These Xeon E3-1200 series CPUs are now OpenGL certified, including support and certifications for a bunch of these high end architecture and engineering plan applications. Therefore, you can get a 'certified 3D engineering workstation' base within a simple miniITX or microATX (if in need for more memory) mainboard, for a very compact system.
I have played with AutoCAD on the E3-1275, basically a Xeon version of Core i7-2600K, and the performance is satisfactory even for 3-D genuine time manipulation of a (textureless though) model of central KL city area. You can pan, zoom, 3-D rotate in both isometric and perspective views easily, and this is roughly a 5 million polygon class model, meaning more triangles than most typical building models under, say, AutoCAD, right now. So, most other users could be happy with it as well.
This way, Intel takes a part of Nvidia and AMD's highest profit market, workstation graphics cards, by cutting into their entry level with 'good enough' solution that yet gives peace of mind to the users without requiring to buy an extra GPU anyway - this saving is welcome as, even if later in plan term the user feels a need for faster graphics, it can be done by adding a discrete GPU. Or, more cost effectively in the Intel case, upgrading the CPU to an Ivy Bridge-class Xeon E3 with doubled graphics speed in the same socket, plus the side CPU benefits.
While this is not a solution for more demanding multimedia 3-D content creation, or genuine-time Virtual Reality (VR) where the demands exceed even the toughest games, the allure of capturing quite a chunk of base level CAD marketshare and mindshare wasn't lost on Intel. What can the competitors do about it?
For Nvidia, nothing much it can do, except drastically reducing the entry-level Quadro card prices to offer a 'still faster' alternative at small price premium. The dispute how the users spend a lot on the apps so won't mind spending more on the hardware doesn't detain, as this author has also seen many times that this class of users can be often more stingy on the hardware than on the software running on it.
AMD has a chance here though, if they are willing to take it - by offering high-end Llano and Trinity Fusion APU selected bins as "FirePro-class OpenGL certified" and throw in selected key apps full certification and support, they could ride the same wave as the above Intel Xeon E3's. After all, 'good enough' combined CPU and GPU performance was one of key Fusion APU marketing points.
The question is, can AMD put aside enough extra money and resources to do the certification and support effort, and yet accept a little canibalisation of the low-end FirePro card line? Either way, I feel, they should do it - Intel is only going to up the stakes as their Ivy Bridge and then Haswell models of E3 Xeons continue to advance both CPU and GPU performance in the next one year to beyond 'good enough' level. At the end, building model labyrinth grows slower than the processor speed...
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