Questions about Intel low power chips xxxxU

Phishfry

Phishfry

I have moved on from my Baytrail addiction and needed to upgrade some boxes. I like the follow on Intel E3900 chips but they are old now.

So I am moving through the chain of low power Intel offerings. I had an old NUC5 in bin. Intel 5005u and that is nice.
Next I bought a newer Nuc7 branded SimplyNUC. 7200U and no complaints there.

One thing I noticed is no IRIS video until later models. They seemed stuck in 620 Video mode until IRIS.

Is there any advantage to IRIS graphics for somebody building low power machines? Is IRIS well supported on FreeBSD?
 
I don't have any factual data for you but my daily driver is an Intel i7-1185G which comes with an Iris Xe GPU and I haven't had any problems with it.

I'm not a suspend/resume fanatic tho - no idea whether that works. Can check if desired.
 
That's a generation newer than 10110U I am spying on NUC10.

But now I see you need i5 version for IRIS. 10210U

Is IRIS worth it...

Not worried about suspend. I have been killing everything C-States and manually setting freq. Always-on at known freq is my desired effect.

I was surprised in glmark2 testing that downclocking the cpu clock had no effect on GPU mark. (J4105 and 5005U)
 
I did some testing with glmark2 and it turns out Intel HD620 video performs nearly the same on KabyLake 7200U as it did on GeminiLake J4105.

=======================================================
glmark2 2023.01
=======================================================
OpenGL Information
GL_VENDOR: Intel
GL_RENDERER: Mesa Intel(R) HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)
GL_VERSION: 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.1.7
Surface Config: buf=32 r=8 g=8 b=8 a=8 depth=24 stencil=0 samples=0
Surface Size: 800x600 windowed
=======================================================
[SNIP NOISE]
=======================================================
glmark2 Score: 957
=======================================================

I guess I should not be surprised. Same GPU is same GPU. Even if on-die.

I need a 7260U with IRIS to test against. Same generation CPU as 7200U.

I notice with Iris 'TDP-Down' goes from 7.5W to 9W so there is a slight cost.
 
That was completely wrong. J4105 has UHD Graphics 600. I was benchmarking it getting ready for car computer choice.

So HD 620 Graphics on 7200U are twice as fast as UHD Graphics 600 on J4105

Phishfry

Post in thread 'Intel Pentium n3540 integrated graphics problem'

Here is what I will actually be using. 720p resolution.

Code: 
# cat /result.txt
=======================================================
    glmark2 2023.01
=======================================================
    OpenGL Information
    GL_VENDOR:      Intel
    GL_RENDERER:    Mesa Intel(R) UHD Graphics 600 (GLK 2)
    GL_VERSION:     4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.1.7
    Surface Config: buf=32 r=8 g=8 b=8 a=8 depth=24 stencil=0 samples=0
    Surface Size:   1366x768 windowed
=======================================================
[build] use-vbo=false: FPS: 685 FrameTime: 1.460 ms
[build]...
 
I went on a tear and bought some NUC's with IRIS. My first encounter was impressive. Over 2000 on glmark2 at 1980i
NUC7i5BNK w/ 7260U
Drawback-Only SATA in M.2 slot
The coolest case light for disk drive. Not too obnoxious but informative. Nice and cool running without fan.

I liked it so much I bought a NUC8 for the NVMe + Iris 655.
NUC8i3BEK w/ 8109U
I got the i3 version because it is cheap and I don't need 4 cores that the i5 offers.
2 cores and good graphics.

Phishfry said:
Is IRIS worth it...
Click to expand...
Yes it is. Versus a NUC with UHD620, absolutely. The NUC's use IRIS chips only found in a few platforms.. Ultra low power with good graphics.
 
I want to add some additional glmark2 scores. To fill in my NUC's scores. NUC7 versus NUC8 Iris editions. Not wanting i7 versions.
My goal here is realtime mapping with foxtrotGPS.
One quick note. The IRIS chips run the amps up around 2.5A on meter while benchmarking.
Both machines roughly 300-400mA when idling and 2800-2900mA when GPU benchmarking.
Number of RAM modules did not seem to affect power. Single versus dual channel. I added identical NVMe to both and M.2 SATA had consumed more power.

8109U with IRIS Plus 24GB RAM 256GB Toshiba NVMe.
Code: 
@NUC8i3BEK:# cat /results
=======================================================
    glmark2 2023.01
=======================================================
    OpenGL Information
    GL_VENDOR:      Intel
    GL_RENDERER:    Mesa Intel(R) Iris(R) Plus Graphics 655 (CFL GT3)
    GL_VERSION:     4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.1.7
    Surface Config: buf=32 r=8 g=8 b=8 a=8 depth=24 stencil=0 samples=0
    Surface Size:   800x600 windowed
=======================================================
[SNIP]
=======================================================
                                  glmark2 Score: 2576
=======================================================


7260U with IRIS Plus 16GB RAM 256GB Toshiba NVMe
Code: 
@NUC7i5BNK:# cat /results.txt
=======================================================
    glmark2 2023.01
=======================================================
    OpenGL Information
    GL_VENDOR:      Intel
    GL_RENDERER:    Mesa Intel(R) Iris(R) Plus Graphics 640 (Kaby Lake GT3e) (KBL GT3)
    GL_VERSION:     4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.1.7
    Surface Config: buf=32 r=8 g=8 b=8 a=8 depth=24 stencil=0 samples=0
    Surface Size:   800x600 windowed
=======================================================
[SNIP]
=======================================================
                                  glmark2 Score: 2435
=======================================================

Running drm-61-kmod. Xorg running with no conf file. 1080x1920
 
Phishfry said:
I have moved on from my Baytrail addiction and needed to upgrade some boxes. I like the follow on Intel E3900 chips but they are old now.

So I am moving through the chain of low power Intel offerings. I had an old NUC5 in bin. Intel 5005u and that is nice.
Next I bought a newer Nuc7 branded SimplyNUC. 7200U and no complaints there.

One thing I noticed is no IRIS video until later models. They seemed stuck in 620 Video mode until IRIS.

Is there any advantage to IRIS graphics for somebody building low power machines? Is IRIS well supported on FreeBSD?
Click to expand...
It simply depends on what capatibilities you want, that being said... Anything below 11th gen will suffer badly from spectre workarounds etc.
 
diizzy said:
Anything below 10th gen will suffer badly from spectre workarounds etc.
Click to expand...
That is funny. The Intel xxxxU chips ended at GEN10. No IRIS GPU on them.
I never apply microcode updates except at the firewall level. Is that really bad?
I am very naughty behind my wall of fire. I might use the microcode more if they stuck.

There was no IRIS I can find in GEN10 Intel chips.
I wanted to test NUC11/GEN11 IRIS Xe so I got an 1135G7.
Sure this is entry level i3 but the glmark2 scores are half of what I was seeing with Iris 655.


I need to update the BIOS. It is early one.
Then I will post scores. It can't get worse. I need to upgrade my RAM from DDR4-2666 to 3200 for full effect on this box..
Surely there must be a BIOS setting I am missing...

Intel NUC Visual BIOS sucks and is great???? Newer is bad? I hate it but love it at the same time.
 
Seems these boards are sensitive to RAM population. Dual Channel Mode brings better graphics scores.

Asrock NUC-1135G7 with 32GB 256 GB Toshiba NVMe

Code: 
@1135G7:# cat /results
=======================================================
    glmark2 2023.01
=======================================================
    OpenGL Information
    GL_VENDOR:      Intel
    GL_RENDERER:    Mesa Intel(R) Xe Graphics (TGL GT2)
    GL_VERSION:     4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.1.7
    Surface Config: buf=32 r=8 g=8 b=8 a=8 depth=24 stencil=0 samples=0
    Surface Size:   800x600 windowed
=======================================================
[SNIP]
=======================================================
                                  glmark2 Score: 1920
=======================================================
 
Phishfry said:
That is funny. The Intel xxxxU chips ended at GEN10. No IRIS GPU on them.
I never apply microcode updates except at the firewall level. Is that really bad?
I am very naughty behind my wall of fire. I might use the microcode more if they stuck.

There was no IRIS I can find in GEN10 Intel chips.
I wanted to test NUC11/GEN11 IRIS Xe so I got an 1135G7.
Sure this is entry level i3 but the glmark2 scores are half of what I was seeing with Iris 655.


I need to update the BIOS. It is early one.
Then I will post scores. It can't get worse. I need to upgrade my RAM from DDR4-2666 to 3200 for full effect on this box..
Surely there must be a BIOS setting I am missing...

Intel NUC Visual BIOS sucks and is great???? Newer is bad? I hate it but love it at the same time.
Click to expand...
Yes, not applying microcode updates is bad (practice) and will bite you badly at one point.
Dual channel has always been better for integrated graphics given you get more bandwith, it's not something new.
There are also multiple power limits on these mobile chips so neither CPU or GPU might not work at "full potential" at full load depending on (product) hardware design and limits defined in BIOS.
 
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