First Intel Core-H benchmarks: Kaby Lake G series with discrete Radeon GPUs

At their Technology and Manufacturing Day, Intel confirmed the long-speculated ‘Core’ processor that combines a high performance CPU and a discrete Vega-based GPU from AMD in a single processor package. Featuring HBM2 memory, Intel Core-H processor will be the company’s first multi-chip module (MCM) designed with the aim to deliver increased performance with better power efficiency over traditional integrated GPUs.

Scott Herkelman, vice president and general manager, AMD Radeon Technologies Group, said in a statement:

Our collaboration with Intel expands the installed base for AMD Radeon GPUs and brings to market a differentiated solution for high-performance graphics. Together, we are offering gamers and content creators the opportunity to have a thinner-and-lighter PC capable of delivering discrete performance-tier graphics experiences in AAA games and content creation applications. This new semi-custom GPU puts the performance and capabilities of Radeon graphics into the hands of an expanded set of enthusiasts who want the best visual experience possible.

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Intel Core H-series Processor Specifications and Benchmarks Leaked

The new Intel Core-H series will be part of its 8th Gen processor family. While the firm is unsurprisingly tight-lipped about the upcoming lineup, the rumor mill has already started churning out leaked benchmarks and further details.

As for specifications, the dGPU is said to feature 24 compute units for a total of 1536 stream processors. It will be clocked between 1000-1100 MHz offering a maximum compute performance of 3.3 TFLOPs. The chip will have 4GB of HBM2 memory clocked at 700 MHz.

The first two SKUs in the lineup will be the Core i7-8705G and Core i7-8809G. Both belong to the Kaby Lake G family featuring up to 4 cores and 8 threads. The CPU base clock will be configured at 3.1 GHz which can be boosted up 4.1 GHz.

Let’s move to benchmark results. Keep in mind that they are early engineering sample benchmarks so they may not be indicative of the final performance.

First, we have GFXBench results for 694C:C0 device (which is the board name for Kaby Lake G with integrated Radeon Graphics). The Core i7 8809G scores 6393 points in the Car Chase scene, 7367 in Manhattan 3.1 and 31088 in the T-Rex scenario. The chip was also tested in Geekbench, where it hits an OpenCL score of 76607.

The Intel Core i7 8705G was benchmarked in Ashes of the Singularity at 1080p High preset. The 3DMark 11 performance results for both Kaby Lake G chips are also detailed below.

The first Intel Core-H devices will launch by Q1 2018. The chips are expected to enable a new breed of ultra portable notebooks that would deliver a solid graphics performance. It should be mentioned that AMD itself recently unveiled their Ryzen mobile processors with Vega graphics on board, so it will be interesting to see how they fare against Intel’s offerings.