AMD Radeon R6 (Kaveri) vs Intel HD Graphics 5600

AMD Radeon R6 (Kaveri)

The AMD Radeon R6 (Kaveri) is an integrated DirectX 12 graphics card found on a number of AMD Kaveri APUs. The GPU offers 384 shaders and 6 compute cores (128 shaders / 2 compute cores deactivated) and can be found, for example, in the A10-7400P. The maximum core clock and memory speeds of the GPU depend on the overarching APU: While the ULV models are limited to DDR3-1600, the standard voltage models can support up to DDR3-1866.

Architecture and Features

Thanks to the new GCN 1.1 architecture, the Kaveri GPUs are significantly more efficient with higher performance compared to its VLIW-based predecessors Richland and Trinity. The graphics card can now handle both DirectX 12 (FL 12_0) and the AMD Mantle API. The GPU is also able to accelerate various applications like Adobe Photoshop by utilizing OpenCL.

The revised video engine of Kaveri includes UVD 4.2 (Unified Video Decoder) and VCE 2.0 (Video Codec Engine). H.264 codec support has been slightly improved in several areas. However, H.265 is still not fully supported in hardware.

Performance

Due to significant differences in core clock speed and memory support between various Radeon R6 models, the performance can vary greatly between different APUs. While the fastest GPU version in the A10-7400P can compete with a dedicated GeForce GT 730M, the slower version in the A10-7300 hardly performs at the level of a GeForce GT 720M. Accordingly, games of 2014 can be played fluently in low to medium settings at 1024 x 768 or 1366 x 768 pixels.

Power Consumption

The power consumption of the entire Kaveri APU is rated at 19 Watts and 35 Watts for ULV and standard voltage models, respectively. Thus, the 28 nm chip is suited for smaller or medium sized (sub-)notebooks.

Intel HD Graphics 5600

The Intel HD Graphics 5600 (GT2) is an integrated graphics card of the Broadwell generation. It can be found in standard voltage CPUs (47 W) and offers 24 EUs (Execution Units). The clock range may depend on the model it is built into (Core i7-5700HQ: max. 1050 MHz with Turbo Boost).

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 5600 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 12 (FL 11_1). The video engine is now able to 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

Thanks to its improved architecture and the additional EUs, the HD Graphics 5600 is about 20 percent faster than the Haswell-based HD 4600 (20 EUs), but still somewhat slower than dedicated low-end GPUs like a GeForce 920M or Radeon R7 M360. Most games as of 2014/2015 will be playable only in low settings (and sometimes not even that).

Power Consumption

The whole Broadwell chip is specified at 47 W TDP (i7-5700HQ) and therefore best suited for notebooks 14-inches in size and above. We tested the power consumption of the GPU with HWInfo sensors in a Core i7-5600HQ (MSI GP62). Idle on the Windows desktop the HD 5600 needed on average 0.04 Watt. Running World of Warships in high details, 9.6 Watt were used by the graphics card (whole CPU needed 41 Watt). In comparison, when we activated the dedicated GeForce 940M, the GPU part needed 0.4 Watt and the whole CPU 29 Watt.