For many years ATI Technologies and Advanced Micro Devices did not help game designers to specifically optimize their titles for integrated graphics adapters to ensure truly high performance. But the times are changing and AMD confirmed in a recent interview that it wants its Fusion accelerated processing units (APUs) with x86 and graphics processors on the same piece of silicon to be "compelling option" for video games.

"We always try to ensure games are able to run on our AMD Fusion APU offerings at maximum performance while maintaining the bulk of the graphic features. AMD has worked very hard to ensure our integrated graphics are a compelling option for gaming purposes, and going forward we’re going to see even more goodness coming from this area where gamers will be able to enjoy the full gaming experience on our AMD Fusion APUs without compromising on quality," said Peter Ross, a senior marketing manager at AMD, in an interview with GamersDailyNews web-site.

Traditionally, integrated graphics was considered as something mediocre for gaming and many end-users acquired entry-level graphics cards instead of them. Low-cost graphics cards also do not provide decent performance in modern games, but at least do not have quality issues with rendering, unlike some of low-end Intel's integrated solutions.

AMD's Fusion accelerated processing units integrate Radeon HD graphics processors that have higher horsepower than some low-end graphics cards and are dramatically faster compared to Intel's integrated solutions. As a result, it does make sense for AMD to ensure that all games run well on its integrated graphics solutions as it ensures proper performance on its entry-level platforms (and naturally shifts minimum acceptable performance and quality away from Intel's HD graphics) and guarantees smooth gameplay on discrete graphics adapters.

Tags: AMD, Fusion, Trinity, Llano, Radeon, ATI