- Joined
- Feb 18, 2005
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- 5,847 (0.81/day)
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- Ikenai borderline!
| System Name | Firelance. |
|---|---|
| Processor | Threadripper 3960X |
| Motherboard | ROG Strix TRX40-E Gaming |
| Cooling | IceGem 360 + 6x Arctic Cooling P12 |
| Memory | 8x 16GB Patriot Viper DDR4-3200 CL16 |
| Video Card(s) | MSI GeForce RTX 4060 Ti Ventus 2X OC |
| Storage | 2TB WD SN850X (boot), 4TB Crucial P3 (data) |
| Display(s) | 3x AOC Q32E2N (32" 2560x1440 75Hz) |
| Case | Enthoo Pro II Server Edition (Closed Panel) + 6 fans |
| Power Supply | Fractal Design Ion+ 2 Platinum 760W |
| Mouse | Logitech G602 |
| Keyboard | Razer Pro Type Ultra |
| Software | Windows 10 Professional x64 |
I stand by them.
Audio is a completely different domain to graphics, all the problems in digital audio were solved forever ago, it's now simply a case of "how small can you go" in terms of fabrication. There is very little fixed-function hardware, most of the processing can be done in software if need be. There is no change or innovation in the digital audio space, just companies making up different types of snake oil to sell to so-called audiophiles.
But graphics is continuing to grow and evolve at a phenomenal rate, and will continue to do so probably forever. That means more and more transistors and more and more dedicated-purpose transistors. That means no matter how many advances there are in transistor fabrication and node shrinking, GPU dies are going to continue to increase in physical size, power consumption, and heat output - even as they increase in efficiency. That makes them a poor partner for CPUs, where the current predominant considerations are currently decreasing power and heat.
Will we see iGPU performance continue to improve art a higher rate than overall GPU performance improves? Yes. But we will never see a point where iGPU performance meets or exceeds dGPU performance in the high-end.
I'm inclined to agree with you regarding the probable decrease in low-end GPU parts, but you also need to remember that a lot of corporates still insist on them for a simple reason: maintenance. If you have a system with an iGPU that dies, you have to replace that CPU - and if the system is a few years old (as they tend to be in corporates) then finding a replacement CPU is likely to be difficult and expensive, since your IT department isn't going to be able to have a whole bunch of CPUs from different sockets lying around "just in case".
On the other hand, replacing a dGPU is easy: go on Amazon, buy the cheapest one you can find, pull the bad one out of the PCIe slot, put the replacement in, done. You can also keep a couple of spare dGPUs around just for this scenario, which would minimise user downtime. In corporate land, that's important.
Yes, you can send a machine that fails back to the OEM in question if it's still under warranty, but again - that's time. If someone in accounting has their PC die on them just before month-end, you need them working ASAP, and shitty dGPUs facilitate that.
