IDF 2012: Haswell GT3 Running Skyrim

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• Patflute - Tuesday, September 11, 2012 - link

  Kind of pointless... Didn't even tell use the average frames rates. A video panning around tell us nothing...
  
  Haswell is looking pretty lame for PC gamers with dedicated graphics right now...

• SteveTheWalrus - Tuesday, September 11, 2012 - link

  That's obviously not who theses are aimed at, all though GT3 will be better than my buddies GT 520, still not what they are going for...
  
  ...and if you look at the smoke and water you can see that its not all that much different than the other one and is a lot higher than the GT2 would be at those settings.

• r3loaded - Wednesday, September 12, 2012 - link

  Obviously, an integrated chip will never replace a 200W dedicated GPU for desktop gamers. But now, try to imagine an ultrabook or tablet - playing Skyrim! (even if you have to compromise on quality settings, that's still amazing)

• HisDivineOrder - Wednesday, September 12, 2012 - link

  Never say never. The reality is that if the rumors of little real progress on the home console front are true, then PC's might already far outstrip consoles this year and last year already.
  
  If that is the case (and traditionally consoles enjoy a six month-year advantage over PC's at launch), then how long do you think it will take Intel with its constant updates to GPU's before they catch up to "acceptable" levels of performance? And how long before there are advantages to using that integrated GPU over a discrete GPU? Directly shared memory space, CPU-to-GPU direct access, etc.
  
  I just don't think "never" is a great argument to make. I expect 10 years from now you'll wonder why you ever thought discrete GPU's were essential to gaming, much as many a gamer today questions why they thought audio cards were essential.
  
  Sure, there are many who still use them, but there are also quite a few who see them as superfluous. Emperor voice: "So will it be with zee video card."
  
  Luke voice: "You're wrong! That's impossible!"

• yankeeDDL - Wednesday, September 12, 2012 - link

  You can already play Skyrim on a mid range laptop: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMLAU7eKRSo
  Llano uses 35W and has plenty of power and was released over 1 year ago.
  Trinity's A6-4455M packs more power in 17W, which makes it suitable for today's Ultrabooks.
  Yes, Ivy Bridge's CPU is on a league of its own, but if you want to play games on the move, you don't need to wait for Haswell, IMHO.
  Heck, by the time Haswell arrives, Kaveri might be here too.

• bh192012 - Wednesday, September 12, 2012 - link

  Actually, if you're 200W dedicated card is somewhere around an overclocked X1800 XT or maybe a 2900 XT, then the GT3 might give it a challenge. AMD A8-3870 with integrated 6550D graphics?
  
  Come on.... who doesn't want to see that benchmarked?

• bh192012 - Wednesday, September 12, 2012 - link

  Well look up the framerates for ivy bridge desktop running current skyrim at medium 1366x768 for the system on the left. He says it's running the same FPS as the GT3 on the right at 1920x1080 and high settings. Probably in the 30-45 FPS range. With probabyl no AA/AF but still impressive for Intel on integrated graphics.
  
  BUT WILL THE DRIVERS WORK? On anything other than 2 games? :>

• dananski - Saturday, April 13, 2013 - link

  Hmmm I'm getting decent framerates at decent settings at 1920x1200 on modern games on my HD5770, which isn't particularly beefy. If IGP gets to that level of performance and games don't get tougher to run, I'd quite like the noise benefits over a discrete card... Still, I'd need a discrete card to provide enough video outputs for all my monitors.

• moep - Tuesday, September 11, 2012 - link

  These chips are meant to compete with current mobile solutions, not gaming GPUs with a TDP that’s the order of a magnitude higher than the whole Haswell SoC.
  
  With that being said, what implementation should we expect to ship in the next generation Haswell Macbook Air, assuming a 17W TDP? GT1, 2 or 3?

• ananduser - Wednesday, September 12, 2012 - link

  No one cares. Apple will be kind enough to inform you when their next release cycle arrives.