intergrated graphics taking over

[borntosoul]

just thought id raise this up ,since we need all the graphic power we can get our hands on it seems to make sence that there will always be mid to high end gpu makers around , is the intergrated graphic market large enough to take over ?or will computers in 4 years be like consols all built in spec that lasts 4 years then gets replaced ,we have opperating systems and programs designed to work with a set spec just like consols.

 

[gkar1]

Your analogy is a bit flawed.
Console as opposed to pc architectures are, from the ground up, designed to be propietary closed systems. A testament of that is the Xbox. Microsoft went to greath lenghts to remove the openness of the underlying pc architecture of its components(custom boot sector for HD, custom BIOS, plus a number of protection schemes hardcoded into the system).

This is also flawed:

we have opperating systems and programs designed to work with a set spec just like consols.

The only reason the software is sometimes not up to par, or behind the bleeding edge of hardware, is because of the economics of it. Software developers need to target the broadest base so that they can potentially sell more copies of the software. That's why they target the lowest common denominator in system specs. Consoles do not suffer this phenomenon since every software developer knows the final specs of the machine well before it is released and thus will be able to fully exploit its architecture and features.

 

[DemoCoder]

Well, it's more than just economics. With consoles, because 100% of the devices have the same specs and software, you can perform magic with managing system resources and timing that you simply cannot do on the PC.

Even if 100% of PCs used a GF4 and identical Intel CPU, you'd have differences in hard disk speeds, system chipsets, network cards, sound, different driver versions, different system DLLs, different amounts of ram, etc.

If I know the exact DVD ROM, memory, and HD timings, I can do customize my levels and art to load in ways that minimize wait screens, like Metroid Prime, something that is not impossible on the PC, just alot more difficult and costly, so most developers don't bother. It's bad enough that they have to debug the app for N video cards X M driver revisions.

 

[borntosoul]

its sad to see a line of thinking thats so one dimentional, i was hoping someone would see past all the crap thats going on today !

 

[KimB]

No, borntosoul, it's not going to happen. There are far too many players in the market for PCs for such a thing.

But, integrated components will become more and more common, and they will eventually become higher-performing as well for the majority of situations. So eventually, yeah, most everything will be integrated, but we'll still have expansion slots, and there will still be lots of different products to choose from.

There will never be a one or even just a couple different styles of PC available (as there were way back in the infancy of the PC world). PCs are just used for such a huge variety of activities today that it's just not a possibility.