Hammer-family question - would motherboard with integrated graphics require an external memory controller, too?

[MadRat]

The Hammer-family is going to be operating with on-chip memory controllers. I am assuming that motherboard makers that are used to doing integrated video will no longer be able to directly plug into system memory. I am also assuming that the traces to and from the CPU would become long enough that it may be prohibitive to try to route high speed connections to an external videocard. (PCI controllers can operate with far less bandwidth, while graphics is going to want its own 2+GB/sec.) I think NVidia has memory controllers (and memory for that matter) built into their mobile-family of graphics chips, which would alleviate the whole problem. That chipset may be a little more expensive than desktop makers are willing to pay for that level of performance.

Will motherboards with integrated graphics require an external memory controllers to support decent performance?

 

[Elledan]

From what I've read, eDRAM sounds like the best fix for this issue. Since most integrated graphics solutions don't use more than 4 or 8 MB, this shouldn't form a problem.

 

[Mingon]

I would guess on a package similar to this

 

[Demon-Xanth]

To plop 2-8MB worth of RAM on a motherboard now would be peanuts compared to when the practice started. I know on some of the Intel integrated 440BX boards (such as the RN440BX) the onboard Riva128 has 4MB of dedicated RAM. A similar setup would probably raise the cost of a board less than $1 now. (and might finally put an end to that god forsaken setup)