If we look at only programmability and floating-point performance, the progress we have made on GPUs is remarkable. Consider the following:
- Xbox 360 (2005 console): 240 GFlops and DirectX 10 level (mostly)
- GTX 280 (mid-2008 flagship): 622 GFlops, DirectX 10 and CUDA 1.0
- AMD Richland 8650G (integrated 2013): 550+ GFlops DirectX 11 and OpenCL 1.2
- Intel Iris Pro 5200 (integrated 2013): 650+ GFlops, DirectX11 and OpenCL 1.2
Integrated graphics today, with a TDP of perhaps 20W for the graphics component, has more floating-point performance than a flagship GPU from just 5 years earlier. Bandwidth constraints still remain, though potential solutions are emerging either using on-package eDRAM on Intel, or using say GDDR5 like the PS4. But it is impressive to see that integrated GPUs have advanced so much.