AIB Or IGC Or Both

Now how could that be? It's due to the following reasons:

Intel is aggressively marketing the 845, and the delta cost for the graphics is about $5. The price of the i845G has been reported as low as $25, and it's been said they've even appeared in the gray market from mobo suppliers who wanted the P4 and not the i845G, but of course that's all rumors and we wouldn't believe any of it. The IGCs are at best a weak DirectX7 part The IGPs are a better DirectX7 part Discrete GPUs are DirectX 8.1 going to DirectX 9. IGCs and IGPs are made in what's known as n-1 technology-i.e., the last generation's process. Therefore, if today's GPUs are made using a 0.15 micron process, IGC/IGPs are made using a 0.18 micron (or greater) process. IGC/IGPs are Unified Memory architectures - UMAs (also called System Memory Architectures-SMAs.). UMA architectures have a limited memory bandwidth, and therefore limited performance. That can't be helped, part of being a part of a North Bridge. Also, PCs, due to limited front-side buses (FSBs), don't use the state-of-the-art memory like 333 MHz DDR. AIBs with discrete GPUs use the fastest DDRs available. IGC/IGPs have cost constraints (one of the reasons they use a n-1 processes). Cost constraints mean they can't have a lot of transistors-silicon, despite statements from some uninformed people, is not free. A modern GPU has something north of 70 million transistors (more than a P4), and the next generation will be touching at and/or exceeding 100 million (a P4 has 55 million).

NGE - Not Good Enough

What does "Good-enough graphics mean anyway? No one will tell you this, except me of course, but what it means is crap. Plan and simple. It's like saying to someone, "Oh, that ripped shirt you're wearing is good enough." That insulting. Who are you to tell me what's good enough for me?

The marketing types say, "For the value ( "cheap") conscious buyer, an IGC-based system cost-effective graphics performance." That's code for, "Hey, Mr. IT manager. Wanna save a couple of bucks? Your users shouldn't be playing games, watching videos, or surfing the web, they should just be typing memos, and maybe filling cells in a database program, possibly sending some e-mail. You don't need graphics, you need affordable productivity."

Then Intel says (when asked why we need a 2.4GHz processor to run Microsoft Office) "For the media-rich experience, today's users demand the power of a P4. So, to hear Intel tell it, users will play games, watch videos, listen to music, surf the web, and none of that needs graphics, it only needs CPU MHz. Intel obviously hasn't acknowledged DirectX 7 let alone 8, 8.1, and 9.

With the new APIs, all of the power of the GPU, a true co-processor, is exposed. The host CPU is completely off-loaded of munching graphics. Do the apps take advantage of the new GPU processors and APIs? Do they? Have you used OfficeXP? Have you done any video editing, played any games (I know, I know, you think all we can do is use games as an example-even though it's a huge market and by the way there will be over 100 games this year that use DirectX8.1), or used any content creation programs, CAD programs, or surfed the web and played with any of the virtual showrooms?

But IGCs and IGPs can't ignored, the ODMs and OEMs want them for cost cutting reasons and so the suppliers will provide them, including ATI and Nvidia, the masters of the AIB market. As the following chart shows, everyone is in the IGC/IGP market except 3D/Creative Labs and Matrox.

	AMD Desktop IGP	Intel desktop IGP
High-end WS
Midrange WS
Entry-level WS
Enthusiast PC
High-end Performance
Midrange Performance	ATI, Nvidia	ATI
Entry-level Performance	ATI, Nvidia	ATI
High-Midrange	ATI, Nvidia	ATI
Mid-Midrange	Ali/Trident, ATI, Nvidia, SiS, S3/VIA	ATI, SiS
Entry-Midrange	Ali/Trident, ATI, Nvidia, SiS, S3/VIA	Ali/Trident, ATI, Intel, SiS, VIA
High-Value	Ali/Trident, ATI, Nvidia, SiS, S3/VIA	Ali/Trident, ATI, Intel, SiS, VIA
Mid-Value	Ali/Trident, ATI, Nvidia, SiS, S3/VIA	Ali/Trident, ATI, Intel, SiS, VIA
Entry-Value	SiS, Trident/Ali, VIA	Ali/Trident, ATI, Intel, SiS, VIA

The table also shows IGC/IGPs do not reach into the high-performance sectors, due to the limitations already mentioned.

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