Intel Ice Lake Update Shows Strong Retail PC Performance, Gen 11 Graphics Faster Than AMD

Needless to say, Intel has been facing some significant pressure on the desktop side of things -- especially with the recent launch of Zen 2 Ryzen 3000 processors -- but the company is more than confident in its ability to dominate AMD in the mobile sector. And with Ice Lake, Intel hopes to widen its lead against the current crop of 12nm Ryzen 3000 mobile APUs.

Take for instance the Core i7-1065G7, which is installed in the new Razer Blade Stealth 13 that we talked about earlier this month. The processor is configurable for either a 15W or 25W TDP, with the latter configuration offering a significant performance boost. In its 25W configuration, the Gen 11 graphics in the Blade Stealth 13 offers anywhere from a 26 percent to 42 percent uplift in performance compared to the 15W baseline in games like Rainbow Six: Siege and Halo: Reach according to data revealed by Intel.

Things get even more interesting when you toss Ryzen APUs into the mix. AMD has for the most part offered a superior integrated graphics solution with Vega on its mobile Ryzen APUs, versus what Intel could muster for the last few generations. This all changes with Ice Lake's Gen 11 graphics. That same Razer Stealth 13 system with Core i7-1065G7 (25w) was pitted against a Ryzen 7 3700U (25W) and the results speak for themselves.

At 1080p, the GPUs in both processors were at parity in games like Dirt Rally 2.0, Rainbow Six: Siege, and World of Tanks Encore. But in the other tested titles, Intel's advantage swelled to an average of around 20 percent. The biggest performance differential came in DOTA 2, where Intel's Gen 11 graphics scores an 84 percent margin of victory.

Intel is also tooting its own horn with regards to artificial intelligence (AI) performance, showing how the Core i7-1065G7 roasts the Ryzen 7 3700U in AIXPRT CP2. The chip company is showing anywhere from a 2x to 7x improvement in AI performance, thanks to the DL Boost instructions and architectural enhancements in Ice Lake.

We have to mention that these are all benchmarks that have been put forth by Intel, so it of course is going to show its new Ice Lake processors in the best light possible. But from our own testing with an Ice Lake Software Development System, we can confirm that Ice Lake delivers superior performance to AMD in most non-gaming situations, and was a much better-matched competitor in our gaming and graphics benchmark suite.

In order to get a true look at how Ice Lake compares to AMD in the mobile sector -- unlike with the development system that we tested previously -- we'll have to wait until we get a shipping Ice Lake system in our labs to do a full benchmark analysis. Thankfully, that should be happening soon.