I'm looking to do my first computer build this summer. I've been doing a lot of research, but as I've never even owned anything bigger than a laptop before, I don't really know anything. So, I'd like to ask a few dumb questions, if you don't mind.
1. I've read that the HDMI ports on newer graphics cards can output audio, due to a "audio controller" on-chip. Does this compute the audio directly on-chip, or does it copy it from a audio buffer from the motherboard's audio processor? (If that's not complete nonsense.) And does this affect other on-chip performance at all?
2. What features do graphics cards actually have? I read a lot of marketing mumbo-jumbo, and some pretty cool stuff about OpenCL and the like, but not terribly much that I've managed to understand.
3. What computing languages could I expect to be able to compile/run on a GPU? I could think of some highly parallel stuff I could come up with on say, Python. Is there a runtime compiler for Python that's GPU-based? Also, using my GPU for compute tasks, would that slow down Windows substantially?
4. Quick Sync is simply AMD's new VCE on an Intel IGP, right? Would Virtu's stuff still be useful in that light, or is that the only real feature of Sandy Bridge's IGP? And is that likely to change for Ivy? Are there any benefits to having an Intel IGP activated/running at all if I were already planning on discrete graphics?
5. And lastly, I don't have much of a library of computer games. So, what have you guys been enjoying recently? Indie or published games both welcome.
Thanks a lot for your responses!