Talk:Switch to PC gaming

Laptops and "integrated" GPUs
Although the GPUs in laptops are usually "soldered onto the...motherboard" where they are not designed to be user-upgradable, this does not necessarily correlate with the usual definition of "integrated." I've long understood "integrated" to refer to GPUs that use a portion of main system RAM. Could we add some wording to the article to clarify this definition? Eighty5cacao 16:42, 14 September 2010 (MST)
 * I've understood "integrated" to mean part of the northbridge, and if I misunderstand it, then someone else does too. If you define "integrated" as equivalent to Shared Memory Architecture, then the Xbox 360 has an "integrated" GPU and the PS3 doesn't. If integrated means Shared Memory Architecture, then what does discrete mean? And I couldn't find a citation for the definition of integrated used in the article you linked. --Tepples 17:11, 14 September 2010 (MST)
 * Sorry for forgetting about reliable sourcing. Also, I would have wikilinked Intel GMA in my post somewhere except that it felt redundant. (That article has more citations, but it still doesn't address any official definition of "integrated.") My main point was that the article as it currently stands gives undue weight (to stretch the term slightly) to where the GPU is physically soldered and not enough to shared memory architecture. If you think the current wording is fine, that's okay too. Eighty5cacao 22:19, 14 September 2010 (MST)
 * What I'm trying to say is that the GPU included on a motherboard with an Intel chipset is just enough to get Aero running and not much more. These are good enough for SWF games such as Tetris Friends or FarmVille or the stuff on Newgrounds, but a GMA 950 is comparable to a Voodoo3 (both use the CPU for all vertex processing) and not really made for the past decade of native PC games. I came up with a backronym: "Graphics My Ass". --Tepples 10:31, 15 September 2010 (MST)

Obsolete
Could you remind me why exactly [//pineight.com/mw/index.php?title=Switch_to_PC_gaming&diff=4092&oldid=4090 this TODO] is obsolete? Eighty5cacao 09:50, 5 September 2011 (MST)
 * "and the Wii's AMD Hollywood GPU has fillrate close to that of the Radeon 9000 per the chart at Wikipedia." --Tepples 15:05, 5 September 2011 (MST)

Nvidia Optimus
Should we mention something about Nvidia Optimus here or elsewhere on the wiki? Or are we assuming that most computers within the scope of said article(s) are non-portable? Eighty5cacao 09:50, 5 September 2011 (MST)
 * Optimus sort of reminds me of the DS's 3D core, which creates a "video overlay" of sorts under the DS's GBA-style 2D graphics when turned on. We could mention Optimus in the context of carrying a gaming laptop between your desk and the television, and docking it to the TV with a USB hub and an HDMI cable. But as has been pointed out to me on Slashdot, someone else in the household will probably want to use the laptop at the same time. So yes, I was concentrating on small-form-factor desktop PCs. --Tepples 15:10, 5 September 2011 (MST)