Intel's new 32nm Sandy Bridge processors may feature integrated graphics, but users will have to wait until Ivy Bridge, which will be manufactured using a 22nm process, if they want DirectX 11. Current Sandy Bridge chips only support DirectX 10.1.
Intel plans to integrate DirectX 11 in the next-generation of its laptop and desktop chips, because use of the technology in applications will spread by then, Mooly Eden, vice president and general manager of the PC Client Group at Intel, told PC World. "When we look at the schedule, we didn't think it was... the right time," Eden said. "There's not much usage."
That may be, but Ivy Bridge won't start shipping to OEMs and system integrators until late 2011, which means they aren't likely to get to consumers until 2012. Furthermore, many PC games are already supporting DirectX 11. Last but not least, AMD isn't waiting around.
AMD's low-powered Fusion chips, which are to take on Intel's Atom line, already offer DirectX 11 graphics support. Like Intel's most recent chips, AMD's latest hardware combines the graphics processor and CPU in a single piece of silicon. If AMD was able to bring DirectX11 to the table this year, many are wondering why Intel had to delay the process.