Nvidia's allegations that the CPU industry had no future seem to have upset Intel. World's number one semiconductor manufacturer felt that it was about time to reply Nvidia in the same manner and released a PowerPoint slideshow claiming that powerful GPUs don't bring any benefits to non-gaming computer users.

According to Intel, there is no use in spending more money on a next-generation graphics card if you don't want to play the latest gaming titles. The company claimed that upgrading your CPU from a Core 2 Duo E6550 to a Core 2 Duo E8400 would bring a significant performance boost across all the computer applications users might run.

On the other hand, upgrading the graphics card from an integrated solution to a discrete GPU will not bring any noticeable speed boost. Stating the obvious, Intel also detailed on the fact that, when upgrading both the CPU and the GPU, users can achieve increased frame rates per second in games or high-definition media streaming.

"For mainstream gaming, the CPU and GPU work together to deliver a great experience. For high-end gaming, a CPU and CPU upgrade puts you in the winner's seat", reads the PowerPoint presentation. Although visibly upset by Nvidia's allegations, Intel is still tackling the situation with diplomacy.

In one of the previous analyst meetings, Nivida's CEO Jen Hsun-Huang revealed that upgrading from a mainstream CPU to the latest quad-core powerhorses won't improve the in-game experience at all. However, Intel did not cover some sensitive aspects of 3D graphics, such as gaming and high-definition video decoding, as its integrated graphics solutions are no match for Nvidia's high-end GPUs.

Intel is currently working on its Larrabee discrete GPU that is expected to be ready by the end of 2009. Although it will be able to deliver extra performance over the existing GPUs from Nvidia and AMD, the Larrabee GPU will be primarily used for 3D graphics as well as for parallel computing tasks, rather than for gaming.