Intel Iris Pro 5200 Graphics Review: Core i7-4950HQ Tested
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 1, 2013 10:01 AM ESTSynthetics
Our synthetic benchmarks can sometimes tell us a lot about what an architecture is capable of. In this case, we do have some unanswered questions about why Intel falls short of the GT 650M in some cases but not in others. We'll turn to 3DMark Vantage first to stress ROP and texel rates.
Iris Pro doesn't appear to have a ROP problem, at least not in 3DMark Vantage. NVIDIA can output more pixels than Iris Pro though, so it's entirely possible that we're just not seeing any problems because we're looking at a synthetic test. Comparing the HD 4600 to the Iris Pro 5200 we see near perfect scaling in pixel throughput. Remember the ROP hardware is located in slice common, which is doubled when going from GT2 to GT3. Here we see a near doubling of pixel fillrate as a result.
Moving on, we have our 3DMark Vantage texture fillrate test, which does for texels and texture mapping units what the previous test does for ROPs.
Now this is quite interesting. NVIDIA has a 50% advantage in texturing performance, that's actually higher than what the raw numbers would indicate. It's entirely possible that this is part of what we're seeing manifest itself in some of the game benchmarks.
Finally we’ll take a quick look at tessellation performance with TessMark.
Iris Pro doesn't appear to have a geometry problem. Tessellation performance is very good.
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Elitehacker - Tuesday, September 24, 2013 - link
Even for a given power usage the 650M isn't even to on the top of the list for highest end discrete GPU.... The top at the moment for lowest wattage to power ratio would be the 765M, even the Radeon HD 7750 has less wattage and a tad more power than the 650M. Clearly someone did not do their researching before opening their mouth.I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that vFunct is one of those Apple fanboys that knows nothing about performance. You can get a PC laptop in the same size and have better performance than any Macbook available for $500 less. Hell you can even get a Tablet with an i7 and 640M that'll spec out close to the 650M for less than a Macbook Pro with 650M.
Eric S - Tuesday, June 25, 2013 - link
The Iris Pro 5200 would be ideal for both machines. Pro users would benefit from ECC memory for the GPU. The Iris chip uses ECC memory making it ideal for OpenCL workloads in Adobe CS6 or Final Cut X. Discrete mobile chips may produce errors in the OpenCL output. Gamers would probably prefer a discrete chip, but that isn't the target for these machines.Eric S - Monday, July 1, 2013 - link
I think Apple cares more about the OpenCL performance which is excellent on the Iris. I doubt the 15" will have a discrete GPU. There isn't one fast enough to warrant it over the Iris 5200. If they do ever put a discrete chip back in, I hope they go with ECC GDDR memory. My guess is space savings will be used for more battery. It is also possible they may try to reduce the display bezel.emptythought - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
It's never had the highest end chip, just the best "upper midrange" one. Above the 8600m GT was the 8800m GTX and GTS, and above the 650m there was the 660, a couple 670 versions, the 675 versions, and the 680.They chose the highest performance part that hit a specific TDP, stretching a bit from time to time. It was generally the case that anything which outperformed the MBP was either a thick brick, or had perpetual overheating issues.
CyberJ - Sunday, July 27, 2014 - link
Not even close, but whatever floats you boat.emptythought - Tuesday, October 1, 2013 - link
It wouldn't surprise me if the 15in just had the "beefed up" iris pro honestly. They might even get their own, special even more overclocked than 55w version.Mainly, because it wouldn't be without precedent. Remember when the 2009 15in macbook pro had a 9400m still? Or when they dropped the 320m for the hd3000 even though it was slightly slower?
They sometimes make lateral, or even slightly backwards moves when there are other motives at play.
chipped - Sunday, June 2, 2013 - link
That's just crazy talk, they want drop dedicated graphics. The difference is still too big, plus you can't sell a $2000 laptop without a dedicated GFX.shiznit - Sunday, June 2, 2013 - link
considering Apple specifically asked for eDRAM and since there is no dual core version yet for the 13", I'd say there is very good chance.mavere - Sunday, June 2, 2013 - link
"The difference is still too big"The difference in what?
Something tells me Apple and its core market is more concerned with rendering/compute performance more than Crysis 3 performance...
iSayuSay - Wednesday, June 5, 2013 - link
If it plays Crysis 3 well, it can render/compute/do whatever intensive fine.