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Integrated Graphics from NVIDIA Back In Style
Hack Jandy writes "After a couple year of silence, AnandTech has confirmed that NVIDIA will be bringing back Integrated Graphics Processors this year. NVIDIA's last IGP chipset was based on nForce2 and received much praise all around. The new IGP, 'C51,' will be based on a stripped down version of nForce4 and includes PCI-Express. The article also goes into some detail about ATI's new IGP chipsets RS482 and RS410."
IGPs are nice when you throw together a server or for the average home user that checks their email or browses the web. I just put together an AMD machine and had to drop $50 to get a GEForce card because the motherboard I wanted didn't have AGP.
The main problem with IGP for me, is that motherboard technology doesn't expand nearly as fast as graphics card technology. For any kind of gamer, they will have their motherboard way longer than any video card. I usually replace my PC around every 2-3 years. In video card years, like is like 10 decades. I probably replace the video card once or twice in that time, depending on the new games coming out. WoW and Doom 3 forced me into my last video card purchase. Mostly because I don't ever buy the bleeding edge one, so I am already a year behind while I wait for the price to fall a little.
IGP get nVidia into the lucrative market of OEM machines though. If they strike a deal to toss that chip on Dell motherboards, they can sit back and watch the money pour in. Or if they can make a contract with ASUS or something. Then they don't even have to worry about marketing and sales. The other products sell themselves, and they just get a piece of the pie.
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A second front for Nvidia to fight on... hmmm.
I wonder how well Nvidia can keep up with trying to innovate in the high-end market against ATI if they are busy trying to corner a new subdivision of the graphics market. Considering how revolutionary NVIDIA and ATI chipsets have been to high-end gaming in the past few years, it would be a shame if high-end innovation was slowed or delayed due to all the exciting changes of the recent past, present, and projected future.
Just a thought...
The Crimson Dragon
This is awesome news.
one thing good about igp's is that you don't need to upgrade all your shit at one time. buy a mobo now, and use the igp until you find the video card you want at a nice price. Also if your video card screws up you can use the igp as a backup. Even for troubleshooting the igp back in the nforce2 days saved me more than a couple of times.
And of course, sometimes the igp can cause conflicts or/and waste resources if not used so rememeber to disable it in the bios if you're not using it.
http://www.livejournal.com/users/metricmusic
I wonder if they will release proper specs for it this time.....
Last time they pretended their integrated ethernet controller had some super-secret part in it that had to be protected....
For graphic controllers you might get away with such an argument (although I personally don't think it holds even there) but for a simple ehternet controller it just made them look stupid.
Jeroen
Secure messaging: http://quickmsg.vreeken.net/
Some nice numbers to back this up:i cs_chips_q4_04/
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2005/01/31/graph
In my first post I had a typo. Where I said "...the motherboard I wanted didn't have AGP" I meant IGP.
That was the point of my post actually. It is great to get an IGP mobo for most people. You can always upgrade later, but in the case of my server it would have been more than enough. Like you mentioned, it barely costs anything extra, so you might as well get it.
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It would be nice to see more modern integrated graphics from someone like nVIDIA. I've been running into one too many of Intel's "EXTREME" integrated graphics chipsets (which are without a doubt the total opposite of extreme in regards to 3D.) It would be nice to get some real quality out there especially for people who unwittingly buy a computer with an integrated graphics and then later decide "hm I would like to play game x now." With decent graphics hardware they could put off buying an actual graphics upgrade until they get a computer with a free PCI-X/AGP slot. This happened to my friend recently, and unforutnately for him, he was stuck with one of Intel's clunkers.
Good when you want a computer for chatting, mail, programming, web, listen music, watch movies, etc.
But dont need to run the latest high-end games.
The wife's GF 4200TI croaked so I gave her my FX5900 and went back to the IGP (nForce2 IGP). The nice thing about the IGP is that it's there if you need it, you don't have to stuff it in a drawer when you don't need it and if you ever retire the machine from gaming, your power consumption goes way down without the 1337 g4m1ng card.
Now if nVidia would release drivers so my GF6200 AGP would work, I'd be back in business gaming under Linux again.
I guess nVidia was silent, not the AnandTech, right?
The IGP on my small form factor PC was one of the reasons I made the purchase. It was one less thing to worry about. I use my PC mainly for work, development, browsing and the like, with the occasional games and LAN party.
I had hoped to make good use of the IGP, but unfortunately, the manufacturer went cheap on the analog portion of the output. The screen was very blurry, and caused eyestrain trying to read text. I had to buy a cheap MX440 (a small upgrade, too, ok) to get rid of the bluriness. The output on the upgraded video card is very clear.
Attention manufacturers! Don't screw it up this time! If you're going to give us decent integrated graphics and use it as a selling point, don't skimp on the outputs, play it off, and force us to upgrade anyways!
(BTW, the SFF system is a Shuttle SN41G2 from a couple of years ago; Shuttle support did not acknowledge me when I asked about the poor video output/bluriness.)