Intel HD Graphics 5300 vs AMD Radeon R7 M275DX vs Intel HD Graphics P530

Intel HD Graphics 5300

The Intel HD Graphics 5300 (GT2) is an integrated Broadwell graphics card revealed in late 2014. It can be found in Core M ULV SoCs such as the Core M-5Y70. While the GPU shines with its extremely low power consumption, raw performance is quite low and barely sufficient for modern games.

Architecture and Features

Broadwell features a GPU based on the Intel Gen8 architecture, which has been optimized in various aspects compared to the previous Gen7.5 (Haswell). Inter alia, the shader arrays called "subslice" have been reorganized and now offer 8 Execution Units (EUs) each. Three subslices form a "slice" for a total of 24 EUs. Combined with other improvements such as larger L1 caches and an optimized frontend, the integrated GPU has become faster and more efficient than its predecessor.

The HD Graphics 5300 represents the mid-range version of the Broadwell GPU family and consists of one slice with 24 EUs. Beyond that, there is also a low-end variant (GT1, 12 EUs) as well as higher-end models (GT3/GT3e + eDRAM, 48 EUs).

All Broadwell GPUs support OpenCL 2.0 and DirectX 11.2. The video engine can now decode H.265 using both fixed function hardware as well as available GPU shaders. Up to three displays can be connected via DP 1.2/eDP 1.3 (max. 3840 x 2160 @ 60 Hz) or HDMI 1.4a (max. 3840 x 2160 @ 24 Hz). HDMI 2.0, however, is not supported.

Performance

Depending on the specific CPU, the maximum GPU frequency varies between 800 and 900 MHz. Due to the very low TDP, however, the average clock in 3D applications will be significantly lower. Therefore, the HD 5300 just barely outperforms the old HD 4000 or HD 4200, but requires much less energy for the same performance.

Only a few games as of 2014/2015 will run fluently at low settings, e.g. Dota 2 or Sims 4.

Power Consumption

Thanks to a new 14 nm process, the entire Core M chip is specified at just 4.5 W TDP and is suited for passively cooled tablets. The TDP is flexible and can be reduced or increased, which has a significant impact on performance.

AMD Radeon R7 M275DX

The AMD Radeon R7 M275DX is a Hybrid Crossfire combination of the integrated Kaveri Radeon R7 and a dedicated Radeon R7 M260, M260X, M265, or M265X (called Dual Graphics - DX). Both graphics cards use the AFR mode (alternate frame rendering) to each render a frame. Around 30 fps this Dual Graphics combination may suffer from micro stuttering due to different frame latencies.

The performance depends on the driver support for the used game. In some cases the game engine will only use the dedicated graphics card and therefore the M275DX may not be faster than e.g. a M260 alone. The other end of the spectrum are performance gains of up to 61% in our tests (Alien Isolation Benchmark with high detail settings). This was measured with an ideal combination of a FX-7600P and a M260 with dual channel main memory configuration. On average we measured a 13% increase compared to disabled Dual Graphics when testing 25 games. Looking only at the games that gain from Dual Graphics, the M275DX was able to gain 34% (see diagram below). However, there are some games where Dual Graphics is even slower than with disabled settings, so the user might need to test the settings out. With some games and enabled dual graphics we also experienced problems (e.g., stuttering and flickering main menus in F1 2014 and Shadow of Mordor, wrong texture settings in Ryse, hanging game in Thief, graphical problems with Fifa 15 and Dragon Age: Inquisition).

The shaders of both GPUs can be used for OpenCL calculations and therefore make use of both GPUs.

Furthermore, the M275DX supports Mantle (only light gains in some scenarios in our tests), Eyefinity and Enduro to in battery mode (use of the integrated GPU alone).

The maximum power consumption can be quite high using Dual-Graphics as both GPUs of the APU and the dedicated graphics card are running.

Intel HD Graphics P530

The Intel HD Graphics P530 (GT2) is an integrated graphics unit, which can be found in various Xeon workstation processors of the Skylake generation. The "GT2" version of the Skylake GPU offers 24 Execution Units (EUs) clocked at up to 1050 MHz (depending on the CPU model). Due to its lack of dedicated graphics memory or eDRAM cache, the P530 has to access the main memory (2x 64bit DDR3L-1600 / DDR4-2133).

Performance

Depending on the memory configuration, the HD Graphics P530 is just slightly behind a dedicated GeForce 920M and will handle modern games (as of 2015) in low or medium 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 P530 can be found in mobile quad-core Xeon processors with 45 W TDP.