Sandy Bridge preview

[Kaarlisk]

I'm not surprised it supports MSAA (I've suspected that earlier) but where the heck does it say that?

Wasn't MSAA 4x a mandatory feature of DX10.1?

 

[aaronspink]

I'm not surprised it supports MSAA (I've suspected that earlier) but where the heck does it say that?

FYI, it is mentioned in one of the presentations from IDF. Page 36 of the VCOS005 presentation

 

[Drazick]

Too bad the Media Engine and the GPU are connected.
If you use Discrete GPU (Disabling the built in Graphics) you lose the Media Engine.

Moreover, I wonder if x.264 could be accelerated using the Media Engine.

 

[Andrew Lauritzen]

Wasn't MSAA 4x a mandatory feature of DX10.1?

Didn't the 45xx series HD graphics do 4x? I would be surprised if it didn't... Of course it wasn't fast enough to use it on anything other than toy demos, but that's a separate problem

 

[Erinyes]

Too bad the Media Engine and the GPU are connected.
If you use Discrete GPU (Disabling the built in Graphics) you lose the Media Engine.

Moreover, I wonder if x.264 could be accelerated using the Media Engine.

Where did u get that bit of info from? I havent seen any info which says that the media engine is unusable with discrete graphics.

X.264 is accelerated by a separate video decode engine

 

[DarthShader]

4.9Ghz on air?

There is much info there!

- 4.9GHz with the improved Intel tower cooler and only "a little" voltage bump.
- Run Cinnebench 11.5, but score not disclosed
- It was a K series processor for under 300 Euro
- confirmed that you wont be able to raise BCLK by much

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Give me a K SKU for $300 or so that will hit 4.9GHz+ on air and I'm sold.

 

[Drazick]

Where did u get that bit of info from? I havent seen any info which says that the media engine is unusable with discrete graphics.

X.264 is accelerated by a separate video decode engine

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/idf-2010-sandy-bridge-lga-1155,2747-3.html

Sandy Bridge will require new motherboards using an 1155-pin interface. The supporting chipsets will be dubbed H67 and P67. If you drop in a Sandy Bridge into a P67 motherboard, the on-die graphics engine is disabled completely, including the media decode engine. So, all media decode will either be handled by the discrete GPU or the CPU itself.

What do you mean by saying:
X.264 is accelerated by a separate video decode engine

Thanks.

 

[Kaotik]

[ot]I wish people would stop using "X.264" wording, it's h.264, and x264 or x.264 is just one (free) encoder for it[/ot]

 

[Kaarlisk]

It seems that Intel's driver silliness won't be going away.

http://www.station-drivers.com/page/intel graphics.htm

There are now two separate drivers, one that supports G45/GMA HD and another one that supports GMA HD/Sandy Bridge.

So again, it is likely that Intel will be leaving every generation except the last two without support. GMA X3100 is currently unsupported and will not be receiving any driver updates, even though Intel's linux driver clearly shows that supporting it in a unified driver is not a problem. The same fate may now be awaiting G45. This is one reason why I cannot use Intel's integrated graphics in my workstations - if a bug shows up in an older GMA, it won't be fixed. With a Geforce or Radeon, it will be.

BTW, from the inf's, Sandy Bridge has two names, "HD Graphics 100" and "HD Graphics 200" - 6/12 EUs?. Also, there is a mobile version of "HD Graphics 100", too.

 

[DavidC]

They are not using two drivers. They always have done this. They release the "beta" like drivers for the newest parts first, then later they release a full driver that adds everything else.

Though I agree with the rest. And the inf infos are interesting.

 

[Novum]

It says the new HD Graphics support 4x MSAA(finally!), DX10.1 and OpenGL 3.0.

Not surprising. 10.1 requires 4x MSAA.

 

[iwod]

I hope there are some way to get around the discreet graphics disabling bit.

I want Optimus on Desktop.