Intel Iris: Haswell graphics get a name, 2x-3x performance of HD 4000

[Julio Franco]

Intel has disclosed new information about its up and coming Haswell processors, detailing the graphics specs and potential performance improvements versus today's integrated HD graphics. Intel is giving the new graphics engine a brand name: "Iris", touting 2x to 3x the performance of HD 4000 graphics.

In the past few months we've come to learn a lot about Haswell. As with Ivy Bridge, efficiency and power consumption have taken priority over raw processing power, and thus Haswell it's expected to be only marginally faster than the current generation of Intel Core CPUs. On the graphics front, however, it's a different story.

There will be five different graphics configurations, in order of performance: Iris Pro 5200, Iris 5100, HD 5000, HD 4600/4400/4200 and HD graphics. This may become even more confusing that the current line-up, although for the very most part performance-oriented desktop and laptop CPUs simply ship with HD 4000 (the fastest integrated graphics from Intel), while smaller ultrabooks and tablets get the more specialized configurations.

Here's what Intel is expecting from Iris (don't miss our extended note about performance further down below):

Three times the performance of HD 4000 sounds like an amazing feat for a single generational jump. As before, this has the potential to keep eating on the budget discrete GPU market. It's no coincidence AMD and Nvidia have nearly retired the sub $100 graphics cards, since integrated graphics have been able to cope with different kinds of typical workloads (HD video playback, etc.), usually only falling short when it comes to gaming.

When we reviewed Ivy Bridge about a year ago, we tested the Core i7-3770K's on-die GPU performance. The results were disappointing to say the least, but if Intel is able to double or even triple performance, it's going to be a very interesting landscape for PC gaming moving forward.

Starcraft 2 running at 1280x800 (medium quality) on HD 4000. More games here.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/52446-intel-iris-haswell-graphics-get-a-name-2x-3x-performance-of-hd-4000.html

 

[VitalyT]

Long story short, according to Intel, the top-level HD 5200 will be equal in performance to:

- NVidia GTX 540
- HD 6670

Doesn't matter what Intel says in addition, these aren't gamer's cards, not by today's standards.

But if you think those slugs are good for your tasks, then it is for you. Myself, I'm waiting till HD 8970 is announced and bench-marked against GTX 7x, to choose between the two.

 

[mrcavooter]

Long story short, according to Intel, the top-level HD 5200 will be equal in performance to:

- NVidia GTX 540
- HD 6670

Doesn't matter what Intel says in addition, these aren't gamer's cards, not by today's standards.

But if you think those slugs are good for your tasks, then it is for you. Myself, I'm waiting till HD 8970 is announced and bench-marked against GTX 7x, to choose between the two.

I think this is big news for laptop computing. If you can afford that desktop i7 chances are likely you are spending that much or more on discrete graphics.

 

[GeforcerFX]

Good news for intel, problem being they have shown multiple times they don't know where to place the correct products, will the Pro 5200 be on a i3 or i5 processor, Historically no, it will only be available on high end i7's more then less likely, Which are computer that usually end up with discrete graphics anyways, and since Kaveri is shaping up to be a massive jump in GPU performance for AMD(something they already smoke intel in), and AMD will prob keep there next high end A10 right around the same price as trinity's you will be able to get better graphics on chip at lower prices from AMD. But until these chips surface for benchmarking all of it is speculation as long as the integrated graphics on the Haswell i3's can match/beat the A10 trinity then Intel improved a lot, problem being for them how much is Kaveri gonna move AMD up.

 

[VitalyT]

I think this is big news for laptop computing. If you can afford that desktop i7 chances are likely you are spending that much or more on discrete graphics.

On another hand, when that Haswell comes out, a desktop discrete graphical card that outperforms it will cost about $80, which makes all that Haswell graphics useless for a desktop user. You can only go for it for a self-made home server.

In the laptop niche though, yes, Haswell is a great news altogether, though it will need better tuned PSU to handle low-voltage requirements, and some software updates, like the one MS is flogging with its Windows Blue.

 

[ReederOnTheRun]

Long story short, according to Intel, the top-level HD 5200 will be equal in performance to:

- NVidia GTX 540
- HD 6670

Doesn't matter what Intel says in addition, these aren't gamer's cards, not by today's standards.

But if you think those slugs are good for your tasks, then it is for you. Myself, I'm waiting till HD 8970 is announced and bench-marked against GTX 7x, to choose between the two.

I think this is big news for laptop computing. If you can afford that desktop i7 chances are likely you are spending that much or more on discrete graphics.

Exactly. I'm pretty sure nobody reading this cares about using the integrated graphics for a desktop gaming system. Even all of the pictures are pictures of laptops. This is geared towards people who want to game on laptops without bothering with discrete graphics.

 

[Fbarnett]

Long story short, according to Intel, the top-level HD 5200 will be equal in performance to:

- NVidia GTX 540
- HD 6670

Doesn't matter what Intel says in addition, these aren't gamer's cards, not by today's standards.

But if you think those slugs are good for your tasks, then it is for you. Myself, I'm waiting till HD 8970 is announced and bench-marked against GTX 7x, to choose between the two.

I thought I read that 8000 series cards will all be tweaked 7000 series nothing new

 

[Tekkaraiden]

So that would put them within very close performance of AMD's current APU's then? I wonder how much better Kaveri will be when it's released.

 

[VitalyT]

I thought I read that 8000 series cards will all be tweaked 7000 series nothing new

There is a rumor AMD may bump up the number of shaders at the very least and that the card may see a whole 20% improvements over 7970. But that's just rumor. We will see when it is out.

The rumors: http://wccftech.com/amd-radeon-hd-8...-xtpro-sea-islands-gpu-specifications-leaked/

 

[Julio Franco]

It's a step in the right direction for the PC platform. Although Intel is thinking long-term trying to challenge low-powered SoCs that have decent graphics capabilities, picture this: all new laptops will have at least this kind of (decent) 3d graphics performance. It's a much better alternative than what we have today.

 

[Puiu]

They can bump the performance in 1 or 2 games or in 3DMark all they want, they still have the worst drivers on the market.

Many games don't work, OpenGL/DirectCompute/OpenCL have many problems and they also drop support really fast (in a gen or 2). The control panel also lacks many features that normally should be supported, not to mention anything a bit more advanced.

This is where they need to work, because I'm pretty sure they can get a lot more out their hardware if they actually manage to build decent drivers.

 

[Vrmithrax]

So that would put them within very close performance of AMD's current APU's then? I wonder how much better Kaveri will be when it's released.

I'd bet the disparity will remain roughly the same as the A8 vs Ivy Bridge numbers are now, when comparing Haswell's top of the line version with Kaveri... The amount of jump in graphics power shows that Intel is really putting some effort into the integrated graphics, but it will remain to be seen how the actual performance numbers pan out when benchmarked in real world scenarios, using a wider variety of tools than a few that were probably hand-picked to show the highest graphics gains (common practice for marketing in both AMD and Intel's camps).

Honestly, I'm liking the upward direction for Intel's graphics, but I'm not really all that excited about the end product yet... The probable result of this range of processors and performance numbers will be that the mobile sector (where the additional power would make the most impact) will rarely use the highest level chips to reduce power consumption and costs. So it's debatable whether that max improvement number will even mean anything to the consumer in the end. It will be very interesting to see how the product prices out, and how exactly it is adopted by the OEMs.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Long story short, according to Intel, the top-level HD 5200 will be equal in performance to:

- NVidia GTX 540
- HD 6670

Doesn't matter what Intel says in addition, these aren't gamer's cards, not by today's standards.

But if you think those slugs are good for your tasks, then it is for you. Myself, I'm waiting till HD 8970 is announced and bench-marked against GTX 7x, to choose between the two.

GT640*. The GT640 will be better at gaming though because it has more onboard memory.

 

[cliffordcooley]

I grow tired of all the down talk from those who need and use dedicated graphics. This is progress, it should be promoted not disgraced.

 

[Guest]

You can put down their drivers, but every single part of them has been improving and will continue to improve.

 

[Darth Shiv]

I grow tired of all the down talk from those who need and use dedicated graphics. This is progress, it should be promoted not disgraced.

I'm definitely an Intel graphics skeptic but mention of 4k x 2k playback support is interesting. But I'll wait until they can prove that.

Claims that it can compete with AMD's APUs is another thing. For gaming, last option still is Intel for me and I can't see this changing it. A reason to arc up about their announcement is they tout it as an onboard chip that is capable of gaming. Last perf bench I saw of Intel onboard for BF3 @ 1080p at minimum graphics settings, it was peaking at 20fps (my 15" laptop has a 1080p screen so this is the level I'm interested in). They might as well not have showed up.

 

[Jad Chaar]

I grow tired of all the down talk from those who need and use dedicated graphics. This is progress, it should be promoted not disgraced.

I support it, but it is still no match, and never will be at the level of discrete GPUs. Yes, this is good news for consumers, but this is no blow to nVidia or AMD. They may lose a bit of the market in low end GPUs, but they will make up with their power houses. Once again, yes this is promising, but dedicated GPUs will always rule in terms of performance because of the constantly updated drivers.

 

[cliffordcooley]

The down talk really gets under my skin. Some must think the level of power given be dedicated graphics, can be integrated and that CPU makers are dragging their feet. Seriously IGP has their purpose, if you need more than IGP performance get dedicated. But please stop bickering about how IGP under performs dedicated graphics. Because I know all of you are intelligent enough to know that is simply the nature of things.

 

[Jad Chaar]

True :0 lol. The small package is kind of hard to beat..

 

[dividebyzero]

But if you think those slugs are good for your tasks, then it is for you. Myself, I'm waiting till HD 8970 is announced and bench-marked against GTX 7x, to choose between the two.

Technically, one of those is here now. The HD 8970 is an OEM version of the HD 7970 GHz Edition. From what I've heard, AMD's Sea Islands seems to have now taken a back seat probably because it seems indistinguishable for the most part with the Northern Islands series. They now seem to be talking up the Volcanic Islands series. This via AMD's de facto PR machine:

The next generation of graphics cards -- Volcanic Islands -- is coming this year and shaping up nicely... James Prior, Rage 3D

Not sure at this stage what "coming this year" entails - could be taped out, validation, shipping for revenue, or possibly (but unlikely given they are supposed to use TSMC's 20nm process which won't ramp until later this year) available in the retail channel.

In an effort to at least make a token effort in getting back to on topic with Haswell. OCaholic have news of an early Haswell overclocking attempt. 7 GHz, which confirms Haswell's higher multiplier for "K" SKUs. (80x for 100MHz strap, 64x for 125MHz strap, 48x for 166MHz strap)

[Source]

 

[TS-56336]

Both impressive and disappointing, nice improvement but I'm vastly disappointed in how restrictive the TDP and chip levels are. I'd love to see a 5200 or 5100 in a much lower TDP set. If a Haswell CPU can get down to a 10 watt TDP for a core i5 I don't think an underclocked 5200 in a 17 watt TDP would be too much to ask.

Basically, a Core i5 is all I need for CPU power. My current Ivy Bridge Core i5 is as fast as I need, for games or lightroom or etc. The GPU on the other hand still struggles with anything beyond the most basic games. If Intel won't do it I have hope Nvidia will. I'd love to see a dedicated Nvidia mobile card fit into a 10 watt core i5 and a 13" ultrabook, whatever that would require.

 

[Guest]

Double the speed half the heat

 

[LukeDJ]

Double the speed half the heat

If you know how to, go right ahead mate.

I agree with cliffordcooley here, quit the down talking people. It simply isn't possible with today's technology to cram in a mid or high end GPU onto a CPU, especially when current integrated solutions have nowhere near that power. A 2-3x (I'll admit some skepticism towards the accuracy of these numbers) performance boost is actually pretty great. If discrete GPUs are increasing by say, 20-30% each generation, and on board solutions are increasing 100-200%, it wont be long before onboard graphics begin to catch up.

That's pretty damn awesome in my books.

 

[Guest]

Intel always exaggerates its gpu performance. Gpu will improve but not that much 2x to 3x performance. at best haswell gpu will be less than 1.5x of hd 4000.

 

[mrcavooter]

On another hand, when that Haswell comes out, a desktop discrete graphical card that outperforms it will cost about $80, which makes all that Haswell graphics useless for a desktop user. You can only go for it for a self-made home server.

In the laptop niche though, yes, Haswell is a great news altogether, though it will need better tuned PSU to handle low-voltage requirements, and some software updates, like the one MS is flogging with its Windows Blue.

Yea, I have a discrete "professional grade" GPU in my laptop. If I could go back a few months and purchase my laptop again I would leave it out. It sucks too much power and generates too much heat for a marginal graphics improvement. Not to mention that Nvidia opts to use the integrated graphics most times, barring a few programs. So Haswell's performance outlook definitely satisfies the niche I'm in, but I'm only one user. I can say, however, that a lot of casual user's will benefit from this, and that is where Intel is targeting. They know that enthusiasts will deck out their laptop's if they want, but those that do make up a tiny (irrelevant?) fraction of the pie.