Professional Graphics

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.