Intel HD Graphics 620 vs NVIDIA Maxwell GPU Surface Book vs Intel HD Graphics 630

Intel HD Graphics 620

The Intel HD Graphics 620 (GT2) is an integrated graphics unit, which can be found in various ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) processors of the Kaby Lake generation. This "GT2" version of the Kaby Lake GPU is clocked at up to 1050 MHz (depending on the CPU model). Due to its lack of dedicated graphics memory or eDRAM cache, the HD 620 has to access the main memory (2x 64bit DDR3/DDR4).

Performance

The exact performance of the HD Graphics 620 depends on various factors like L3 cache size, memory configuration (DDR3/DDR4) and maximum clock rate of the specific model but is very similar to the old HD Graphics 520 GPU. That means only some less demanding recent games like Farming Simulator 17 run fluently in low detail settings (see below for gaming benchmarks). Compared to dedicated graphics cards, the HD620 should be positioned between a GeForce 910M and 920M from Nvidia. For games, the drivers however are not that fast updated and tested as with GeForce graphics cards.

Features

The revised video engine now supports H.265/HEVC Main10 profile in hardware with 10 bit colors. Furthermore, Googles VP9 codec can also be hardware decoded. The first models do not support HDCP 2.2 and therefore Netflix 4K. This was added with the new models in 2017 and beginning of May 2017 also the older CPU models like the i3-7100U are now shipped with a new S-Spec Code that supports HDCP 2.2. HDMI 2.0 however is still only supported with an external converter chip (LSPCon).

Power Consumption

The HD Graphics 620 can be found in mobile processors specified at 15 W TDP and is therefore suited for compact laptops and ultrabooks.

NVIDIA Maxwell GPU Surface Book

The Nvidia Maxwell GPU is a dedicated graphics card in the Microsoft Surface Book laptop. It is based on the Maxwell GM108 chip as the Geforce 940M with 384 shaders. Instead of the DDR3 graphics memory, the Surface Book graphics card features faster GDDR5 memory (both 64 Bit though). 

Thanks to the faster graphics memory, the Surface Book Geforce is performing better than the average GeForce 940M. However, the 945M and GTX 950M are still noticeably faster. Demanding games therefore only run in low settings fluently.

More details can be found in our extensive review of the 2015 Microsoft Surface Book with the dedicated Maxwell GPU.

Intel HD Graphics 630

The Intel HD Graphics 630 (GT2) is an integrated graphics card, which can be found in various desktop and notebook processors of the Kaby-Lake generation (Kaby-Lake-H quad-core chip). The "GT2" version of the GPU offers 24 Execution Units (EUs) and the clocks depend on the CPU model. Due to its lack of dedicated graphics memory or eDRAM cache, the HD 630 has to access the main memory (2x 64-bit DDR3L-1600 / DDR4-2133).

Performance

The exact performance of the HD Graphics 630 depends on various factors like TDP, L3 Cache, memory (DDR3/DDR4) and maximum clock rate of the specific model. However, it should be fairly similar to the HD Graphics 530 (see for gaming benchmarks) and therefore only suited for low demanding games like Overwatch or Farming Simulator 2017 (low details).

Features

The revised video engine in the Kaby Lake chips now supports H.265/HEVC Main10 profile at 10-bit color depth and also the VP9 codec in hardware. Furthermore, HDCP 2.2 is also supported in all chips, which allows Netflix 4K videos, for instance. HDMI 2.0 however is still only supported with an external converter chip (LSPCon).

Power Consumption

The HD Graphics 630 can be found in several notebook and desktop processors of different TDP classes (35 - 91 W). Thanks to the improved 14nm+ process, the power consumption could be slightly lower compared to Skylake CPUs.