Onboard Video Performance
For most people, CPU performance is the most important aspect when picking out a processor. But some people do still run without a dedicated GPU so I still take a look at the performance of the integrated GPUs as well. In the case of Intel’s new CPUs have changed things up when compared to the 14th-generation CPUs. They have the Xe-LPG with four Xe cores. This is the same iGPU as Meteor Lake CPUs aka the Core Ultra 200 Series which was found in mobile and IoT and embedded systems. They didn’t go with the Battlemage Xe2 engine iGPUs that are found on the Lunar Lake mobile CPUs. For clock speed, the Core Ultra 9 285K has a 2 GHz clock speed and the Core Ultra 5 245K drops that down to 1.9 GHz but otherwise, they are the same. Intel’s onboard graphics for their desktop processors have been the same for a long time so I’m excited to see some movement. Especially with AMD making significant progress with their 8000G series CPUs. To start things off I tested with 3Dmark. I ran tests using the older Fire Strik benchmark, the DX12-based Time Spy, the newer Speedway test, and the latest test Steel Nomad which for that last one I tested using the light version. Both the Ultra 9 285K and the Ultra 5 245K had significant jumps in performance over the 14900K and the 14600K. Each doubles the previous score or better. This wasn’t enough to catch up to the 8700K or 8600G though. As for that 1GHz clock speed difference as well as the differences between the CPUs themselves, the 285K is out in front of the 245K by 3-6 percent depending on the test.
In Unigine Superposition I ran the 1080p medium detail and 720p low detail tests and the 285K and 245K didn’t double the performance on the 720p low tests but was closer on the 1080p medium test. Once again they were both sitting behind the 8700G and 8600G by a good amount but well in front of everything else including Intel’s 14th Gen CPUs.
Then from there on, I jumped into game tests. Some of our tests are older games but I did also add in a few newer games as well to get an idea of newer games when tested at 1080p and low or medium settings. My goal with these tests was to see if base-level gaming at low or medium settings was possible at all. In four of the 6 games tested both of the Intel Core Ultra CPUs doubled up the performance seen with the 14th gen CPUs. For the Hitman Absolution and Tomb Raider results there was still a large improvement but not reaching twice the frame rate, 75% and 56% respectively. The Ryzen 8000G CPUs were still out in front of course but for me, the big news here was the improved performance pushing two of the games up and over 60 FPS for smooth gameplay and the other four went from being unplayable to playable but not smooth in the 40 FPS range. Obviously, a dedicated GPU is still the way to go, but if you need to get by while you save up or wait for your GPU to come in you might just be able to get by on the lowest settings in some games.
