The family of integrated Intel HD Graphics chips is an excellent replacement for discrete, that is, a separate module for video cards. The use of the built-in video chip will be especially relevant for various laptops and netbooks. The advantages of such solutions are increased battery performance and less heating of the internal space of the mobile PC.
Video chip family
The Intel HD Graphics Family includes several generations.
- Intel HD - installed on the family and first generation iCore 3/5/7. It is codenamed Nehalem/Lynnfield. The possibilities of such a video card are very limited. Therefore, if the laptop will be used to work with graphics and for multimedia entertainment (watching movies in HD quality, games), then this chip will not be the best solution.
- Intel HD 2000/3000. The second generation of Intel integrated video chips is installed in the second generation iCore 3/5/7 processors. It is codenamed Sandy Bridge. Today it is practically not used in new laptop models, but it is still a significant market player.
- Intel HD 2500/4000. The third generation of integrated video logic, at the moment it is the most massive representative of the mobile device market. Such cards are part of the third generation iCore processors. This video logic is codenamed Ivy Bridge. In terms of performance, it is close to Radeon HD 65xx cards.
- The latest generation of Intel HD Graphics, codenamed Haswell. Part of the new 4th generation iCore processors. The main model of this generation is 4600. It has two stripped-down versions - 4200 and 4400. The most powerful cards are 5100 and 5200. In terms of performance, the latest model of the Intel HD 5200 card is ahead of most mid-range discrete graphics cards.
Intel HD 3rd and 4th generation allows you to fully enjoy the quality of movies with resolutions up to 4K. Also, such video cards can easily cope with the loads of video games of the last 2-3 years. Since the first generation of processors and integrated video logic is already a bit outdated, we will omit it from the review of Intel (R) HD Graphics cards. Go ahead.
The second generation of video chips
To date, the Intel HD Graphics 3000 video logic is still used quite often. It is the ideal solution for low-end mobile PCs. This solution allows you to comfortably watch high quality movies and sometimes even enjoy the delights of video games released in 2011-2012. However, if you consider that budget laptops and netbooks are bought not at all for the purpose of multimedia entertainment, then everything falls into place. The maximum resolution supported by the graphics card is 2560 x 1600 pixels. In addition, this generation of video logic supports HDMI output. In order to optimize the performance of this interface, it is desirable to have the latest Intel HD Graphics driver installed.
As mentioned above, the second-generation graphics core family is represented by two models. These are Intel HD Graphics 2000 and 3000. Despite the fact that they are both manufactured using the same technological process, the performance of the cards can differ by a factor of two. This is due to the fact that the younger model has a lower core clock frequency, in addition, it is equipped with only six actuators (against 12 for the older version of the card).
Thanks to this differentiation, a fairly clear market segmentation is achieved. So, the user can purchase a laptop with a dual or quad-core processor and a full-fledged HD 3000 graphics core or a cut-down HD 2000 graphics. Naturally, this is reflected in the cost of production.
third generation
Video logic Intel HD Graphics 4000 was presented in 2012. It is based on a 22-nm process technology. The peak performance of the chip is 200 gigaflops. At the same time, the previous generation of video cards from Intel was run on a 32nm process, and the performance was exactly 2 times less.
Integrated graphics allow you to use all the features of DirectX 11 and OpenGL 3.3. According to the assurances of the developers and repeated tests, the Intel HD 4000 card allows you to enjoy all the delights of high-definition movies. In addition, this video logic makes it possible to feel quite comfortable in most modern games. Of course, here it should be understood that some of them will require lower resolution and lower quality settings.
But what if the game does not work correctly or there are any artifacts in the image? To fix this problem, you need to find a driver for the Intel HD Graphics 4000 chip on the manufacturer's website, download and install it. This advice seems trite, but it actually helps. The fact is that the company's engineers are trying to regularly update the drivers of their products and improve compatibility with the latest applications.
If we compare the performance of the video card with the previous generation, it has increased by 30%. Additionally, you can get a power boost by using a faster i7 processor and more RAM.
Fourth generation of video logic
To date, the Intel HD Graphics graphics card is installed in almost half of the laptops. This is due to both the excellent marketing moves of the corporation and the right approach to integration. With each new generation, video logic becomes more and more perfect, which allows it to compete on equal terms with discrete mid-range cards.
The release of the latest generation chip had a noticeable effect on sales of video cards from other manufacturers. After all, it makes no sense to pay extra money for something that can work "right out of the box." Just a few years ago, few people were interested in the performance of integrated video graphics. After all, everyone understood that such chips as Intel HD are needed only for office applications, viewing photos and low-resolution movies. However, after the release of third-generation iCore processors and Intel HD Graphics 4000 video chips, the situation began to change dramatically.
It has become a real competitor for manufacturers of discrete chips. And these are not empty words, just look at the decline in the dynamics of sales of cards from AMD and nVIDIA. In addition, AMD was forced to abandon the release of budget Radeon HD 70xx graphics due to its uncompetitiveness.
Description
Intel HD Graphics 4600 is an evolutionary development of the integrated video chip. Due to the fact that in 2010, Intel abandoned the then classic scheme of separating vertex and pixel pipelines and switched to a unified shader architecture, it managed to achieve regular upgrades of its own video logic. Every year, the company improves the chip manufacturing process, which has a positive effect on the number of execution units and, as a result, on productivity.
The Intel HD 4600 already has 20 execution units installed, which allows it to compete on equal terms with AMD and nVIDIA chips. For comparison, the previous model HD 4000 had 16 blocks, and HD 3000 only 12. Thus, even if we take HD 4000 and HD 4600 chips with the same core frequency, the computing power of the latter will be 25% more. In addition to the number of execution units, the frequency of the video core has also been increased. Now it is 1250 MHz, against 1150 MHz for the previous generation. A hallmark of Haswell processors and video logic is reduced idle power consumption.
The new Intel graphics allows support for OpenGL 4.0 and DirectX 11.1 (Version 5 shaders). Other features of the chip include full-screen anti-aliasing, HDR, and a number of other technologies that improve the resulting image. It should be mentioned that, like the core of the previous generation, HD 4600 can work simultaneously with three monitors.
Theoretical performance calculations
Knowing about the features of integrated graphics of different generations, you can proceed to compare their performance. For greater objectivity, a budget discrete GeForce GT 630 card will take part in the test. Core performance at peak load is:
- HD 4600 - 400 gigaflops;
- GT 630 - 311 gigaflops;
- HD 4000 - 294 gigaflops;
- HD 3000 - 194 gigaflops.
As you can see, already at this stage, the discrete card is inferior to the latest generation of integrated graphics. However, one cannot ignore such a performance parameter as the scene fill rate. According to this indicator, discrete graphics are many times better than integrated solutions:
- GT 630 - 13 Mtex/s;
- HD 4600 - 5 Mtex/s;
- HD 4000 - 4.6 Mtex/s;
- HD 3000 - 1.35 Mtex/s.
In terms of rasterization speed, GeForce also shows the best results:
- GT 630 - 3.2 megapixels/s;
- HD 4600 - 2.5 MPix/s;
- HD 4000 - 2.3 MPix/s;
- HD 3000 - 1.35 MPix/s.
At the moment, we will not affect the memory bandwidth, since the characteristics of this indicator for Intel HD Graphics cores depend on the load on the processor.
Integrated Graphics Benchmarks
Well, let's move on from theoretical foundations to practical tests. To begin with, let's compare the performance of three generations of chips from Intel. HD 3000 graphics tested based on HD 4000 - i7-3770K, HD 4600 - i7-4770K. At maximum load, the frequencies of the graphics cores were 1350, 1150 and 1250 MHz, respectively.
The check is carried out at the minimum video game graphics settings and a resolution of 1920 x 1080. At the same time, such filters as anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering are disabled. The 3DMark benchmark application was run at standard settings. Since the HD 3000 does not support DirectX 11 technology, other video chips are also checked without turning it on.
- HD 3000 - 3221 points;
- HD 4000 - 5795 points;
- HD 4600 - 8253 points.
The Unigine Heaven test also demonstrates the significant performance of the latest generation of chips:
- HD 3000 - 213 points;
- HD 4000 - 327 points;
- HD 4600 - 446 points.
Gaming performance
That's it for synthetic tests and let's move on to comparing the performance of cards in gaming applications. In Crysis 2, the HD 4600 is almost 1.5 times faster than its predecessor (11.5 points against 7.7). HD 3000 received only 5 points.
F1 2011 is not so sensitive to GPU performance. Due to this, the HD 4600 outperformed the HD 4000 by only 28 percent. It is noteworthy that the game runs perfectly even on HD 3000 graphics, which cannot but please the owners of old laptops.
High-quality graphics applications such as Metro 2033 and Tomb Raider allow you to play at medium or low settings in DirectX 10 mode on an HD 4600 card quite normally. frames per second noticeably sags, and the picture becomes like a slide show.
As a result of all the tests, we can say that the next round of development of integrated graphics based on Haswell processors is a real step forward. Particularly pleasing is the fact that even in games produced in 2013-2014 it is possible to achieve acceptable results. That is, even a budget laptop will allow you to fully enjoy the quality of multimedia entertainment.
Comparison of integrated and discrete cards
Now, from the test of integrated chips, let's move on to comparing the Intel HD 4600 and As you can see from the figures above, the solution from Intel has a good peak performance indicator. Although at the same time this chip is inferior in terms of memory bandwidth and rasterization speed.
First, let's test our cards on the 3DMark and Unigine Heaven synthetic benchmarks. The comparison is carried out at maximum graphics settings in Full HD resolution and using DirectX 11. As a result, the following test results were obtained:
- HD 4600 - 980 b.;
- GT 630 - 919 b.p.
- HD 4600 - 361 b.;
- GT 630 - 360 b.
- HD 4600 - 344 b.;
- GT 630 - 320 b.p.
As you can see, the HD 4600 chip fights on equal terms with a discrete card, which has advantages in the number of rasterization units, texture and pixel processing speed. But, unfortunately, things are worse in gaming applications, albeit a little, but still worse. In such games as Battlefield-3, Crysis-2, F1-2011, the HD 4600 lags somewhere between 5-20%. In the game Metro-2033, the integrated graphics lagged behind the GeForce GT 630 by more than half. But in such games as DiRT Showdown and Tomb Raider, the card from Intel received a result of 12 and 22% better, respectively.
results
The new integrated core from Intel is a significant step forward in the development of such technologies. Modern video chips easily bypass their previous generations in all performance indicators - the average lead over the HD 4000 is 40%. What about discrete graphics? Here we can say with confidence that if the laptop will not be used only for games, then it is much more correct to refuse to buy a mid-priced video card, since the built-in core allows you to completely replace it. In addition, do not forget about energy consumption. The top-end, together with integrated graphics, consumes only 84 watts, while the GT 630 discrete card based on a simple dual-core processor will initially consume 130 watts of energy. As a result, this will result in lower battery life as well as overheating of internal components.
That is why, when buying a new laptop, forget about cheap discrete graphics cards, even if they are the latest generation. In reality, they will not be able to give the increase in productivity that could justify such a purchase. Moreover, the Intel HD Graphics 4600 can easily satisfy all the needs of a modern user.
In this article, the top one was used for testing, but today it is already possible to purchase i5 and i3 models that are more affordable for the average user. As in the case of the previous generation, the new video card has a stripped-down model - Intel HD Graphics 4400. Despite the smaller number of execution units, it is still ahead of the 3rd generation cards in its performance. Well, fans of ultrabooks and expensive laptops are much more fortunate, because Haswell series processors can be equipped with a more powerful HD 5100/5200 graphics core, which already has 40 execution units, which is twice as many as the HD 4600.
More about performance
As mentioned above, integrated video cards use RAM on an equal footing with the processor. Therefore, if you install a fairly powerful last-generation crystal in a laptop, but limit yourself to just a few gigabytes of slow memory, then the performance results of this configuration can be very disappointing. Memory is the bottleneck for video logic, and therefore it is recommended to use the latest models with high frequencies and low latency to achieve good results.
Another nuance that significantly affects the performance of not only video graphics, but also the computer as a whole, is overheating. When a certain degree is exceeded, the video chip and processor show poor results in various tests and real applications. Therefore, it is recommended to regularly clean the coolers and the internal space of mobile PCs from dust. The result will not be long in coming.
It is also important to understand that the graphics quality will depend on the selected processor. The fact is that as the load on the core increases, the video chip receives a lower priority for packet transmission, thus, this affects the image quality. Therefore, the test results when comparing budget and top-end processors and the same video logic will not be in favor of the first. Thus, the choice of the "heart" of a laptop directly affects the capabilities of the video chip.
And the last tip for today. You need to install the latest driver for the driver. Even if you have purchased a laptop already fully configured for work, do not be too lazy to go to the manufacturer's official website and download the latest version.
Windows Video Drivers Update in Windows 7 and Windows 8Open the Start menu, type dxdiag in the search bar, and open dxdiag.exe in the search results.
To launch dxdiag in Windows 8, launch the search bar with the keyboard shortcut + (Win + Q)
After running the diagnostic tool, wait for the system analysis to finish. On the main tab, you will see a summary of your system: processor model, amount of RAM, page file size, and DirectX version.
Go to the second tab "Screen" where you can find the detailed information we need about the video card model and its manufacturer. For example, our editorial computer has an AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series card installed, as shown in the screenshot below. This information is more than enough to find the latest driver. Here you can also see the version and installation date of the video driver.
How to update the video card driver
Now that we know the model of the video card, we can start updating the driver. If your card manufacturer is AMD(Advanced Micro Devices), download a small and handy utility AMD Driver Downloader to determine the most suitable drivers for your system from the official AMD website or from . The utility does not need to be installed - just run it and it will automatically offer to download the necessary and most up-to-date driver from the official AMD server.
If your system has nVidia graphics card, the manufacturer recommends using the program GeForce Experience, which monitors the release of a new driver for your video card and automatically updates them. To download GF Experiense go to the official page of this program. We recommend that you manually find the drivers for your card using the form on the Nvidia website so as not to install unnecessary programs on your computer. To do this, you need to know the series and name of the card, which should not be a problem for you.
Most laptops and ultrabooks integrated graphics cards manufactured by Intel or AMD are used. If you own a laptop with integrated graphics Intel HD or AMD you need to install drivers from the laptop manufacturer's website, because. they are often adapted to a specific model and the drivers from the chipset developer's website may simply not be suitable.
What video card is on my computer? This question arises quite often, especially when you see that your computer starts to load a picture for a very long time or it just “floats”. If the video card is weak, then naturally modern games and other powerful graphics simply will not be displayed properly, if at all. Any specialist after such a description will immediately ask which video card is installed on your computer. If other computer settings allow, then you will simply be prompted to install a more powerful card. But first you need to define it.
What video card is on my computer
You can do this in several ways:
- With the help of the program.
- With the help of the program , included in the assembly of Windows.
- Using the Control Panel.
Here's how to find out what video card is on my computer using the Control Panel in Windows 7, we'll talk now.
Open the menu Start and go to record Control Panel.
In the control panel in the upper right corner in the window search write the word " permissions».
Find properties in the main window Screen and click on the link Screen resolution setting.
The following window will open Properties: Universal Monitor. By default, the Adapter tab always opens, but if for some reason you have opened it on another tab, then go to it.
Here you will see the name of your video card. The adapter type is what you are looking for.
In my picture it says - Intel® HD Graphics Family. If you look on the Internet, you will know that this is a type of video card built into the motherboard.
If you need more detailed information about your video card, then take this name and drive it into your browser search. Add the word "characteristics" to this name. Write like this: Intel®HDGraphics 2000 specifications. You will be given a bunch of information on the type of your adapter.
For you, the most important will be the type of processor (DAC) and the amount of memory.
Video - What video card is on my computer.
Good day!
I get quite a lot of questions about integrated IntelHD video cards: will the laptop slow down with it, will it run games, do I need a discrete card at all, and what is the built-in video card capable of, etc.
In this article, I want to give some screenshots from games with the results of the integrated IntelHD video card, as well as answer all these popular questions that go around it.
Note: if you have an integrated IntelHD graphics card and your games are slowing down, try special utilities for accelerating 3D graphics -. And of course, do not refuse the advice from this article. 
...
Will IntelHD be enough for work, will it pull games
Question #1 : how to find out which specific IntelHD I have (after all, its performance depends on a particular model).
Answer:
Yes, the number of FPS given in games can very much depend on the IntelHD model. I'll give you a few ways.
As a reference...
If you do not know what FPS is, I recommend that you read this article:
Method 1. Go to Device Manager and look at the "Display Adapters" tab. If you have installed a driver for the card, then you will see its model.
By the way, to open the device manager: go to the Windows control panel, and enter "manager" in the search box (without quotes, see the screen below).
Method number 2. Take advantage of .
I like AIDA 64- it is enough to open the tab "Summary information" in it and you can find out almost everything about the current PC / laptop (you don't even need to climb anywhere).
I also note that this method allows you to recognize the video card even if you do not have drivers installed on the card.
Question #2: how to evaluate the performance of your graphics card?
Answer:
There are several ways. If you have a popular video card, then you don’t even have to test it - for sure, hundreds of users around the world have already tested it, and information about it has long been on the special. sites.
If the video card is rare (or fairly new), then it is logical to use some benchmark(special program for testing video cards) and find out how many "parrots" (points / points in relation to the performance it gives out) it will score.
Both methods are described in this article:
Question #3: Will the integrated graphics be enough for me for normal non-demanding work? (Music, movies, reading books, watching TV shows and movies, watching youtube and social networks)
Answer:
In the vast majority of cases, IntelHD will do just fine with all this work.
Even more, if we are talking about laptops, then usually all these works are already launched on the built-in video card, because. it is less demanding on energy and allows you to save battery life longer (besides, when performing such simple tasks, you still won't see the difference between a discrete and an integrated video adapter).
Question #4 Q: Can I speed up an IntelHD graphics card?
Answer:
Depending on what is meant by acceleration. If overclocked, then no. If you set certain settings for the video adapter, then you can still squeeze out 10-15% of performance. True, I’ll immediately note that such an increase in performance is achieved due to the quality of the picture on the screen (i.e. the picture is worse, but there are more frames per second, and the game stops slowing down).
I will also add that it will not be superfluous to optimize your Windows OS (some users have whole Augean stables there ...). For information on how to generally increase the number of FPS, see this note:
Note on topic!
Why games slow down even on powerful hardware(a list of recommendations that will help speed up running games somewhat) -
Question #5: and if I sometimes want to play at least old games, will she cope?
Answer:
Depending on what, it is impossible to give an unambiguous 100% answer to this question. FPS can be quite low in some games (even old ones). I recommend that you watch the video on youtube for your particular card, how it "pulls" your game specifically (sorry for the tautology).
In general, everything is pretty good, below I will give screenshots from the games that were obtained on the IntelHD 620 video card (the Intel i5-7200U processor is "average" today).
WOW game
It is very comfortable to play, the FPS does not drop below 50 (and this despite the fact that ultra-effects are enabled). The screen resolution was set to 1366x768. On FullHD - it is quite possible to play comfortably at medium graphics settings. It is possible that in some locations, where there are more complex elements to draw, the FPS may sag (in this case, you can slightly reduce the quality of the effects).
WOW - resolution 1366x768, ultra-effects included
League of Legend game
It runs great even on FullHD format with maximum graphics settings. There are no jerks and hangs, it is comfortable to play.
League of Legend - FullHD, max. settings
Game Counter Strike: GO
But with a shooter it’s more and more difficult, for example, in Counter Strike: GO, the amount of FPS is kept at 30-40 at FullHD and medium graphics settings. Here, either reduce the resolution, or reduce the graph to a minimum. effects. However, if you're not a graphic aesthete, it's quite playable...
Game WOT (Tanks)
One of the most popular network games of recent years runs fairly well on IntelHD 620. At 1920x1080, the integrated video card produces 70-80 FPS with minimal graphics effects settings. Sharp jerks and twitches - no, it's comfortable to play. Graphic effects can be added a little if you reduce the screen resolution.
70-80 FPS in Tanks on minimum settings (FullHD)
Racing - NFS Most Wanted
Despite the fact that NFS Most Wanted is quite an old game, it still enjoys high popularity. And I will say that the IntelHD 620, in principle, copes with the toy. The card produces 40-50 FPS at high graphics settings without problems (the resolution, however, was set to a small 1024x768).
NFS Most Wanted - resolution: 1024x768; graph. Effects: High
Dirt Rally game (rally)
In the relatively new game Dirt Rally - integrated video shows itself from a good side. 50-60 FPS at medium graphics settings in HD resolution make it quite comfortable and smooth to drive along the tracks.
HD, 56 FPS, Dirt Rally, graphics settings - Medium
Strategy - Civilization VI
I don't know if it's appropriate to measure FPS in strategies. After all, if you think about it, then no one drives you in it, and the number of frames is a very mediocre indicator (many strategies can be played quite comfortably even at 10 FPS).
In general, in such a newfangled strategy as Civilization VI with FullHD graphics with low effects, the IntelHD 620 produced about 30 FPS. When the graphics quality was increased to medium, the FPS dropped to 20-25...
Civilization IV game
If you take a toy from the same series, but a little older (Civilization IV) - then IntelHD copes perfectly - 60 FPS without any problems at high graphics settings and a resolution of 1280x768.
I took a few more test results from the games that were different from me from the site: (Grid 2, World of Warship, Rainbow Six). In general, when setting medium and low graphics settings, games give out a fairly decent amount of FPS (that is, it is quite possible to play).
Grid 2, World of Warship, Rainbow Six - testing the IntelHD 620 graphics card on a Dell XPS 13 9360 laptop
CONCLUSIONS
That's all, good luck everyone...
