Iris 540 Graphics vs Intel HD 520

[AlTech]

I have a unique opportunity to buy a product with either option.

 

The Iris 540 is part of the i7 model of a device I want. The 520 is part of the i5 model of the same device.

 

I will use said device for:

Visual Studio

App Development / Programming.

General Everyday stuff

Office 365

Occasional Photoshop.

[Arc_Jester]

i7 with Iris 540 iGPU obviously, there is no competition

[AlTech]

2 minutes ago, Arc_Jester said:

i7 with Iris 540 iGPU obviously.

What in particular would warrant that?

[AresKrieger]

Well if you can afford the better option why would we recommend the inferior one? I vote i7 if we aren't factoring a dollar amount into this.

[Arc_Jester]

4 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

What in particular would warrant that?

Well i7 for obvious reasons and the Iris 540 because it is much faster than the HD 520. Iris and HD aren't even comparable from a performance standpoint.

[vanished]

Yeah.  The Iris graphics is actually half decent and will even run older games just fine.  The HD graphics, not so much:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Iris-Graphics-540.149939.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-520.149940.0.html

 

We're talking potentially 75% difference in speed give or take, in benchmarks at least.  The gaming performance at the bottom of the page is actually surprisingly similar considering this...

[AlTech]

4 minutes ago, AresKrieger said:

Well if you can afford the better option why would we recommend the inferior one? I vote i7 if we aren't factoring a dollar amount into this.

Well the only reason i considered th i7 is because the i5 with 8GB RAM is currently unavailable to purchase.

 

They're having issues keeping it in stock.

 

2 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Yeah.  The Iris graphics is actually half decent and will even run older games just fine.  The HD graphics, not so much:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Iris-Graphics-540.149939.0.html

 

Yeah well i don't play games on laptops except Minecraft.

 

But is 8GB RAM fine or should i get 16GB?

[vanished]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

Well the only reason i considered th i7 is because the i5 with 8GB RAM is currently unavailable to purchase.

 

They're having issues keeping it in stock.

 

Yeah well i don't play games on laptops except Minecraft.

 

But is 8GB RAM fine or should i get 16GB?

8 GB should be fine for now, but think down the road - how long will you have this, and will it still be enough by then?  If the 16 GB isn't too much more, that seems like a wise upgrade.

[DXMember]

neither RAM nor HDD/SSD or lack there of should be considered when choosing a laptop nowadays as those components can be easily swapped

your only consideration should be CPU/GPU combo

would be so kind to point out the exact CPU models we're talking about?

Intel has a lot of funny business with the mobile parts where some i5's are hyper threaded and some i7 have less cores than other i5's

[AlTech]

2 minutes ago, DXMember said:

neither RAM nor HDD/SSD or lack there of should be considered when choosing a laptop nowadays as those components can be easily swapped

your only consideration should be CPU/GPU combo

would be so kind to point out the exact CPU models we're talking about?

Intel has a lot of funny business with the mobile parts where some i5's are hyper threaded and some i7 have less cores than other i5's

Yeah well the device i wish to purchase is different. You can neither replace the SSD or not RAM.

 

The i5 and i7 in question are clocked at 2.4GHz (2 cores 4 threads & 3MB L3 cache) and 2.2GHz (2 cores 4 threads & 4MB L3cache)

 

i5-6300U and i7-6560U

[DXMember]

3 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Yeah well the device i wish to purchase is different. You can neither replace the SSD or not RAM.

 

The i5 and i7 in question are clocked at 2.4GHz (2 cores 4 threads & 3MB L3 cache) and 2.2GHz (2 cores 4 threads & 4MB L3cache)

 

i5-6300U and i7-6560U

get the i7, has more cache and higher boost clock, good for visual studio

[vanished]

4 minutes ago, AluminiumTech said:

Yeah well the device i wish to purchase is different. You can neither replace the SSD or not RAM.

 

The i5 and i7 in question are clocked at 2.4GHz (2 cores 4 threads & 3MB L3 cache) and 2.2GHz (2 cores 4 threads & 4MB L3cache)

 

i5-6300U and i7-6560U

Keep in mind that the i7, though clocked lower at base, actually turbos higher.

Despite that, the single threaded and total performance doesn't seem to be super different, but the i7 is a little better

[themaniac]

i have an i5 6200u which has the 520, i can get 40-60 fps on Fallout NV at 1080p high, i can get 30-60 fps on dishonored 1080p low, i can get 60-200 fps on g-mod 1080p high so take that as you will

 

EDIT: heres some benchmarks of it

Unigine Valley extreme preset: FPS 5.4, Score 135, Min FPS 3.3, Max FPS 11

3Dmark performance preset: Score P1468

[AlTech]

9 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Keep in mind that the i7, though clocked lower at base, actually turbos higher.

Despite that, the single threaded and total performance doesn't seem to be super different, but the i7 is a little better

IT's a shame really. Surface Pro 4 uses LPDDR3 which means that it will only get 75% and not 2x faster than Intel HD.

 

But it'll be as fast as my Geforce 920M. Definitely gonna do benchmarks on the Iris 540.

[AlTech]

9 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Yeah.  The Iris graphics is actually half decent and will even run older games just fine.  The HD graphics, not so much:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-Iris-Graphics-540.149939.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-520.149940.0.html

 

We're talking potentially 75% difference in speed give or take, in benchmarks at least.  The gaming performance at the bottom of the page is actually surprisingly similar considering this...

 

9 hours ago, themaniac said:

i have an i5 6200u which has the 520, i can get 40-60 fps on Fallout NV at 1080p high, i can get 30-60 fps on dishonored 1080p low, i can get 60-200 fps on g-mod 1080p high so take that as you will

 

EDIT: heres some benchmarks of it

Unigine Valley extreme preset: FPS 5.4, Score 135, Min FPS 3.3, Max FPS 11

3Dmark performance preset: Score P1468

 

9 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Keep in mind that the i7, though clocked lower at base, actually turbos higher.

Despite that, the single threaded and total performance doesn't seem to be super different, but the i7 is a little better

 

9 hours ago, DXMember said:

get the i7, has more cache and higher boost clock, good for visual studio

 

9 hours ago, Arc_Jester said:

Well i7 for obvious reasons and the Iris 540 because it is much faster than the HD 520. Iris and HD aren't even comparable from a performance standpoint.

 

9 hours ago, AresKrieger said:

Well if you can afford the better option why would we recommend the inferior one? I vote i7 if we aren't factoring a dollar amount into this.

Thanks everyone .

 

Going with the Iris 540 Graphics.