Benchmark suites on the cloud remain one of the more reliable methods to track upcoming releases and it looks like Intel's upcoming Tiger Lake processors will pack quite the graphical punch. Featuring 96 EUs with a clock speed of 1.2 GHz, the iGPU is capable of outputting the same graphical horsepower as a Sony PS4 (give or take) and should make the lives of entry-level graphics (like NVIDIA's MX 150) quite miserable. Intel's Tiger Lake is set to eliminate the market for entry-level graphics completely, and this leak from Sisoft Sandra seems to confirm that.
Intel's Tiger Lake CPU gets Sisoft Sandra benchmark leaked: 96 EUs clocked at 1.2 GHz for 1.84 TFLOPs of graphics horsepower
The Intel TGL-U processors will have a massive iGPU with 96 EUs each. If the ratio of EUs to SPs (or whatever you want to call them) remains the same, you are looking at roughly 768 cores. Clocked at 1.2 GHz, these cores will be able to output 1.84 TFLOPs of compute. Interestingly, this is exactly the same level of graphics power that the original Sony Playstation 4 packed. Intel would be seriously missing out if someone fails to point this out in the marketing! Without any further ado, here is the money shot of the leak taken from Sisoft's database by yours truly:
The leak in question appears to come from Intel's lab directly as the driver in use is "ReleaseInternal". The Intel Tiger Lake iGPU is paired with a CPU that has a base clock of 3.1 GHz and should be more than capable of handling the compute side of games. At these power levels, Intel's TGL is set to revolutionize how we see integrated graphics. The company has spent the better part of a year tuning its drivers and improving the GUI experience and with TGL, the Xe IP will finally enter the fray and deliver the very first of Intel's promises.
Intel's Tiger Lake mobility processor is essentially the DG1 in a mobility form factor considering the specs and architecture are exactly the same. The only difference is of the power draw and depending on whether this is a 25W part or a 15W part would make a huge difference. That said, I am fairly confident this GPU is going to beat the crap out of NVIDIA's MX 150 and probably even the MX250. In fact, to that effect, I am hearing that NVIDIA will be slashing prices of its entry-level lineup and is preparing the MX350 to go up against TGL.
That said, I do believe that unless you are going for a serious dedicated GPU like the GTX 1650 at the very least, Intel's Tiger Lake graphics will make the value proposition of any sub-par discrete graphics (ahem MX 250) a very hard sell for manufacturers. OEMs will probably not want to get into the complicated process of implementing a seperate cooling and power solution for a discrete chip when roughly the same power level can be housed on the package with Intel's TGL CPUs. The only concerning thing right now as far as I am concerned is Intel's ability to meet demand - which could end up being the saving grace for NVIDIA's MX lineup.
I was one of the first journos on the planet to call that the Zen architecture from AMD is one to look out for and I will say this now: Intel's TGL graphics are going to change the face of entry-level graphics in the mobility industry forever.
