i7 Iris 540 benchmarking showing 60% over i5 520

[Anonymous Coward]

...and on par with performance *on this benchmark* with dGPU in the SurfaceBook...

Don't know how I missed this in reddit but there it is:

HD Graphics 520 vs Iris™ Graphics 540 vs Geforce GT940M @ GFXBench • /r/Surface

Of course it is just one early measure. We will have to see if it holds up. But if true... God device.

 

[MOFO]

I'd be very surprised if we actually see twice the performance of the 520, hoping it's true but.......... waiting to see if there any throttling/heat issues.
Most demanding things I'd use the SP4 for is gaming and so far MS seems to have done a pretty good job with the new cooling system with the i5 and crossing my fingers it holds true with the i7.
You going to get the i7? When's is it coming out?

 

[Cerif27]

Comes out next friday. Personally I'm stupid excited but apprehensive about throttling and battery drain. Hopefully a forum member more inclined than I am will step up in the following thanksgiving week and post some data. Judging by that data and personal experience, I might return it and grab an i5 instead.

 

[Anonymous Coward]

Here is some early GeekBench benchmarks on the i7-6650U...same as in i7 SP4:

core i7-6650U - Geekbench Search - Geekbench Browser

Approximately 10% CPU boost over the i5, and also slightly faster on CPU than the i7 in the SurfaceBook.

 

[SurfaceDepth]

Its going to be really interesting to see a i7 SP4 vs i7 SB w/discreet GPU in some gaming and graphics benchmarks. The Skylake Geekbench scores are very impressive. I preordered the SP4 i7/16gig/512 yesterday at the MS Store. That machine is beautiful...screen is amazing. But I do kick around keeping my SP3 and adding the SB instead and then I'd have both

 

[theveterans]

Here is some early GeekBench benchmarks on the i7-6650U...same as in i7 SP4:

core i7-6650U - Geekbench Search - Geekbench Browser

Approximately 10% CPU boost over the i5, and also slightly faster on CPU than the i7 in the SurfaceBook.

Not much CPU speed improvement over my SP3 i5. I'll wait 'till its 50% better CPU benchmark. Microsoft Corporation Surface Pro 3 vs OEMAP OEMAP Product - Geekbench Browser

 

[Telstar1948]

So, does it appear that a SP4 i7 (Iris) will be on par with an i5 or i7 Surface Book with a dGPU in regards to graphics performance?

 

[GreyFox7]

So, does it appear that a SP4 i7 (Iris) will be on par with an i5 or i7 Surface Book with a dGPU in regards to graphics performance?

I guess we will see soon however, I don't see how the i7-6650 could match an i7 + dGPU. Here's my logic:
You have a room that's limited by thermostat to 100 degrees and there are two heaters in the room one called CPU the other called GPU. Either or both heaters can run but the max temp in the room is 100. On the other side you have two rooms each limited to 100 degrees but they are separate and don't affect each other. In one room you have a CPU heater just like the one room model and in the other room you have a dGPU model. You have more thermal headroom in the two room solution both heaters can work harder producing more heat. Heat is proportional to work done.

 

[theveterans]

Agreed. Also keep in mind that the CPU package power limit would be around 19 watts (CPU + GPU + others) (on my SP3 i5 at least). That means the CPU and GPU must find a balance to allocate this limited package power. In gaming scenarios the SOC is smart enough to allocate resources to the GPU in order to keep it near or max frequency. I would bet that the CPU will clock in somewhere between the base and max turbo boost speed (~ 2.5-2.8 GHz for 6650U) while the Surface book will keep max power and max turbo boost frequency to both CPU ( iGPU is off using Nvidia Optimus) and GPU.

 

[GreyFox7]

So... what IF Intel made a dGPU for solutions such as this. setting aside the debate about the veracity of GPU makers etc. It would seem to be a simpler solution technically... IF Intel could just make a driver that worked.

 

[cschaepe]

My dGPU is crap even compared to the onboard 520. I only had one gaming requirement it had to run one OpenGL game (Zwift) at least equal my 2year old laptop without a dGPU. As it stands the SB i7 w/dGPU can only muster an unplayable 4-5 FPS. The integrated 520 runs at 18FPS and my old laptop can do 15FPS. I have compared my results on GfxBench and it seems like they are inline with what others are getting.
I am sending it back even though I love everything else and even tolerate random crashes. I may try the SP4 as I really only got the SB because of the dGPU.

 

[mva5580]

I've really been going back and forth on multiple devices the past month or two and I've landed on getting the i7/256gb SP4.

I really enjoy tablets but at the same time, there are scenarios in which I just want something that's capable of more. One of my big holdouts on the SP has always been battery life but I think in the end it's just time for me to get past that; if I want the better device there has to be a sacrifice somewhere.

Part of my interest is playing games on a "portable" device but for me, it's going to be relatively light gaming. I just want to be able to play games like Civilization, Crusader Kings, Galactic Civilizations, and some old school type games here and there and the i7 SP4 should be able to handle these things plenty fine. The more demanding games like Fallout, GTA, MGS, etc, I play those games on the big screen at home.

I've been back and forth on them for quite a while, but I think it's time. Will probably order from Best Buy in the next day or so.