Integrated Graphics Processors

[c0dec]

Hi, hardware-noob here. I'm more of a software person (aspiring gfx programmer).

i'm trying to gather info on IGPs (for a presentation). After some google-ing i've only come up with scarce info the topic. I only know the basic functions of an IGP and i'm in need of some more technical info.

i'd be grateful for any information or/and pointers

thanks.

 

[Peter]

Er, maybe it'd help if you be a bit more specific about what information you need ... performance, programming model, hardware implementation, etc.

 

[alienal99]

try looking at both nvidia and ati roadmaps....they are somewhat in-depth, although they stop short of real performance and instead use theoretical performance.....besides that, there have been many reviews of the ati x-00 line

 

[c0dec]

Originally posted by: Peter
Er, maybe it'd help if you be a bit more specific about what information you need ... performance, programming model, hardware implementation, etc.

thanks. pretty much any info would be useful to me. hardware implementation and the programming model of IGPs are more or less what i'm looking for.

@alienal99
thanks! now i know what a roadmap is. 🙂

 

[c0dec]

hello?! anybody there?

 

[icarus4586]

As far as I know, most IGPs are built in to the northbridge chip. Most times they have no dedicated memory but instead rely on system memory. They're seen by the system as an AGP device (I don't know if there are any the use PCI-E). Many times they're based on discrete GPUs and modified to reside on part of NB chip and to use system memory. For this reason, they're usually smaller and slower than a corresponding discrete GPU. This helps to reduce power consumption and noise that could interfere with the funcioning of the rest of the chip.