Will Intel's Sandy Bridge pose a threat to discrete GPUs?

Intel's Sandy Bridge is apparently capable of outperforming all current integrated graphics platforms. But does the processor microarchitecture threaten low-end, discrete GPUs?

Well, according to AnandTech's Anand Lal Shimpi, Sandy Bridge is already "nipping at the heels" of lower-end, discrete cards.

"Architecturally, Sandy Bridge is a significant revision from what's internally referred to as Intel Gen graphics. While the past two generations have been a part of the Gen 5 series, Sandy brings the first Gen 6 graphics die to market," he explained. "With a tremendous increase in IPC and a large L3 cache to partake in, Sandy Bridge's graphics is another significant move forward.