Sandy Bridge Celeron and Pentium have Intel HD, while Core i3 and above have either HD 2000 or HD 3000. In January 2011, the Sandy Bridge processors were released, introducing the 'second generation' HD Graphics: Its direct predecessor, the GMA X4500, featured 10 EUs at 800 MHz, but it lacked some capabilities. It can decode a H264 1080p video at up to 40 fps. There was only one specification: 12 execution units, up to 43.2 GFLOPS at 900 MHz. In January 2010, Clarkdale and Arrandale processors with Ironlake graphics were released, and branded as Celeron, Pentium, or Core with HD Graphics. Each generation corresponds to the implementation of a Gen graphics microarchitecture with a corresponding GEN instruction set architecture since Gen4. 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. See also: List of Intel graphics processing units Intel HD Graphics, featuring minimal power consumption that is important in laptops, was capable enough that PC manufacturers often stopped offering discrete graphics options in both low-end and high-end laptop lines, where reduced dimensions and low power consumption are important. 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.

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. As part of the Platform Controller Hub (PCH) design, the northbridge was eliminated and graphics processing was moved to the same die as the central processing unit (CPU). They were known as Intel Extreme Graphics and Intel GMA. 5 Capabilities (GPU video acceleration)īefore the introduction of Intel HD Graphics, Intel integrated graphics were built into the motherboard's northbridge, as part of the Intel's Hub Architecture.2.7.2 Kaby Lake Refresh / Amber Lake / Coffee Lake / Coffee Lake Refresh / Whiskey Lake / Comet Lake.

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