Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors should both provide a speed upgrade for their integrated graphics but anticipate the appearance of ‘retina’ displays on Lion and Windows 8 PCs. The new video core will support up to a 4K resolution at any ratio, letting it show 4,096 pixels both wide and high. The output would allow for ultra-dense professional LCDs and future home displays that emphasize print-like sharpness over sheer resolution.
A new multi-format video decoder, MFX, will even let the chipset play multiple 4K-formatted videos at once without bogging down the system.
The new core will also handle much richer visual effects through full DirectX 11 (OpenGL 3.2/4) support. OpenCL will come for the first time to Intel video and offload general-purpose tasks like professional 3D rendering, video encoding, and simulations.
Ivy Bridge is presumed to be coming in late winter or early spring of next year and will have its own improvements, such as a much more efficient 22 nanometer chip design and more instructions per clock. Apple is expected to be among the earlier adopters, particularly as it’s the only major OS developer to fold OpenCL directly into the OS core.
