by Ilya Gavrichenkov
02/04/2010 | 10:28 AM
Over the past few years Intel successfully managed to remain a convincing leader in the CPU market. New solutions from this manufacturer not only continue conquering new performance heights, but also become the pioneers in bringing new technologies to the market. The launch of Westmere processors that happened in early 2010 and included desktop Clarkdale and mobile Arrandale solutions also wasn’t an exception. These dual-core processors have undoubtedly brought mainstream desktop and mobile systems to a new level. But besides that, they also changed the traditional vision of the architecture of such platforms. Of course, we shouldn’t forget that the arrival of Clarkdale and Arrandale processors also signified the coming of Nehalem microarchitecture into the mainstream price segment and the use of 32 nm process for mainstream solutions production. But the most intriguing innovation was the first use of an integrated graphics core in CPUs for mainstream desktop systems. Until now only chipsets or special processors designed for specific mobile devices could boast an integrated graphics core inside. Intel, however, went further and announced a completely new standard: from now on integrated graphics should become an inalienable part of low-end and mainstream processors and stay out of the discrete graphics cards’ way only in high-performance gaming and professional systems.
Obviously, by moving the graphics core inside the CPU, over time Intel could seriously increase their already substantial graphics market share, which is currently already exceeding 50%. Due to the fact that now users will get a “free” graphics core together with a CPU, many of them may refrain from purchasing an additional stand alone graphics accelerator altogether. Especially, since Intel’s graphics solutions are quite fit for many mainstream tasks including high-definition video playback acceleration and a wide range of casual games. Trying to stress these particular advantages, Intel has even given up the Intel GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) name, which they have been using for years: the new graphics core being a part of Clarkdale and Arrandale processors is now called Intel HD Graphics. This way the manufacturer emphasizes the fact that the current core is targeted for media centers and home theater PCs, but also addresses the gaming fans’ needs.
Westmere processors are designed not only for desktop PCs. Intel is also offering them as part of their new mobile platform. Therefore, no wonder that the new GPU has been seriously optimized for mobile applications. For example, Intel HD Graphics supports special technologies aimed at reducing the power consumption and increasing the battery life while maintaining the same high performance level.
In order to get a taste of all the advantages the new Intel HD Graphics core in Westmere processors has to offer, we performed a detailed investigation and test session addressing media and 3D capabilities of the new GPU. It will allow us to better understand in what cases new Clarkdale and Arrandale processors can really save you the need to buy an additional graphics accelerator.
We have already discussed the design and architecture of Westmere processors (using its desktop version aka Clarkdale as an example) in our special article called Dual-Core LGA1156 Processors: Core i5-661, Core i3-540 and Pentium G6950 CPUs Review. Here I would only like to remind you pretty briefly that Westmere processors aren’t based on a monolithic die, but consist of two parts: the actual processor die and a separate graphics core that are then sealed within the same packaging. Separating the functions between two independent semiconductor dies allowed the manufacturer to lower the production costs. As a result, Intel can offer Westmere processors in low-end price range.
Moreover, although Intel states that they sue the progressive 32 nm processor to manufacture their Westmere processors, it is in fact only true for the semiconductor CPU die. The GPU core is still manufactured with the old 45 nm process. Again, the use of not the latest manufacturing technology is totally justified from the production cost standpoint. A much more mature technology generates higher yields, which is extremely important for Westmere processors. In these processors the graphics core will in most cases be a “free bonus” added to the processor and often may not be even used at all. In other words, processor core still remains Westmere’s most important part. Therefore, the functionality of the new graphics hasn’t gone too far from that of GMA X4500 and sometimes is even inferior to the latter.
Intel’s desire to optimize their production costs as much as possible explains many architectural solutions introduced in Westmere design. For example, they moved some functional units into the 45 nm GPU die in order to make the 32 nm processor die even smaller. Namely, we see memory bus, PCI and DMI bus controllers right next to the graphics core. As a result, the GPU semiconductor die measures about 117 mm2, which is even bigger than the die size of Wolfdale processors. The actual processor die is much smaller in this case: only about 79 mm2.
In our previous article we mentioned that separating the CPU and memory controller had a serious negative effect resulting in lower performance during work with the memory sub-system. As for the graphics core, it has only benefitted from this change, because now it can communicate with the memory directly instead of using some intermediate busses, and that is one of the factors determining higher performance of Intel HD Graphics compared with Intel GMA X4500.
Although the CPU and GPU in Westmere processors are in fact two different semiconductor dies, they still can communicate directly with one another. Intel managed to implement a few interesting technologies working with two Westmere dies as a whole. First, it is Dynamic Frequency – a technology similar to Turbo Boost but designed for the graphics core. It increases the GPU frequency by one or two increments above the nominal in those applications, where most of the load is on the graphics core rather than CPU.
The PCU (Power Control Unit) built into the processor is constantly monitoring electrical and thermal characteristics of the CPU and GPU dies and ensures that the power consumption and heat dissipation do not exceed the acceptable limits for the given processor model. Unfortunately, this technology only work sin mobile Westmere modifications aka Arrandale, while in desktop Clarkdale processors the graphics core works at the same constant frequency. However, the graphics core frequencies in Clarkdale processors are anyway higher than those in Arrandale ones.
Westmere processors have a special independent FDI (Flexible Display Interface) bus that transfers the image created by the integrated GPU onto the monitor screen. This bus uses DisplayPort protocol. It transfers the image from the processor to the chipset, and from there it is “distributed” over the digital and analogue graphics outputs on the mainboard. As a result, Westmere processors should have FDI bus and video signal routing tools in order to fully support graphics core built into the processor. Obviously, we can’t classify the graphics at this stage that is why any chipset supporting the GPU built into Westmere processors can offer the same set of graphics characteristics.
The differences between Intel chipsets for Westmere processors include either presence or absence of SATA RAID support, as well as the number of USB 2.0 ports. Moreover, it is true not only for desktop H57, H55 and Q57, but also for their mobile counterparts.
All this means only one thing: all core logic sets for Westmere processors with graphics support have almost the same functionality. The junior solutions with 55 model index may be unsuitable for those users who would like to have RAID arrays built around the chipset controller.
The chipsets with the letter “P” in their model name do not support integrated processor graphics at all, however, they are the only chipsets that allow building PCI Express x8+x8 graphics tandems using SLI or Crossfire technologies.
Speaking of chipsets supporting integrated processor graphics cores, we can’t help pointing out that Intel paid special attention to ensuring proper interaction between the integrated GPU and the external graphics accelerators. But unfortunately, they have primarily focused on mobile solutions, which have special technology called Intel Switchable Graphics at their disposal.
The idea behind this technology is fairly simple: it allows switching between integrated GPU and external graphics accelerator without rebooting the system. As a result, the users can actually involve powerful graphics cards only when they need to, working with Intel HD Graphics that consumes considerably less power rest of the time. In fact, this technology has already been implemented by some notebook makers for older Intel’s graphics cores.
As for the desktop users, unfortunately, they won’t be able to enjoy the benefits of Intel Switchable Graphics technology. Although Intel HD Graphics will now be present in all contemporary mainstream and low-end system, initialization of an external graphics accelerator during POST will completely disable the GPU integrated into the processor and the other way around. Therefore, to our regret, it would be impossible to switch between the graphics core and graphics accelerators without rebooting the system and making a few changes in the BIOS Setup.
Mainboards based around H and Q series chipsets will offer their users full set of different monitor outs including D-Sub, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort. The maximum supported resolution (through digital interfaces) will be 2560x1600. I would also like to add that new integrated graphics from Intel, unlike its older predecessors, has finally learned to display the image onto two monitors at the same time exclusively via digital interfaces, including HDMI.
What new functionality does Intel HD Graphics have to offer? Judging by the name of this GPU, it would be logical to assume that most innovations have primarily to do with decoding of video in different formats. However, the previous Intel GPU, GMA X4500, already supported hardware decoding of all current video formats such as MPEG2, VC-1 and H.264. Of course, HD Graphics inherited all these features, although Intel did go a little further in their development. Unlike its predecessor, the graphics core integrated into Westmere processors can decode two independent video streams at the same time, which automatically implies that it features hardware support for Blu-ray disks with picture-in-picture feature.
Looks like Intel was really serious about making their Clarkdale processors an ideal solution for multi-functional media centers. Take, for instance, the ability of Intel HD Graphics to transfer high-definition audio (24 bit/96 kHz) via HDMI not only in decoded, but also in its original form in Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio formats. There are no other integrated chipsets out there that could currently offer anything like that. In this respect, the only alternative to Intel HD Graphics that could transfer an encoded audio track from a Blu-ray disk to an external receiver would be either a special sound card or an external graphics card from Radeon HD 5000 series.
Here I would like to add that Westmere based platform can deliver sound streams not only through HDMI outs. The DisplayPort it also supports can do exactly the same thing.
The 3D part of Clarkdale graphics core can also boast a few highly desirable improvements. No, it doesn’t yet support DirectX 11: integrated graphics core doesn’t really need that. However, Intel increased the number of shader processors: now there are 12 of them, while there were only 10 in GMA X4500. It seems like a minor change, but the internal structural optimizations have almost doubled the general performance of the vertex shaders and increase texturing speed by about 1.4 times. Due to the fact that the GPU and the memory controller are no so close by inside the same semiconductor die of Westmere processors, Intel HD Graphics boasts more effective work with the memory sub-system, which dynamically allocates up to 1.7 GB for storing textures.
The frequency of the graphics core in Westmere processors varies depending on the CPU model. Most desktop Core i5 and Core i3 processors come with 733 MHz GPUs. And that is a little lower than the operational frequency of the previous generation graphics – GMA X4500, that was 800 MHz. At the same time, there is a unique desktop processor, Core i5-661 that features overclocked graphics core. The budget Pentium G6950, however, features slower graphics core working at 533 MHz frequency.
Mobile Arrandale processors mostly have 500 MHz GPUs, which frequency can dynamically increase to 566 or even 766 MHz when Dynamic Frequency technology is on. The only exception would be energy-efficient solutions with lower TDP, which graphics cores work at considerably lower frequency for the sake of lower power consumption and heat dissipation.
As for 3D performance of graphics cores inside Westmere processors, Intel claims that it is more than enough to ensure visual comfort in such popular gaming titles as FiFA 2009, Football Manager 2009, The Sims 3, Sim City Deluxe, Warcraft III and World of Warcraft. Sat the same time, the company doesn’t promise good performance in contemporary 3D shooters, but the fps rate in them should be quite acceptable if you run these games with lower image quality settings. In other words, Intel HD Graphics has every chance to become one of the highest performing integrated graphics cores, although it obviously cannot compete against discrete graphics cards.
When Intel introduced a new integrated graphics core that is also positioned as a specially optimized solution for the new Windows 7 operating system, they made sure that the driver support was updated appropriately. We really liked the new control panel from Intel available in the new driver versions. Now it looks much nicer and more contemporary:
I have to say that there are no dramatically new options in the new Control Panel, but it is undoubtedly way better structured than the control panel in the old Intel graphics drivers.
The only thing I absolutely have to mention is the option that allows you setting any screen resolution you like, which appeared for the first time in the new drivers.
During our today’s test session we are going to compare the performance of the new Intel HD Graphics core integrated into Westmere processors against that of other integrated GPUs. Besides Clarkdale, there are only two current alternatives among integrated desktop solutions: AMD 785G and Intel G45 (we are not taking into considerations all existing modifications of these solutions). We are going to compare platforms built around these particular chipsets against a system with Intel Core i3-540 – a typical representative of Westmere family with Intel HD Graphics core working at 733 MHz frequency.
We had to choose LGA775 and Socket Am3 processors from the similar price range and with similar performance in order to build these platforms on AMD 785G and Intel G45 chipsets (with integrated Intel GMA X4500 HD and ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics cores respectively). We decided to use quad-core CPUs, because although our today’s main hero, Core i3-540, is in fact a dual-core processor formally, it can process up to four threads at the same time due to Hyper-Threading technology support. For AMD platform we took Athlon II X4 635, and the LGA775 system was based on Core 2 Quad Q8400.
As a result, we used the following hardware and software components to put together our testbeds:
Before we move on to the actual performance tests, let me say a few words about another interesting peculiarity of Intel HD Graphics. Namely, this GPU may be overclocked. We can find the corresponding options that allow changing the frequency of the graphics core in Clarkdale processors in BIOS Setup of most mainboards built around Intel H57 and H55 chipsets. We used Gigabyte GA-H55M-UD2H mainboard for our today’s tests and this is what it looked like:
The graphics core frequency, just like the BCLK frequency can be adjusted in a pretty wide range with 1 MHz increment. Moreover, the GP frequency is not connected with any other frequencies and can be changed totally independently.
Of course, we couldn’t help checking out this overclocking feature. And our experiments showed that even with a boxed Core i3-540 cooler the graphics core frequency could be increased quite substantially. We managed to raise Intel HD Graphics frequency to 900 MHz from the default 733 MHz, which is the frequency of the graphics core in the unique Core i5-661 CPU featuring the fastest Intel graphics accelerator model inside. Therefore, no wonder that we didn’t experience any stability issues throughout the entire test session even with the overclocked graphics core.
Of course, increase in the graphics core frequency immediately affects the graphics performance. tat is why our system with Core i3-540 was tested twice: with the graphics core working in its nominal mode and with the graphics core overclocked to 900 MHz.
In order to make our test session more exciting and fair, we also overclocked the integrated AMD 785G chipset. The nominal frequency of the Radeon HD 4200 integrated into this chipset is 500 MHz. But even when we increased its frequency t 700 MHz, our system built around Gigabyte GA-MA785GT-UD3H mainboard remained perfectly stable. This would be the graphics core frequency that we are going to use for our performance tests on an overclocked AMD 785G based platform.
I would like to start our test results discussion with the general performance tests. Although it isn’t directly related to the topic of our today’s review, these additional data may be very helpful for further results analysis. You can check out our previous review for more detailed Clarkdale performance numbers. Here we are going to show only the results of PCMark Vantage test that shows system performance in typical applications.
The results indicate clearly that we made the right choice when we took quad-core processors to compete against our Core i3-540: in many tests new dual-core CPUs proved faster than the previous-generation quad-core offerings.
Futuremark 3DMark06 shows clearly that Intel HD Graphics is considerably faster than the previous generation Intel’s graphics core. The advantage sometimes hits 50%, which allows Clarkdale based system to outperform even an integrated AMD one.
The previous generation Intel graphics accelerator, GMA X4500, scored pretty high in the newer test, 3DMark Vantage. The results demonstrated by Intel HD Graphics, however, turned out even higher: the gain reached about 30%! By the way, relatively poor performance of AMD 785G in this test most likely has nothing to do with the Intel driver optimization for this benchmark. At least, renaming 3DMarkVantage.exe file didn’t affect the final score chart in any way.
Although Quake 4 is not a new game, it still poses a serious problem for integrated graphics, which must be connected with high requirements to the video memory bandwidth. As a result, only AMD 785G based platform can boast more or less acceptable results and only in 1024x768 resolution. Intel HD Graphics is falling far behind the latter. Moreover, graphics core overclocking has barely any effect on the performance of our Core i3-540 based system.
Although new Intel graphics core outperforms Radeon HD 4200 in Unreal Tournament 3, the fps rate is still pretty low.
Integrated graphics adapters perform surprisingly well in a popular racing arcade called TrackMania Nations Forever. In fact, they are very fast when tested with medium quality settings allowing comfortable gaming experience even in 1280x1024. The system built around the new Intel processor proved the fastest in this game. Even at the nominal GPU clock it outperformed the system with an overclocked AMD 785G, which until today used to be the fastest integrated chipset out there.
Another game that runs well on systems with integrated graphics is a fighting arcade called Street Fighter IV. However, you have to play with low image quality settings in order to get acceptable fps rate and it does ruin the visual attractiveness of the game. The best results in this game belong to the AMD platform with Radeon HD 4200 integrated graphics. Although new Intel graphics is considerably faster than the old GMA X4500, it is still seriously behind the ATI solution.
This military flight simulator runs surprisingly well on contemporary integrated graphics cores. However, you can only play comfortably with low image quality settings. But 40 fps in 1024x768 is still a very decent result. I am sure that real fans of this gaming title won’t be satisfied, but it is more than enough for a few “from time-to-time” flights on a non-gaming computer system. In this case you are free to choose between AMD 785G and Intel H55 as well as Intel H57 based platforms.
3D shooters are definitely not the best environment for integrated GPUs. However, if you don’t choose the latest game from the Call of Duty series, set the image quality to minimum, adjust screen resolution to 1024x768, and overclock the graphics core, Core i3 based platform will let you have some fun in this game.
You will have to do almost the same in far Cry 2 as you did in call of Duty. The only difference is that AMD 785G based system demonstrates better performance in this game than its competitors.
Pretty typical situation. You can get more or less acceptable results only when you overclock the graphics cores and only in low screen resolution with minimal image quality settings. However, unlike other shooters, Left 4 Dead 2 runs almost the same on both: AMD 785G as well as Intel H55 based platform.
During the performance tests of integrated graphics chipsets we also decided to check out how fast they will be in professional 3D suites. The clock speeds of GPUs integrated into processors and chipsets have increased significantly lately. Besides, professional applications do not require high video memory bandwidth. In other words, Radeon HD 4200 or Intel HD Graphics could turn out quite suitable for work in professional CAD/CAM suites in some way. To check out this assumption e launched SPECviewperf 10 test in 1280x1024 resolution, which is considered to be industry standard for professional graphics accelerators performance analysis.
Intel’s graphics proved a real disappointment in this case. Its drivers must be totally not optimized for professional applications that is why you won’t be able to use it there. Radeon HD 4200 is a completely different story. Since all ATI graphics cards use the same unified driver, the system built on AMD 875G chipset performed pretty well (for an integrated GPU). Of course, these numbers were way lower than those of “real” professional solutions, but they can easily compare against the results we would obtain from some discrete gaming accelerators if we ran SPECviewperf 10 on them. In other words, while Intel HD Graphics is absolutely unfit for CAD/CAM systems, then Radeon HD 4200 could ensure more or less sufficient performance for certain types of tasks.
Formally, we can’t complain about Intel HD Graphics’ ability to playback high definition video. This graphics solution supports hardware acceleration of video decoding in all popular formats: MPEG2, VC-1 and H.264. Intel also made sure that hardware features of the new graphics core received the necessary software support. Three leading commercial media players including such applications as Corel WinDVD, Cyberlink Power DVD and ArcSoft Total Media, can easily use the GPU capacities to lower processor utilization during HD video playback.
Things are a bit worse when it comes to free software media players. Take, for example, a popular Media Player Classic Home Cinema player that can use hardware GPU capacities when playing back VC-1 and H.264 video formats with the help of DirectX Video Acceleration (DXVA). Here graphics core will get involved into video decoding acceleration only for H.264 content. However, this is the advantage of software media players. Even if the format is not supported on the hardware level or if the video was encoded using some non-standard settings, playback is still possible: the CPU can always take over content decoding and deal with it. And contemporary processors, especially those from Westmere family, are more than capable of working with high definition video content.
To test processor utilization during video playback we used a 64 bit version of Media Player Classic Home Cinema 1.3.1249 that accelerates video decoding on the hardware level in the GPU in a standard way – through DXVA. All movie fragments that were used for this test were in 1080p and with average bitrate of about 30 Mbps (peak bitrate reached 35 Mbps).
As you see from the obtained results, hardware video decoding acceleration in the GPU worked on our Core i3-540 platforms only once: during H.264 content playback. As for MPEG2, the player didn’t support the use of GPU resources for work with this format, and the reasons behind VC-1 playback failure remain unknown. Especially since we didn’t have any problems of this sort in the system based on the integrated AMD 785G chipset. It looks like these problems are caused by some software compatibility issue, because Intel HD Graphics doesn’t have any hardware problems that could have caused that.
However, even without involving DXVA, the CPU utilization levels were insignificant, so the owners of media systems built around any of the platforms tested today shouldn’t experience any problems with frame loss during movie playback.
Besides processor utilization tests during video playback using traditional software players, we also checked out another type of media load – video playback via online services suing Flash applications. Luckily, Adobe made sure that DXVA could be used in Adobe Flash Player 10.1 (that is currently available as a public beta version). For our tests during online video playback we used a 1080p movie from YouTube.com site.
Playing high resolution video through Flash applications used to be a pretty heavy-duty task that could load even very powerful systems quite noticeably. But when new Flash Player came out, things changed: now the CPU utilization is almost the same as during video playback in standard software players. In other words, Clarkdale based platform performed very well here.
There has been a clear tendency lately towards using the GPU shader units potential not only for displaying 3D graphics, but also for accelerating certain type of computational tasks. At this point algorithms using graphics accelerator resources for video transcoding have become quite popular. For example, Cyberlink MediaShow Espresso, which can use not only the CPU but also the GPU for video transcoding tasks. The advantage of this utility over other similar applications is that it already supports Intel HD Graphics today. And specifically due to this support systems built on Westmere processors cope faster with video transcoding tasks.
To illustrate this statement we checked how long it would take to transcode a high definition 1080p video into 720p format for uploading onto YouTube.com.
The results indicate that Intel HD Graphics has pretty serious computational capacity. Thanks to the integrated GPU, our Core i3-540 system managed to outperform the system with a quad-core Athlon II X4 and AMD 785G chipset, which transcodes using the resources of the CPU and GPU together. As for the old integrated Intel G45 chipset, Cyberlink MediaShow Espresso doesn’t support it that is why it takes LGA775 system almost twice as much time to transcode the same movie even though it uses a powerful quad-core CPU.
Better energy-efficiency of integrated platforms compared with systems using add-on discrete graphics cards is an important argument in their favor. Therefore, we are going to wind up our today’s test session with a detailed investigation of power consumption demonstrated by systems built on Clarkdale CPUs with the integrated graphics core inside. This parameter speaks not only of the system power specs, but also of its thermal parameters. In other words, it will help us to determine how fit it is for quiet HTPC solutions that are normally put together inside smaller system cases.
The numbers below show the total power consumption of the tested platforms (without the monitor). During our tests we used 64-bit LinX 0.6.3 utility to load the systems to the utmost extent. To load the video sub-system to its maximum e used FurMark 1.7.0. To measure the power consumption during video playback we launched Media Player Classic Home Cinema with a 1080p H.264 movie. We also activated all power-saving technologies, such as C1E, Cool'nQuiet 3.0 and Enhanced Intel SpeedStep.
In idle mode integrated LGA1156 platform doesn’t stand out in terms of its power consumption.
However, when Clarkdale processor manufactured with progressive 32 nm process is loaded heavily, it proves way more energy-efficient than any of its competitors in our today’s test session.
During GPU burn test Clarkdale’s power consumption increases by 21 W compared with the idle mode readings. We also see an increase in power consumption for GMA X4500 (16 W) and Radeon HD 4200 (35 W) indicating that integrated graphics processors are in fact quite energy-hungry.
Maximum power consumption under heavy simultaneous processor and graphics work load is much lower by Clarkdale based platform than by other testing participants. Our hero owes it to fine 32 nm process used for manufacturing of one of the dies inside its packaging.
Video playback creates very specific operational load. Since integrated GPUs have hardware acceleration for video stream decoding at their disposal, the CPU is barely involved during into the playback process. The GPU bears the biggest load in this case. Therefore, the results of Core i3-540 are pretty average in this test.
In other words, Clarkdale owes its energy-efficiency to the extremely low power consumption of the processor die. The second die can’t boast any significant improvements in terms of energy-efficiency compared with Intel’s previous offerings. At the same time, we can’t say the same about mobile Arrandale processors. Unlike desktop Clarkdale they support Dynamic Frequency technology that changes the graphics core frequency interactively. Therefore, notebook makers will most likely be able to provide their upcoming solutions with longer battery life not only at high CPU utilization, but also at high GPU utilization levels.
Although Intel decided not to use the familiar GMA abbreviation for its name, Intel HD Graphics core integrated into Westmere processors doesn’t actually have anything revolutionary about itself. Namely, Intel HD Graphics is none other but a common evolutionary refresh of the GMA X4500 graphics processor used in Intel G45 chipsets in terms of its architecture and functionality. Yes, the actual graphics core moved from the chipset North Bridge into the CPU, but this change has pure engineering significance. The users will not even notice it, they will be much more curious to see what practical changes have been made to the new GPU: slight increase in the number of shader units and the ability to decode two independent HD video streams simultaneously on the hardware level.
However, in terms of 3D performance, Intel HD Graphics can offer way more than the previous generation graphics cores. The architectural optimization allowed Intel engineers to improve performance by about 30%. So now Intel HD Graphics has finally managed to catch up with the integrated graphics from AMD, which is a pretty significant achievement as it is. As a result, an integrated system based on Core i3-540 processor running with high image quality settings provided acceptable fps rate in a large number of contemporary games.
The multimedia functionality of the graphics core also improved. Intel HD Graphics offers a complete set of hardware tools needed for successful decoding and playback of high definition video content encoded with contemporary codecs. Moreover, this core supports all contemporary digital interfaces for monitors and TV sets and can also provide HD audio in encoded as well as decoded format. In other words, Clarkdale processors become an excellent choice for media centers, especially considering their comparatively low power consumption and heat dissipation.
As a result, we must congratulate Intel on winning the technological leadership in the integrated graphics solutions market due to a very successful launch of their Westmere processor family. Today Intel HD Graphics is the absolute best choice in all aspects, except the price. This graphics core is integrated into processors selling for over $100, which will hardly fall into the budget PC price range. This is in fact the primary weakness of the new CPUs with integrated graphics. They fell into the price range where user interest to integrated solutions is pretty limited that is why Intel HD Graphics will hardly become a popular choice for desktops at this time.
Nevertheless, the new integrated graphics core will definitely become much more popular in the mobile segment, especially, since it supports Intel Switchable Graphics technology, which allows equipping notebooks with an add-on as well as integrated graphics card at the same time.