CES 2010 : Intel Core 32nm CPU + Integrated GPU = Good Or Bad?

We've seen integrated graphics from Intel for several years, integrated into the chipsets of value-priced desktop and notebook PCs. Intel's 3D rendering capability has never been superior to that of discrete GPUs such as Nvidia's or ATI's but it's never had to be. 

But today, adhering to a plan set out by Intel in September 2008, that integration moves one step further, moving the company's 45 nm iGFX graphics processor onto the same die along with the 32 nm Core processor.

That means integrated graphics is not just for motherboards any more. Using the high-k-plus-metal-gate lithography process breakthrough announced in January 2007, which premiered during the previous 45 nm "Nehalem" generation, Intel's new "Westmere" generation CPUs for Core i3, i5, and i7 will feature a graphics processor clocked as high as 900 MHz -- essentially the same one used in Intel's previous integrated graphics chipsets.

Right away, this means that even the least expensive systems using Core i3 processors will include Intel's on-board facilities for streaming video -- what the company branded today "Intel HD Graphics." 

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Intel will not preclude customers or OEMs from installing discrete graphics cards on their systems, to be used instead of the iGFX processor core (just as before). 

But now, as Intel spokesperson George Alfs told Betanews this afternoon, mobile (not desktop) editions of "Westmere"-based systems will include a feature called Switchable Graphics, which will enable them to "hot-switch" between integrated and discrete graphics without rebooting. Alfs stated this feature will be compatible with both ATI and Nvidia mobile graphics cards.