| cascade9 |
09-12-2011 06:42 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrCode
(Post 4468892)
It's still a Graphics Processing Unit, so why not? :p
In all seriousness, though, I think the acronym "IGP" (Integrated Graphics Processor) works better when referring to Intel video chipsets. ;)
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'GPU' has been around for a long time, it was the nVidia GeForce 256 (GF1) that used (and popularised) 'GPU'.
GeForce 256 had quite a number of features, the most revolutionary was hardware transform and lighting. Most of the other video chip manufacturers got hardware transform and lighting, and most/all of the other features introduced with the GeForce farily quickly.
Intel didnt get hardware transform and lighting until years after everybody else.
While intel might (finally) have hardware transform and lighting, etc, they lag well behind ATI/AMD, nVidia, and even tiny bit players like Matrox.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrCode
(Post 4468892)
I've never had a laptop with Optimus (I've only had one laptop so far; the GPU is an NVIDIA chip, but it's definitely not Optimus-enabled :p), but this is the situation from what I've heard: you either get one with a hardware/BIOS switch that allows you to switch between using either the discrete GPU or the IGP, or you have a model where the discrete GPU renders into the IGP's framebuffer and switches off when the OS isn't running any "GPU-heavy" applications (for a given definition of "GPU-heavy" :rolleyes:).
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Technically, optimus will always render content that is able to be 'accelerated' (eg videos, 3D games) from teh nVidia GPU onto the intel video. When you use a BIOS switch to 'force' the nVidia GPU or the intel video, its no longer optimus. |
