Question about "shared" or "intergrated" video

[TRDLE]

I keep seeing this trend in new computer systems w/o video or sound cards, where they sell a fast cpu with intergrated sound and video card. Are naive people being suckered? How do these systems work with games?

[Jorden]

Last I saw was an integrated nameless 8Mb PCI graphicscard and an SB PCI128 soundchip (with 4Mb onboard) on a Compaq motherboard.

Worked quite well, but for when you try to put another videocard or soundcard in. It takes quite a hassle to disable the onboard video/audio and to get rid off all the drivers/registry settings.

Jorden.

[paulcs]

The integration of sound and video on some of the newer motherboards create several problems for the gamer, poweruser, or hobbiest. However, the vast majority of computer users don't match these descriptions, so I this trend is by no means a rip off.

The onboard video integrated into the i810 chipset is just an awful solution for 3D gamers and users of the more powerful 3D applications. However, I suspect it works just fine with word processors, spreadsheets, web browsing, etc.

The AC'97 Audio codec is a software solution, and that means your CPU (as opposed to your soundcard) is doing most of the work. Some motherboards have the equivalent of a hardware soundcard onboard. These tend to be older, less sophisticated, and more CPU-intensive than a Vortex 2 or Soundblaster Live board.

There have been cases when motherboard manufacturers have integrated newer video and sound adapters into their boards, and, of course, Adaptec on-board SCSI adapters are fairly common. This can cause expensive problems with upgrading, and we've seen a lot of this recently.

Say you want to upgrade to a Coppermine CPU and your motherboard doesn't have Coppermine support. If you upgrade your motherboard, you will have to somehow replace all those on-board devices.

Most new motherboards have an AMR slot. For someone who relies heavily on conventional modems to access the Internet, this is probably a bad deal. The software-based modems used are typically not as reliable as, let's say, a 56K faxmodem. They might be fine for someone who just needs a modem to retrieve email or has a DSL or Cable connection.

OEM's like integrated devices because they are cheaper, and, in theory, they pass their savings on to their customers. Gamers and power users have different requirements than most people, and integrated devices can be, at best, a nuisance, or in the case of the i810 chipset, completely unacceptable.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Technoid]

I was hoping on the I815 chipset.
Hopefully VIA will get their act togheter and make a Athlon chipset that realy works!


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G400Mill 32MB SGRAM + RRG
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256 MB RAM CAS2
43GB HDD Space!(Actual 40GB) (13+30 Quantum drives)
Pioneer 104S DVD 10x CD 40x SLOT IN
SONY CRX100E 4/2/24 CDRW

[Jorden]

Yes, Icestorm, the board I worked on at the time was an i810. I had to get alot of new drivers for it as well, not only for the intergrated video chip, but also for the the other cards in the PCI slot

Btw, I remember: the video was an ATi Rage Pro 128 !! How low can they go, huh?

Jord.

[Alegria]

Not only Intel markets chipsets with integrated graphics Silicon Integrated Systems (SIS) does that too for example. One of the major drawbacks in integrated graphics for the power user is the Unified Memory Architecture (UMA) some of the chipsets use. This means a part of the computers RAM is taken away for the video controller e.g. you have 64MB RAM and set your display memory to 8MB then there is only 56MB of memory left for the OS and to applications which is probably not enough. The memory access will be done priority controlled thus there can be a severe slowdown in I/O intensive applications. Games usually don't run nice on these systems. Ic ould go on for awhile but I think others will do that for me...:-)

Alegria

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The pump don't work, 'cause the vandals took the handle...
Bob Dylan