PC Chipsets with integrated graphics dead by 2013

http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=215800528
http://www.sys-con.com/node/864139

 

Well of course, everyone wants to move to much smaller systems, so they are going to integrate the graphics controller on the same chip as the CPU, they're also going to integrate the south bridge onto the CPU eventually. This doesn't really mean anything for gaming though as these graphics controllers will be just as weak as the current integrated chips. The option for PCI-e expandability is still there and this won't mean the end of dedicated GPU's so this all really doesn't change much.

nVidia is also going to be making a GPU/CPU system on a chip in the next few years, as well as AMD, and of course Intel's that we've been hearing about for awhile now.

 

This is good news I guess. More they can integrate on a single chip, the better battery performance, and smaller and lighter they are. Then notebooks with a dedicated GPU should all have switchable option.

I don't think we're far off from having a single chip for all operations, and wouldn't even doubt if they'd eventually integrate some amount of usable RAM. Think about it. All the stuff on a PCB today fitting on a single chip. Of course with an option to add more RAM, GPU, storage.

 

Well AMDs Fusion product is supposed to appear by the end of this year or early next year in notebooks and Intel's product is a GPU based on x86 architecture. I'm not too sure if Intel is focused on GPU/CPU integration yet like AMD is, but yes the focus is putting integrated graphics level control in the same package as the CPU as it can simplify production and lower heat as well as power usage. However the case of high level graphics makes this a problem and the need for upgradeable graphics processors certainly won't be curtailed by this development.

 

Fusion is dead, this is the new AMD roadmap. Also, AMD is focused on cpu/gpu intergration. Early next year most notebooks will use dual core Arrandale (cpu+gpu) on the Westmere platform, and netbooks will use Pineview (cpu+gpu) combo. AMD cpu+gpu combo does not come until 2011 with quad core Lliano:



http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3513&p=5

 

So the current goal isn't integration in the same chip but integration on the same package like with Westmere? No more Bulldozer.........

 

For Intel dual core, a 32nm cpu will combined with a 45nm Intel gpu, and if there is an ATI or Nvidia card, it will have switchable graphics. This will be a 2 chip piece (cpu on one chip and gpu on another) connected like a Pentium D or Atom 330 processor (like 2 single core cpu's connected together). Then, for the next platform (Sandy Bridge), the cpu and gpu will be on a single die.

Or you could get an Intel Clarksfield Quad core will be 45nm this fall, then switch to 32nm early next year, and will not have a gpu.

AMD in 2011 with Lliano will be a single die cpu+gpu, and this will make mainstream AMD processors in notebooks quad core.

 

Whether or not it's called "Fusion" it's still the same idea it seams.