Sandy Bridge does have monolithic integrated graphics and CPU but it still cares about external graphics. The next generation Intel CPU has support for PCIe 3.0.

Currently at least the mobile version supports PCIe 16X which should be enough even for two graphics cards in two times 8X mode. All these features are integrated in the CPU and there is increasingly less chipset features that are still out of the CPU.

The PCIe 3.0 support is integrated in the Sandy Bridge and so is the direct routing to EC. Intel also has a feature called De Muxed EDP, something that provides concurrency with discrete graphics, all meant for reduction in discrete card power consumption.

All in all Sandy Bridge definitely looks like a huge step forward.