Intel: Kaby Lake refresh (KBL-R/U) comes without AMD iGPU
First rumors regarding the use of AMDs GPUs in Intel’s processors first surfaced around February 2017, but they were very vague at first.
Six months later, the rumors are getting more and more specific: a benchmark database now lists a hitherto unknown graphics chip called Intel UHD Graphics 620, apparently used in combination with a Core i7-8550U running at 1.8 GHz. Juicy detail: the graphics driver listed is vaguely referred to as “amd64”. We believe the benchmark to be authentic, since the processor’s clock speeds seem to coincide with current rumors.
The graphics card’s name – UHD Graphics – seems to indicate a rather significant update, but it’s obviously too early for any official or unofficial acknowledgements. However, during our research we were in touch with industry insiders, and got our hands on a list of four mobile upgraded Kaby Lake CPUs.
Specifically, those are supposed to be the Core i7-8650U, i7-8550U, i5-8530U, and i5-8250U. All four are supposed to be equipped with aforementioned Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU. While official release dates have yet to be announced, the CPUs are most likely to see the lift of day around the end of 2017.
Update 8/2/17: According to a screenshot we have most recently received, the change of name from "Intel HD Graphics" to "Intel UHD Graphics" is no more than a simple rebranding. More specifically, the document clearly states that apart from the name, the product is going to remain identical. This clearly contradicts the first piece of information claiming it might be a GPU by AMD.
We would like to thank our reader Przemek for pointing out the benchmark results to us.