Overall shipments of graphics Add-In Board (AIB) for the quarter came in slightly above the last quarter at 19.03 million units compared to 18.84 million for Q4?10, according to the latest figures released by Jon Peddie Research (JPR).

Shipments in Q1 2011 did not exceed the same quarter a year ago. Nvidia unit shipments decreased by 2% from Q4, while AMD increased 5.7% for the same period, JPR said.

Shipments during the first quarter of 2011 behaved according to past years with regard to seasonality but was lower on a year-to-year comparison for the quarter. In comparison, Q4?10 did not conform to the normal seasonal cycle, but was down a bit compared to previous years, so the growth in Q1, even though modest, was a positive change.

JPR's forecast for the coming years has been modified since the last report, and is less aggressive on add-in boards (AIBs). The quarter in general

In terms of market share, market leader Nvidia lost share by 2.7% from Q4, 2010, while AMD?s market share increased 4.4% for the same period. On a year-to-year basis AMD increased its market share by 16.8% while Nvidia lost 8.4% of market share.

Over 19 million AIBs shipped in Q1 2011. Nvidia was the leader in unit shipments for the quarter, elevated by double attach and GPU-compute/CUDA sales.

The AIB market is fueled at the high-end by the enthusiast gamer, small in volume (~9m a year) but high in dollars (average spend for an AIB ~$300). The volume comes from the Performance and Mainstream segments. And GPU-compute is adding to sales on the high end. The Workstation Market is smaller in unit sales than the enthusiastic segment but characterized by higher average selling prices (ASPs).

For the year the AIB market is expected to hit $19.8 billion, down 4.5% from 2010 due to a gradual decline in ASP even though units shipments will be up.