Ivy Bridge Graphics Drivers - Broken?

[Old_Biker]

Hi All,

I was considering a new build with an Ivy Bridge CPU, but I am concerned about possible integrated graphics problems.

Can any forum members tell me their experience of using Ivy Bridge Graphics?

Are they really broken, as claimed in reports (here's one from SemiAccurate) of Intel's demonstration at CES in January?

Any advice will be gratefully received.

[Terbinator]

Ivy Bridge isn't out until April...

[shaithis]

It's not broken (or at least I doubt it is), it's just looks like it will be a fair way behind AMDs IGP offerings.....especially as we are expecting Trinity soon which should raise the bar further.

So many options these days, you need to look at your usage and budget and decide which of the options fits you best.

[DanceswithUnix]

Yes and no.

The nonsense at that demonstration was just Intel having a bit of a moment. It was stupid, but I really wouldn't read anything into it.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5359/i...-on-ivy-bridge

OTOH, Intel graphics drivers are pretty bad. Something cheap from either AMD or Nvidia is generally considered worth it just for driver support if you care about graphics. For a business machine running Windows, you will probably be fine though.

[Old_Biker]

Thanks for that info.

Heard rumour of delay & hadn't seen any on sale, but thought I may have looked at the wrong sellers.

Will have to wait a bit longer then!

[Old_Biker]

The comments from 'shaithis' and 'DanceswithUnix' make me think I need to sit on the fence a bit longer.

I will be working in Windows, but would like to edit some photo's on the PC, so maybe the separate graphics card would be better anyway?

Thanks for your input.

[shaithis]

If you are not gaming and not doing professional CAD/CAM/3D Modelling/Photoshop work 8 hours a day....there is no real reason for an add-in card these days.

[Old_Biker]

If you are not gaming and not doing professional CAD/CAM/3D Modelling/Photoshop work 8 hours a day....there is no real reason for an add-in card these days.

Thanks for that, shaithis,

Savings on the PC will mean more goodies for the camera!

[Lee @ SCAN]

I will be working in Windows, but would like to edit some photo's on the PC, so maybe the separate graphics card would be better anyway?

If you are planning to use the Photoshop series of applications then looking at a dedicated card will improve productivity, even with something as basic as the GT 520 series for example to speed up applying effects, filters and even working through batch files quicker.

[this_is_gav]

If you're editing photos though, it's not going to help much.

Unless you're editing massive scans, or applying filters to a D800 RAW file on a multitude of layers using an action, then the built-in Sandy Bridge GPU is easily enough, so the Ivy Bridge one will be at least as adequate.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would have a look at the suggestions in this thread:

What specs for a photo editing build?

[EvanJackPenn]

And rumours of IVB being delayed are only true for the dual core models, not for example the 2500k and 2600k replacements.

SOURCE

[Old_Biker]

If you are planning to use the Photoshop series of applications then looking at a dedicated card will improve productivity, even with something as basic as the GT 520 series for example to speed up applying effects, filters and even working through batch files quicker.

Thanks for that info. Lee.

I am thinking of following a friend's suggestion of using the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) for photo editing. I understand that it is a 'raster editor' like Photoshop.

Hopefully the end results will be acceptable!

[Old_Biker]

I would have a look at the suggestions in this thread:

What specs for a photo editing build?

Some interesting ideas there.

I won't develop them further in this thread as the focus of the comments is shifting to systems rather than CPUs.

I will only say that I would prefer a quad core CPU for some of my other applications. Also, the monitors looked interesting, but a bit more research is planned in that department as there were some mixed reviews when I searched for more info.

Thanks for the link.

[Old_Biker]

And rumours of IVB being delayed are only true for the dual core models, not for example the 2500k and 2600k replacements . . .

That's good news, I fancy a quad core to keep up audio file conversion speeds.