Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 vs Qualcomm Adreno 690 vs Qualcomm Adreno 643

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640

The Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 (GT3e) is a processor graphics card for Kaby Lake models announced in January 2017. As the successor to the Intel Iris Graphics 540 (Skylake), the Iris Plus Graphics 640 is used for 15-Watt ULV models and is equipped with 64 MB eDRAM cache. There should not be any big changes compared to the Iris Graphics 540.

The so called GT3e version of the Kaby Lake GPU still has 48 Execution Units (EUs), which can reach up to 1050 MHz depending on the model. Besides eDRAM cache, the Iris 640 can also access the system memory (2x 64 Bit DDR3L-1600/LPDDR3-1866/DDR4-2400) via processor interface.

Compared to the Iris Plus 650 from the 28-Watt models, the Iris 640 only has a slightly lower maximum clock as well as the lower TDP, so the utilization of the Turbo Boost potential should be worse.

Performance

The exact performance of the Iris Plus Graphics 640 depends on the CPU model, because maximum clock as well as the size of the L3 cache can differ a bit. The system memory (DDR3/DDR4) will influence the performance as well.

The fastest chips are high-clocked Core i7 models like the Core i7-7660U. Depending on the game, the Iris Plus 640 will probably be similar to the previous model somewhere between a dedicated GeForce 920M and GeForce 940M and is usually limited to low settings in modern games.

Features

The reworked video engine now fully supports hardware decoding of H.265/HEVC videos. Contrary to Skylake, however, Kaby Lake can now also decode H.265/HEVC Main 10 with a 10-bit color depth as well as Google's VP9 codec. The video output is possible via DP 1.2/eDP 1.3 (up to 3840 x 2160 @60 Hz), whereas HDMI is also supported in the older 1.4a standard. An HDMI 2.0 output can be added via converter from DisplayPort. The GPU can drive up to three displays simultaneously.

Power Consumption

The Iris Plus Graphics 640 is used for 15-Watt ULV processor and therefore thin notebooks and Ultrabooks.

Qualcomm Adreno 690

The Qualcomm Adreno 690 is an integrated graphics card in the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 SoC for Windows laptops. According to Qualcomm, the 690 is up to 60% faster than the previous generation. In our tests with the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s, the Adreno 690 was only on par with a low en Intel UHD Graphics iGPU and not well suited for 3D games.

The chip is manufactured in 5nm at Samsung (5LPE) and suited for fanless laptops.

Qualcomm Adreno 643

The Qualcomm Adreno 643 is an integrated graphics unit (iGPU) that is used in the Qualcomm QCM6490 and QCS6490. The SoC is not only intended for use in Android-based smartphones and tablets, but also for IoT products with Linux, Ubuntu or Windows 11 IoT Enterprise. In the QCM6490 and QCS6490 the 643 clocks at 812 MHz.