Intel HD Graphics (Skylake) vs Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) vs Intel HD Graphics (Cherry Trail)

Intel HD Graphics (Skylake)

The Intel HD Graphics (Skylake) (GT1) is an integrated graphics unit, which can be found in low-end ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) processors of the Skylake generation. In most CPUs, this GPU was named Intel HD Graphics 510 or Intel HD Graphics 515 (see both pages for benchmarks and information).

This "GT1" version of the Skylake GPU offers 12 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at up to 800 MHz (depending on the CPU model). Due to its lack of dedicated graphics memory or eDRAM cache, the HD Graphics has to access the main memory (2x 64bit DDR3L-1600 / DDR4-2133).

Performance

Depending on various factors like memory configuration, the HD Graphics should perform similar to the older HD Graphics 4200 and will handle only some older and less demanding games in lowest settings.

Features

The revised video engine now decodes H.265/HEVC completely in hardware and thereby much more efficiently than before. Displays can be connected via DP 1.2 / eDP 1.3 (max. 3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz), whereas HDMI is limited to the older version 1.4a (max. 3840 x 2160 @ 30 Hz). However, HDMI 2.0 can be added using a DisplayPort converter. Up to three displays can be controlled simultaneously.

Power Consumption

The HD Graphics (Skylake) can be found in mobile processors specified at 6 W TDP and is therefore suited for passively cooled 2-in-1 laptops and tablets.

Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)

The Intel HD Graphics (Family) is a processor graphics card which is integrated in the cheap Celeron and Pentium model of the Sandy Bridge generation. It is similar to the Intel HD Graphics 2000 and not with the processor graphics of the older Arrandale dual-core processors (which bears the same name). 

Depending on the processor, the HD graphics offers a different base and Turbo Boost clock speed. Currently there are three different models:

• Power Saving e.g. Celeron 847: base 350MHz, Turbo 800MHz
• Celeron e.g. Celeron B810: base 650MHz, Turbo 950MHz
• Pentium e.g. Pentium B950: base 650MHz, Turbo 1100MHz

Furthermore, the slow CPU performance of some models may influence the games a lot. For example, although the GPU in the Celeron B710 differs not much from the Pentium B950, the gaming performance was clearly worse and many games were unplayable.

As the Intel HD Graphics 3000 and 2000, the processor graphics card is able to use part of the last level cache of the processor (2MB usually for the entry level CPUs). This could be seen as a small amount of very fast dedicated memory.

Altought 2x Antialiasing (AA) is supported, the chip is as fast as when rendering 4x AA. In the Unigine Valley benchmark a similar HD 3000 i7-2637M for example reached the same score with 2x AA and 4x AA.

The feature set compared to the HD Graphics 3000 is also reduced in these entry level CPUs. E.g. Intel Quick Sync (for de- and encoding of HD videos), In Tru 3D, Clear Video HD are usually deactivated.

Intel HD Graphics (Cherry Trail)

The Intel HD Graphics (Cherry Trail) is an integrated graphics card in the Cherry-Trail SoCs (e.g. Atom x7-Z8700). Based on a Broadwell GPU (Intel Gen8) and supports DirectX 11.2. Depending on the SoC offers 12 or 16 EUs.

Atom x7-Z8700: 16 EUs @ 200 - 600 MHz, dual-channel memory
Atom x5-Z8500: 12 EUs @ 200 - 600 MHz, dual-channel memory
Atom x5-Z8300: 12 EUs @ 200 - 500 MHz, single-channel memory

In Windows, gaming is limited to less demanding or quite old games. Using Android, even high end 3D games should run fluently. For example Team Fortress 2 was running on the Surface 3 (x7-Z8700) only in lowest settings and 1280x720 fluently (11 - 69 fps range).

The integrated video decoder is able to display even 4K videos (H.264 tested) fluently.

The Intel HD Graphics GPU in our review sample of the MS Surface 3 (Atom x7-Z8700) only supported DisplayPort 1.1 as it seems, as 4K (3840x2160) with 30 Hz was the maximum Refresh Rate we could achieve (no 60 Hz selectable with the pre-installed drivers).