Intel’s Ice Lake CPUs are set to offer a huge increase in GPU performance

Intel’s integrated graphics can be best described as meh. They are not what anyone would call “gaming grade” and are only suitable for video decoding and other generalised desktop workloads.

In recent months the company have started to take PC graphics a lot more seriously, hiring Raja Koduri to lead their newly formed Core and Computing Division with plans to create discrete graphics solutions in the future. During the past quarter, Intel has also upped their driver game, delivering game specific updates at reasonably consistent intervals, but it is undeniable that the company has a long way to go before they can become a major competitor within the GPU market. 

Today an Intel Ice Lake U-series CPU has been found on the SiSoftware Database, which contains a graphics unit that offers a total of 48 execution units, two times more than what is currently provided on the HD630 Gen 9.5 graphics chip that is included on Intel’s i7 8700K. 

The database lists the clock speed of this GPU at 600MHz, which is much lower than the maximum frequency of 1200MHz that the i7 8700K’s integrated GPU can offer. This low clock speed can be forgiven due to the Ice Lake CPU’s low TDP U-series configuration and the early state of Ice Lake silicon, though some have assumed that 600MHz is the GPU’s base clock speed, despite the fact that other integrated graphics results don’t list base clocks in their results pages.