GPU+iGPU=Better Performance?

[ericjohn004]

I always thought that if you had a PC with an iGPU and a discrete GPU you could use either one or the other. Well, recently I saw in this article that you could use a GPU and an iGPU TOGETHER for increased performance. In this article they used a 7970 discrete graphics card with a 3570k with HD4000 graphics. So this is 2012 hardware were talking about here. And in the article they give a FPS chart with the FPS of the 7970, HD 4000, and 7970+HD4000. And the combination of the 7970 and HD4000 had about 30% MORE performance than the 7970 alone.

Now I have a Nvidia EVGA GTX 660 Ti and a 3570k with HD4000 gfx. Currently I have my iGPU disable because I thought it was pointless. Well now I'm having second thoughts.

My questions are.... Is this even possible with the 7970 or is this article bogus? Can I do this with my GTX 660 Ti and 3570k with HD4000 gfx because they did use the 3570k and HD 4000 in this article, the only difference is the discrete gfx cards?

This is the link to where I saw the chart. It clearly states what they are trying to accomplish.

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/intel_ivy_bridge_core_i5_3570k_core_i7_3770k_review,6.html

If the link doesn't work just go to vortez.com and check out the 3570k vs. 3770k overclocked review.

 

[smorizio]

the mvp chipset bonding if you get it to work...the tech is still new and buggy. lots of game crashes and system lock up. does help a little in games. you can try it but be ready to remove it if your system becomes unstable.

 

[melikepie]

Wonder what Haswell's iGPU will do when it meets my 7970.

 

[k1114]

I find it weird that they don't mention virtu mvp anywhere in the article but this is what you use to use both igpu and discrete "together." There are plenty of reviews on it from more reputable sites but it doesn't work how you think it does. It doesn't increase performance, in most cases you will see a decrease. The igpu is tasked to intercepting and removing extra draw calls. So it really only works when you are above your monitors refresh rate. It is artificially raising the fps because it is not tasking the gpu to render the frames it removes but the fps counter still counts them.

It would be nice to have the igpu actually offload graphics rendering but this is currently not how it works.

 

[ericjohn004]

It seems like no one at all uses this feature. I guess if it was worth it more people would be doing it. So I guess I shouldn't try this right?

 

[ericjohn004]

Best answer selected by ericjohn004.