Intel to Use PowerVR Graphics in New Atom CPU?
Next Atom to have the graphics of a super tablet.
Intel's Atom has never been a strong performer in the graphics area. That apparent weakness in the modest but power-conscious CPU led the way for Nvidia to step in with its Ion chipset.
For the next generation Atom, Cedarview, Intel is reportedly turning to PowerVR for its graphics technology. While PowerVR hasn't been in the commercial desktop graphics space for the last decade, the company has been thriving well by pushing its graphics in the ARM market. PowerVR provides graphics technologies for the smartphone and tablet processors for Apple, Samsung, among others.
According to a slide obtained by VR-Zone, it looks like PowerVR will be doing the graphics for Cedarview. Specifically, it will be the PowerVR SGX545, which is a faster version of the SGX543 that ships with the iPad 2 today.
VR-Zone reports that Intel has worked with PowerVR's SGX535 with the GMA 500/600, and that this new SGX545 chip will support DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.0 as well as hardware accelerated video decoding for MPEG-2, MPEG-4 part 2, VC1, WMV9 and H.264.

but is still more than what 95% of PC users need.
AMD already has Fusion CPUs with DX11 that use less power than Atom...
Want to see more AMD on the market, they have the better product in this area.
AMD already has Fusion CPUs with DX11 that use less power than Atom...
Want to see more AMD on the market, they have the better product in this area.
Totally agree..
If Intel knew how to make gpu's they wouldn't have to worry about either company.
Your statement is true.
I believe that would never happen. Atom can't play some of the games even an casual gamer want's to play and intel would not risk giving Atom a boost if it is given then it'll eat up the i3 and the old dual and c2d's market share which seem to be an better option.
PS: It won't do Intel a bit of good to clock Atom to 2.1ghz, it still won't beat the "wimpy" AMD CPU.
Haven't you heard? tablets are replacing netbooks... [according to some analysts; obviously that's debatable] anyway, atom chips were for netbooks. These will be still be for netbooks possibly, but more likely targeting tablets... they offer less, but command a higher price, and currently the market is doing well. They support DirectX, so they can make Windows 7 tablet makers happy, Intel already provides desktop chips for Apple, they might be looking to steal some business by snagging iPad business as well, they do afterall have a working relationship with Apple these days, and if Apple is already using chips based on PowerVR, they might find it easier and cheaper to just buy all their chips from Intel... and Aravind's point about Intel not "risking" a boost in Atom's performance because it would cut into i3's marketshare doesn't seem to add up to me because:
1. i3's are much more powerful, designed for laptops and desktops, so, these chips aren't going to cut into i3 business unless (see #2)
2. Tablets start to cut into laptop business significantly, which would then passively hurt i3 sales
The only problem with that logic is, if Intel pulls it off, then they sell more Atom's which are probably cheaper to make at the expense of selling less i3's. Either way they win, which is LESS risky. If they stay away from tablets and tablets continue to boom and/or completely kill the laptop market... then Intel isn't selling i3's anyways... so, it'd be more risky for them to put all their eggs into the i3 basket...
IMO, Intel needs a short term strategic move against ARM chips. ARM chips are small & low powered, but they are quickly adding cores and speed. However, they can't compare to the general purpose logic of Intel desktop chips... but, Intel CPU's are similtaneously decreasing in size and adding cores and speed. It's only a matter of time before Intel multi-core offerings are small and low power enough to compete in tiny form factors...