How good are Intel’s Iris Xe graphics? Intel Iris Xe Graphics of 11th Gen Intel Core G7 CPUs

The Intel Iris Xe is one of the most widely used graphics processors in late 2020 laptops. That’s because it is integrated in the popular 11th Gen Intel Core i5 and i7 G7-series main processors, like the i5-1135G7 and i7-1165G7. They are used in many notebook models.

With its performance, the Intel Iris Xe belongs to the entry-level graphics processor category. As same as all integrated graphics processors that are used in main processors and use the main memory since they don’t have their own video memory, the Iris Xe can’t compete against the full-blown gaming-class video cards. It’s far behind the typical Nvidia GeForce GTX or RTX gaming series. But, performance of the Iris Xe is similar to performance of some entry-level dedicated video cards like the Nvidia GeForce MX series. That’s a great result for an integrated graphics processor. Also the Iris Xe of the 11th Gen Core i5 and i7 G-series processors is noticeably faster than the Intel UHD (G4) of the i3 G4-series chip from the 11th Gen Core G-series.

Iris Xe is the name for the new integrated graphics that will be built into the upper tier of the company's 11th generation laptop chips. Intel introduced nine new CPUs in this first wave of Tiger Lake silicon, and Iris Xe will be included in the Core i5 and i7 processors in this new fleet.

The exciting parts of the Iris Xe announcements are the lofty claims Intel made about the 3D performance levels, stating that these chips will roughly double the graphics performance of the previous generation, this represents a major improvement in what integrated graphics are capable of for gaming in thin-and-light and general-use laptops.

Intel Iris Xe (G7) Graphics Benchmark

Here’s a benchmark score of the Intel Iris Xe compared to other widely used graphics processors for laptops.

Note: The benchmark scores of the listed graphics processors are averages measured across various devices with these processors. The scores and real-world performance of the Intel Iris Xe and compared GPUs may vary depending on the notebooks' other components, settings, cooling, and other factors (especially single-channel vs faster dual-channel RAM and speed of the main processor). However, the benchmark results, as well as gameplay videos, are good indicators of the graphics processors' performance.

Specifications of the Intel Iris Xe

Here's the specs sheet of the Intel Iris Xe:

GPU Name	Intel Iris Xe (G7)
GPU Type	Integrated graphics (uses laptop's RAM as video memory)
Number of Execution Units, Cores, Shaders	96
Core Clock Speed	Up to 1300 MHz
Video Memory Size	Shared main memory, depends on system
Memory Type	DDR4 shared system memory
Video Memory Speed	Depends on system
Production Technology	10-nanometer
Year of Release	2020