Prior to that, those jobs were handled by the EUs. The Ivy Bridge graphics architecture included a sixth domain called the video quality engine, using dedicated hardware for video and image processing at very low power. And because the EUs are used for rate control and mode decision, several steps along IntelвЂ™s familiar two-stage encoder run faster. This isnвЂ™t ideal, and the company is obviously working on a fully hardware-accelerated solution, but itвЂ™s better than nothing.ДЄVC/H.264 encoding receives a more substantial speed-up by virtue of the additional Sub-Slices (and the second Slice on GT3), since thereвЂ™s a fixed-function Media Sampler-responsible for motion estimation-in each one.

Rather, Intel describes an approach involving the IA and graphics cores. This isnвЂ™t handled by a fixed-function block, though. So what does Broadwell on the desktop enable above and beyond Haswell? The Multi-Format Codec engine gets native support for 4096x2048 content, accelerating HEVC decode at up to 4Kp30 and VP9 at up to 4Kp24. ThatвЂ™s a win on two fronts-if you can afford to throw hardware at the problem. Because they involve fewer transistors, they also use a lot less power. These are faster than parallelized programmable logic (like EUs), which are in turn quicker than general-purpose IA cores. With Broadwell, Intel continues its quest to push more work at the fixed-function blocks optimized for specific tasks. Over time, Quick Sync has evolved to accelerate the latest formats, while giving developers more balance between quality and performance (target usages).

The company lobbied ISVs to support its hardware, and a number of apps surfaced right off the bat to exploit it. More than four years ago, it introduced Quick Sync, again leveraging its manufacturing advantage to build a fixed-function engine for media encode/decode acceleration. Intel has a storied history of design decisions rooted in simultaneous performance and power gains.

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