Integrated or Discrette Graphics?

[t0n1zz]

Hi... from what i looked around the internet i get one big question before buying a laptop.. what's the different getting a laptop with discrette graphics (say nvidia / amd) than a laptop with integrated GPU (from intel core-i line...) ?

because i found out that some people say like nvidia g610m / g620m have the same or less performance than integrated GPU from core-i line HD4000.... and with haswell coming it will be have more GPU power (around 10% more from rumors that appear in internet)...

so i planning to wait until around august to buy a new laptop (ultrabook / ultrathin one... because i don't like bulky machine) do i need to find the one with discrette graphics? or just stay with integrated one?

well for more accurate answer... i planing to use it for developing apps2 for mobile, maybe using unity3D, blender or other modeling tool, some video editing, and maybe a little online gaming.

 

[Sagar Sammy]

discrete = dedicated.

you can stick to the integrated graphics of the intel 4000 as you are not a fan of hardcore gaming. intel are quite powerful these days.
can even run newer games on low quality.

 

[Traciatim]

If you game in any true sense of the term being a 'gamer' then you don't want any integrated or on board style graphics card. If you play face book games and check e-mail the on board/integrated is fine.

While the incredibly low end cards are just as slow, they also generally aren't designed for gaming, much like the integrated stuff. They will be fine for playing videos, web stuff, flash games etc.

 

[jaguarskx]

AMD uses the term "discrete class" when you see that it is an integrated graphics core.

As for Haswell... There are going to be different graphic cores; as few models are as follows to the best of my knowledge.

Intel HD 4600 - The estimated increase in performance is about 20% compared to the Intel HD 4000. It has 4 more shaders than the Intel HD 4000; a total of 20 shaders. Likely to appear in the Core i3 CPUs.

Intel HD 5100 - This will have 40 shaders and have been estimated to be 50% - 100% more powerful than the Intel HD 4000 prior to any preliminary benchmarks or demos. Based on some demos (no benchmarked numbers) it seems the HD 5100's performance is between the nVidia GT 625m and GT 630m. Likely to appear in the Core i5 and all dual core i7 CPUs.

Intel HD 5100 + eDRAM = Crystalwell - This is expected to be the most powerful version of the HD 5100. Rumored performance guesses have been as high as a nVidia GT 650m. How true is that? I would say it is likely to be less powerful than a GT 650m since that would be a huge jump from a GT 630m. Maybe a GT 640LE or GT 640m, but that's just my guess. I would say this will only be paired up with the quad core Core i7 CPUs.

 

[Sagar Sammy]

AMD....

you brought in some unnecessary info but thanks for that.. i learned something.. there launching in 2 days right?
thx again

 

[jaguarskx]

Haswell is going to be officially launched on June 3rd. One day before Computex 2013 begins.

If Haswell's iGPU is only up to 2x more powerful than Ivy Bridge CPU's, then perhaps it was CrystalWell that has been demo'ed all this time which means the Intel HD 5100 + eDRAM performance is between the GT 625m and GT 630m. Which means the rumored "GT 650m-like" performance was just an extremely wild guess... which makes sense.

 

[Traciatim]

If the Haswell +eDRAM setup is twice as fast as the existing iGPU then it actually becomes almost usable . . . almost. You might actually be able to hit 60FPS at stripped down settings at 1080p in a few non-graphics intensive titles. That's actually quite an accomplishment for an iGPU. Too bad if you crank it all the way up to medium it all goes out the window

 

[jaguarskx]

^^^

Yeah, perhaps. If the actual performance of the HD 5100 + eDRAM is closer to the nVidia GT 635m, then that means CrystalWell is approximately equal to a desktop Radeon HD 5670.