Intel Westmere 32nm Launch & Clarkdale Core i5-661 CPU Review

Intel HD Graphics Integrated GPU

As we have already established, Clarkdale processors feature an integrated graphics processor (IGP) built right on the CPU package; the brand new Intel HD Graphics. These are the very first processors to feature the fusion CPU + GPU design concept that AMD first talked about oh so many years ago. The graphics unit is not integrated into the CPU core itself though. It is part of a seperate 45nm die called the Ironlake Graphics Memory Controller Hub (GMCH), which is displayed below.


As you can see, the graphics core, memory memory controller, and the PCI-E controller are all tightly integrated into one package. This was designed to give the GMA HD integrated graphics processor optimal access to the system memory and a low latency link the the PCI-Express bus.



As detailed previously, the Pentium G6950 has a 533Mhz IGP, the Core i3-500 series and Core i5-6x0 series have a 733Mhz IGP, and the Core i5-661 has a 900Mhz IGP. This is not a huge increase from the 800Mhz GMA X4500HD found on the G45 chipset, nor are the two extra 'executions units' a particularly notable change. However, the fact that the IGP has been relocated to the CPU package and given better access to the system resources should help distinguish itself from its not-so-well-received predecessors.



On the multimedia front this a very promising IGP though. It supports full hardawre decode acceleration for H.264/AVC, VC-1 and MPEG-2 formats. It can decode two Blu-ray streams at once. It can upscale DVD and enhance the image quality via post processing. It supports lossless Dolby True HD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats. And when you want to output, you have a choice of DisplayPort, DVI, dual HDMI, and VGA.