Not only does Ivy Bridge pack graphics that can cope with DirectX 11 specification it also has more executing units or EUs. Nvidia calls them Shaders or graphics processors while Intel still prefers the acronym EU.
Back in October, our sources were convinced that Intel doubled the EU number from 12 to 24 but according to the latest communication between Intel and its partners the number sunk to 16. This again means that Intel’s next generation 22nm CPU with graphics gets substantially faster as the clock can go further up and that just based on more EUs, you can expect at least 25 percent better scores compared to Sandy Bridge.
DirectX 11 support will definitely be a powerful marketing tool, but many know that gaming on Intel is not something that you can recommend to many. However it will let you play some basic games at acceptable eye candy rates. Intel claims it will be enough for mainstream gaming on a broad range of titles and native DirectX 11 support.
Intel plans further enhancements in multimedia parts of graphics in order to make decoding and encoding of DVD and Blu-ray content faster, as the company expects that many will want to burn or share this HD content.
