Sandy Bridge Graphics?

[patrickd314]

I’m about to assemble a PC, my first since Pentium-II days. People seem excited about Sandy Bridge; a preliminary investigation leads to two questions. First, I understand that i7-2600 plus an H67 motherboard allows one to use the graphics capability of the chip. (I am not interested in overclocking, so I don’t think I’m interested in the -2600K or the P67). My questions are, first, if I use an external graphics card, is any capability of the SB chip “freed up” for processing that would otherwise be tied up rendering graphics? In other words, are any benchmarks degraded by concomitant use of the onboard graphics? Second, what (ballpark) level external graphics card would be required to render noticeably (real world) better graphics than the on board system?

 

[simon12]

"if I use an external graphics card, is any capability of the SB chip “freed up” for processing that would otherwise be tied up rendering graphics?"
No

A graphics card is only really used for gaming and any new card is better than the 2600s built in graphics. Also the 2600K has better built in graphics than the 2600. What are you using the PC for?

 

[patrickd314]

No gaming beyond Snood ... Mild video & photo editing are the most CPU intensive tasks.

 

[patrickd314]

... and I'm curious about the better graphics capability of the 2600K. I was under the impression that the only difference was that the -K was unlocked for overclocking. Not true??