Intel Graphics Technology

Intel Graphics Technology is a series of integrated graphics processors designed by Intel and manufactured by Intel and under contract by TSMC. These GPUs are built into the same chip as the central processing unit and are included in most Intel-based desktops and laptops. The series was introduced in 2010 as Intel HD Graphics, later renamed Intel UHD Graphics in 2017. It succeeded the earlier Graphics Media Accelerator series.
Intel also offers higher-performance variants under the Iris, Iris Pro, and Iris Plus brands, introduced beginning in 2013. These versions include features such as increased execution units and, in some models, embedded memory.
Intel Graphics Technology is sold alongside Intel Arc, the company’s line of discrete graphics cards aimed at gaming and high-performance applications.

History

Before the introduction of Intel HD Graphics, Intel integrated graphics were built into the motherboard's northbridge, as part of the Intel's Hub Architecture. They were known as Intel Extreme Graphics and Intel GMA. As part of the Platform Controller Hub design, the northbridge was eliminated and graphics processing was moved to the same die as the central processing unit.
The previous Intel integrated graphics solution, Intel GMA, had a reputation of lacking performance and features, and therefore was not considered to be a good choice for more demanding graphics applications, such as 3D gaming. The performance increases brought by Intel's HD Graphics made the products competitive with integrated graphics adapters made by its rivals, Nvidia and ATI/AMD.

Generations

Intel HD and Iris Graphics are divided into generations, and within each generation are divided into 'tiers' of increasing performance, denominated by the 'GTx' label. Each generation corresponds to the implementation of a Gen graphics microarchitecture with a corresponding GEN instruction set architecture since Gen4.

Gen5 architecture

Westmere

In January 2010, Clarkdale and Arrandale processors with Ironlake graphics were released, and branded as Celeron, Pentium, or Core with HD Graphics. There was only one specification: 12 execution units, up to 43.2 GFLOPS at 900 MHz. It can decode a H.264 1080p video at up to 40 fps.
Its direct predecessor, the GMA X4500, featured 10 EUs at 800 MHz, but it lacked some capabilities.

Model number	Execution units	Shading units	Base clock	Boost clock	GFLOPS
HD Graphics	12	24	500	900	24.0–43.2

Gen6 architecture

Sandy Bridge

In January 2011, the Sandy Bridge processors were released, introducing the "second generation" HD Graphics:
Sandy Bridge Celeron and Pentium have Intel HD, while Core i3 and above have either HD 2000 or HD 3000. HD Graphics 2000 and 3000 include hardware video encoding and HD postprocessing effects.

Gen7 architecture

Ivy Bridge

On 24 April 2012, Ivy Bridge was released, introducing the "third generation" of Intel's HD graphics:

Model number	Tier	Execution units	Shading units	Boost clock	Max GFLOPS
HD Graphics	GT1	6	48	1050	100.8
HD Graphics 2500	GT1	6	48	1150	110.4
HD Graphics 4000	GT2	16	128	1300	332.8
HD Graphics P4000	GT2	16	128	1300	332.8

Ivy Bridge Celeron and Pentium have Intel HD, while Core i3 and above have either HD 2500 or HD 4000. HD Graphics 2500 and 4000 include hardware video encoding and HD postprocessing effects.
For some low-power mobile CPUs there is limited video decoding support, while none of the desktop CPUs have this limitation. HD P4000 is featured on the Ivy Bridge E3 Xeon processors with the 12X5 v2 descriptor, and supports unbuffered ECC RAM.

Gen7.5 architecture

Haswell

In June 2013, Haswell CPUs were announced, with four tiers of integrated GPUs:
The 128 MB of eDRAM in the Iris Pro GT3e is in the same package as the CPU, but on a separate die manufactured in a different process. Intel refers to this as a Level 4 cache, available to both CPU and GPU, naming it Crystalwell. The Linux drm/i915 driver is aware and capable of using this eDRAM since kernel version 3.12.

Gen8 architecture

Broadwell

In November 2013, it was announced that Broadwell-K desktop processors would also carry Iris Pro Graphics.
The following models of integrated GPU are announced for Broadwell processors:

Braswell

Gen9 architecture

Skylake

The Skylake line of processors, launched in August 2015, retires VGA support, while supporting multi-monitor setups of up to three monitors connected via HDMI 1.4, DisplayPort 1.2 or Embedded DisplayPort 1.3 interfaces.
The following models of integrated GPU are available or announced for the Skylake processors:
New features: Vulkan 1.3 and DirectX 12 Feature Level 12_2

Apollo Lake

The Apollo Lake line of processors was launched in August 2016.

Model number	CPU model	Tier	Execution units	Shading units	Clock speed
HD Graphics 500	E3930	GT1	12	96	400 – 550
HD Graphics 500	E3940	GT1	12	96	400–600
HD Graphics 500	N3350	GT1	12	96	200–650
HD Graphics 500	N3450	GT1	12	96	200–700
HD Graphics 500	J3355	GT1	12	96	250–700
HD Graphics 500	J3455	GT1	12	96	250–750
HD Graphics 505	E3950	GT1	18	144	500–650
HD Graphics 505	N4200	GT1	18	144	200–750
HD Graphics 505	J4205	GT1	18	144	250–800

Gen9.5 architecture

Kaby Lake

The Kaby Lake line of processors was introduced in August 2016. New features: speed increases, support for 4K UHD "premium" streaming services, media engine with full hardware acceleration of 8- and 10-bit HEVC and VP9 decode.

Kaby Lake Refresh / Amber Lake / Coffee Lake / Coffee Lake Refresh / Whiskey Lake / Comet Lake

The Kaby Lake Refresh line of processors was introduced in October 2017. New features: HDCP 2.2 support

Gemini Lake/Gemini Lake Refresh

New features: HDMI 2.0 support, VP9 10-bit Profile2 hardware decoder

Model number	Tier	Execution units	Shading units	CPU model	Clock speed	GFLOPS
UHD Graphics 600	GT1	12	96	N4000	200–650	38.4–124.8
UHD Graphics 600	GT1	12	96	N4100	200–700	38.4–134.4
UHD Graphics 600	GT1	12	96	J4005	250–700	48.0–134.4
UHD Graphics 600	GT1	12	96	J4105	250–750	48.0–144.0
UHD Graphics 600	GT1	12	96	J4125	250–750	48.0–144.0
UHD Graphics 605	GT1.5	18	96	N5000	200–750	57.6–216
UHD Graphics 605	GT1.5	18	96	J5005	250–800	72.0–230.4

Gen11 architecture

Ice Lake

New features: 10 nm Gen 11 GPU microarchitecture, two HEVC 10-bit encode pipelines, three 4K display pipelines, variable rate shading, and integer scaling.
While the microarchitecture continues to support double-precision floating-point as previous versions did, the mobile configurations of it do not include the feature and therefore on these it is supported only through emulation.

Xe-LP architecture (Gen12)

These are based on the Intel Xe-LP microarchitecture, the low power variant of the Intel Xe GPU architecture also known as Gen 12. New features include Sampler Feedback, Dual Queue Support, DirectX12 View Instancing Tier2, and AV1 8-bit and 10-bit fixed-function hardware decoding. Support for FP64 was removed.

Arc Alchemist Tile GPU (Gen12.7)

Intel Meteor Lake and Arrow Lake use Intel Arc Alchemist Tile GPU microarchitecture.
New features: DirectX 12 Ultimate Feature Level 12_2 support, 8K 10-bit AV1 hardware encoder, HDMI 2.1 48Gbps native support

Meteor Lake

Arc Battlemage Tile GPU

Intel Lunar Lake will use Intel Arc Battlemage Tile GPU microarchitecture.

Features

Intel Insider

Beginning with Sandy Bridge, the graphics processors include a form of digital copy protection and digital rights management called Intel Insider, which allows decryption of protected media within the processor. Previously there was a similar technology called Protected Audio Video Path.