So far, integrated Intel graphics (i.e., Intel GMA) has been synonomous with cheap budget laptops and abysmal frame rates in games. Although Intel has managed to improve IPG performance over the years, they have remanined far behind any dedicated GPU from Nvidia or AMD/ATI.
The next generation – set to launch at CES – just might level the playing field somewhat, according to some early reports. Of course, we’re still not talking about great gaming graphics in low-end budget laptops (the first Sandy Brigde CPUs are all pricey quad-core units), but for an IGP it is sensational if it’s able to even come close to the performance from a decent dedicated graphics card.
A few pictures of the upcoming 3rd revision of the Alienware M17 that look genuine enough are pretty amazing if real. It shows the integrated Sandy Bridge graphics in the M17x producing a 3DMark 06 score of 15,940–thus trailing the dedicated Radeon HD 6900M by only 4,215 points! It’s worth noting that the 6900M is the latest high-end offering from AMD.
Another sign that the new integrated chip (integrated on the processor itself, no less) is a winner is the rumor that Apple is about to drop Nvidia’s integrated ION/ION2 graphics in favor of an all-Intel platform in the next-gen MacBooks.
We won’t buy into the hype completely before we see some confirmed benchmarks of the new mobile platform, but so far it definitely looks promising. It won’t mean the end for high-end Nvidia and AMD graphics, but it could certainly put some additional pressure on the two leading GPU manufacturers. Increased competition from Intel could also bring the prices down on mid-range GPUs.
actually Sam this is not an nvidia gpu but an amd. so it cant have optimus. but I agree that the score looks to good to be true.
Check your facts or think before posting. You think that a iGPU could do that? It was running optimus that is why it reported Integrated graphics, but it was running the nvdia gpu.