Iris Xe MAX Graphics vs HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)

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Aggregate performance score

We've compared HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) and Iris Xe MAX Graphics, covering specs and all relevant benchmarks.

HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)
2011
0.34

Iris Xe MAX Graphics outperforms HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) by a whopping 1403% based on our aggregate benchmark results.

Primary details

GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.

Place in the ranking1296624
Place by popularitynot in top-100not in top-100
Power efficiencyno data14.01
ArchitectureGen. 6 Sandy Bridge (2011)Generation 12.1 (2020−2021)
GPU code nameSandy BridgeDG1
Market segmentLaptopLaptop
Release date1 May 2011 (13 years ago)31 October 2020 (4 years ago)

Detailed specifications

General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.

Pipelines / CUDA cores6768
Core clock speed350 MHz300 MHz
Boost clock speed1100 MHz1650 MHz
Manufacturing process technology32 nm10 nm
Power consumption (TDP)no data25 Watt
Texture fill rateno data79.20
Floating-point processing powerno data2.534 TFLOPS
ROPsno data24
TMUsno data48

Form factor & compatibility

Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).

Interfaceno dataPCIe 4.0 x4

VRAM capacity and type

Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.

Memory typeno dataLPDDR4X
Maximum RAM amountno data4 GB
Memory bus width64/128 Bit128 Bit
Memory clock speedno data2133 MHz
Memory bandwidthno data68.26 GB/s
Shared memory+-

Connectivity and outputs

Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.

Display Connectorsno dataNo outputs

API compatibility

List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.

DirectX10.112 (12_1)
Shader Modelno data6.4
OpenGLno data4.6
OpenCLno data3.0
Vulkan-1.2

Synthetic benchmark performance

Non-gaming benchmark results comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.


Combined synthetic benchmark score

This is our combined benchmark score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.

HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) 0.34
Iris Xe MAX Graphics 5.11
+1403%

3DMark Cloud Gate GPU

Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.

HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) 1405
Iris Xe MAX Graphics 36993
+2534%

Gaming performance

Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.

Average FPS across all PC games

Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:

Full HD7
−286%
27
+286%
1440p1−2
−1600%
17
+1600%
4K0−115

FPS performance in popular games

Full HD
Low Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
−800%
18−20
+800%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
−800%
27−30
+800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2−3
−1050%
21−24
+1050%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
−800%
18−20
+800%
Hitman 3 4−5
−500%
24
+500%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
−663%
60−65
+663%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 4−5
−825%
35−40
+825%
Watch Dogs: Legion 27−30
−143%
65−70
+143%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
−800%
27−30
+800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2−3
−1050%
21−24
+1050%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
−800%
18−20
+800%
Hitman 3 4−5
−475%
23
+475%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
−663%
60−65
+663%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 4−5
−725%
33
+725%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 9−10
−222%
27−30
+222%
Watch Dogs: Legion 27−30
−143%
65−70
+143%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 3−4
−800%
27−30
+800%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2−3
−1050%
21−24
+1050%
Cyberpunk 2077 2−3
−800%
18−20
+800%
Hitman 3 4−5
−425%
21
+425%
Horizon Zero Dawn 8−9
−225%
26
+225%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 4−5
−625%
29
+625%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 9−10
−100%
18
+100%
Watch Dogs: Legion 27−30
−143%
65−70
+143%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Cyberpunk 2077 0−1 6−7
Hitman 3 6−7
−133%
14−16
+133%
Horizon Zero Dawn 2−3
−1050%
21−24
+1050%

1440p
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3
−850%
18−20
+850%

4K
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 1−2
−600%
7−8
+600%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 0−1 5−6

4K
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 2−3
−450%
10−12
+450%

Full HD
Medium Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 19
+0%
19
+0%
Battlefield 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
Metro Exodus 57
+0%
57
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 33
+0%
33
+0%

Full HD
High Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 6
+0%
6
+0%
Battlefield 5 35−40
+0%
35−40
+0%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%
Metro Exodus 43
+0%
43
+0%
Red Dead Redemption 2 30−35
+0%
30−35
+0%

Full HD
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Valhalla 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Far Cry 5 27−30
+0%
27−30
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 75−80
+0%
75−80
+0%

Full HD
Epic Preset

Red Dead Redemption 2 25
+0%
25
+0%

1440p
High Preset

Battlefield 5 21−24
+0%
21−24
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 16−18
+0%
16−18
+0%

1440p
Ultra Preset

Assassin's Creed Odyssey 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Assassin's Creed Valhalla 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Far Cry 5 12−14
+0%
12−14
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Metro Exodus 18−20
+0%
18−20
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 20
+0%
20
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 70−75
+0%
70−75
+0%

4K
High Preset

Battlefield 5 10−12
+0%
10−12
+0%
Far Cry New Dawn 8−9
+0%
8−9
+0%
Hitman 3 7−8
+0%
7−8
+0%
Horizon Zero Dawn 50−55
+0%
50−55
+0%
Metro Exodus 10−11
+0%
10−11
+0%
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt 11
+0%
11
+0%

4K
Ultra Preset

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 5−6
+0%
5−6
+0%
Cyberpunk 2077 1−2
+0%
1−2
+0%
Far Cry 5 6−7
+0%
6−7
+0%
Forza Horizon 4 14−16
+0%
14−16
+0%
Shadow of the Tomb Raider 11
+0%
11
+0%
Watch Dogs: Legion 4−5
+0%
4−5
+0%

This is how HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) and Iris Xe MAX Graphics compete in popular games:

  • Iris Xe MAX Graphics is 286% faster in 1080p
  • Iris Xe MAX Graphics is 1600% faster in 1440p

Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:

  • in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the Iris Xe MAX Graphics is 1050% faster.

All in all, in popular games:

  • Iris Xe MAX Graphics is ahead in 29 tests (41%)
  • there's a draw in 41 test (59%)

Pros & cons summary


Performance score 0.34 5.11
Recency 1 May 2011 31 October 2020
Chip lithography 32 nm 10 nm

Iris Xe MAX Graphics has a 1402.9% higher aggregate performance score, an age advantage of 9 years, and a 220% more advanced lithography process.

The Iris Xe MAX Graphics is our recommended choice as it beats the HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) in performance tests.


Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.

Vote for your favorite

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Intel HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)
HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge)
Intel Iris Xe MAX Graphics
Iris Xe MAX Graphics

Comparisons with similar GPUs

We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.

Community ratings

Here you can see the user ratings of the compared graphics cards, as well as rate them yourself.


2.7 84 votes

Rate HD Graphics (Sandy Bridge) on a scale of 1 to 5:

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3.2 256 votes

Rate Iris Xe MAX Graphics on a scale of 1 to 5:

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Questions & comments

Here you can ask a question about this comparison, agree or disagree with our judgements, or report an error or mismatch.