if you're a gamer you probably know that using the integrated graphics built into
your computer's processor instead of a full-fledged discreet graphics card is
about like eating meatloaf instead of steak and we did an episode about why
integrated graphics lag behind their discrete counterparts which you can check out here in a nutshell though
trying to cram high performance graphics
into a teeny tiny CPU is tough because there just isn't enough space for all
the extra transistors that you'd need not to mention that thermals would
become a big concern but
it is also true that integrated graphics have gotten a lot better over the years
and there's actually a huge demand for quality integrated solutions to explore
this further we spoke with nick majeskovich and john webb of Intel and
we'd like to thank them for their time and contribution as well as thank lg for
sponsoring this topic part of the reason that integrated graphics have improved
to the point where you can play games in hd that is assuming you have reasonable
expectations regarding frame rates and visual quality is that transistor sizes
have continued to shrink we've gone from having cpus based on the 32 nanometer
process back in 2010 to under half of that in the last 10 years more
transistors means that not only do you get more processing muscle but you don't
need as much electrical power to get the same level of performance which reduces
heat output but manufacturers could have used those extra transistors to help
with CPU performance so why improve
graphics that many customers won't even use well thing is i clearly
underestimated it but the market for quality eye GPU solutions has been there
for a while and is absolutely huge despite the fact that many pc gamers are
more interested in higher tier discrete graphics cards there are plenty of
others who just want their favorite titles to be playable without breaking
the bank or draining their laptop's battery and the progress has been such
that with solutions like AMD's rx vega graphics equipped apus and Intel's
upcoming xe-based products the market for budget graphics cards is all but
dead because they can't compete with what's already on the system for free
and aside from gaming onboard gpus handle a variety of everyday tasks like
improving video playback and productivity so many people actually use
their integrated graphics even if they have a discrete card without even
knowing it which has driven companies like Intel and AMD to design their chips
to deliver a certain baseline of performance with their graphics
solutions for a broad audience with this in mind then chip manufacturers have set
out to make integrated graphics not only powerful enough to handle gaming but
also efficient enough for other tasks on laptops and tablets they've done this by
adding fixed function units so parts of the processor that are
extremely good at one thing and do basically nothing else and through more
general architectural improvements the architecture of a chip is how the
transistors all connect to each other and we're always learning new ways to
make it better they also use tricks like dynamic tuning which uses software to
allocate power between the CPU and GPU part depending on what the system is
doing using data from thermal sensors this was seen on kaby lake g a series of
laptop processors from a few years ago that combined separate dies for the CPU
and GPU on a single package now there are still limitations to how large you
can make an integrated GPU as we discussed previously but manufacturers
have at times dedicated extra space to graphics like in Intel's iris plus for
ice lake which uses more die space for graphics execution units as well as for
media encoding and decoding which is increasingly important as we demand
higher and higher definition audio and video without killing our batteries
and the use of chiplets which you can learn more about up here could make it
cheaper for manufacturers to take this approach to slapping a little bit less
graphic silicon on this basic product and a little bit more on a more
multimedia focused product so the answer then as it turns out is that the higher
performance is something of a side effect of a huge push in the industry to
optimize the cost and power efficiency of especially mobile devices through a
combination of hardware and software improvements dx12 ultimate for example
could actually enable integrated graphics to run ray tracing in the
future not necessarily well i mean we're not saying to ditch your 500 graphics
card it's just that the future does look pretty bright for gamers operating on
tighter budgets especially if you like to take your games with you on the road
now if you'll excuse me i need to go integrate some lunch into my stomach
after i tell you about today's sponsor we've actually got a great example of a
computer having Intel's iris plus graphics inside and it's the latest
release of the lg gram the sponsor of today's video this lightweight do
anything go anywhere laptop features a 10th gen core i7 1065 g7 processor and
iris pro graphics for solid performance on the road whether you're gaming using
photoshop or even doing some light video editing the 17 inch model is 1.35
kilograms that's just three pounds for our american friends with a 2560 by 1600
ips screen and there's a smaller 15.6
inch model too you get a fingerprint reader for your security and a
Thunderbolt 3 port and with the release of this lg gram laptop in the ultra
portable market it fulfills both the portability and performance needs of
demanding users at once so check it out today at the link in the video
description thanks for watching guys like dislike check out our other videos
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