip is nothing to shout about.
for comparison, here are some graphics cards in comparison to metro 2033 - http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-gaming-graphics-charts/Metro-2033-Enthusiast,2664.html
the GeForce GTX 260 compared pretty well at 15 fps, and has a rating of 1,748 from http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+260
which is about 3 times the rating of my card, which runs skyrim perfectly on medium graphics, and on high with occasional delay.
its not a substitute for the best cards out there, but it does a darn good job. I want to see the price and power consumption.
Neither of those games mentioned are new... they're both released in 2010...
Wow. GPU are not going to be happy with this news. This could be the downfall of all the famous GPU companies as we can only expect more powerful gaming versions coming out if it`s a hit. Which it looks like it will be.
GPU (companies)
I am very interested in the new technology. I am confident when it comes out; it will be of full retail high price. Typically 6 months or a year after it's coming out, the price becomes reasonable. I hope it comes out soon. A fast video card can really help in the overall speed feeling of a computer\laptop.
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um, that's something that intel on board hasn't been able to do -- however the AMD APU's are capable of playing several "newer" games and decent frame rates.
"Which is great! And it also probably means you should hold off for a month or two if you're shopping for a new computer."
REALLY PopSci??????? This is a processor for MOBILE applications such as laptops and tablets. If you are buying a new computer you would be looking into processors like AMD's new updates to the fx series or Intel's new i7 processors. Also if you are playing games on your computer or are even reading PopSci you probably already know about which GPU's are best.
I for one thing its a wonderful idea i dont see why we will need gpu's in the future anyway. Super computers are just about half gpu anyway why not add the ram into the processor and shave off a few more mili seconds. just make everything expandable with slots if you want... we have the technology why not do it. and with ssd's you can have the entire computer in the palm of your hand all you would need is a battery that could last long enough. i know smart phones are going to be the new computers its only a matter of time. we will look back at what we have now and be like wow i use to use that huge tower thing...