Intel Broadwell NUC NUC5i7RYH With Iris Graphics Mini-PC Review

by Marco Chiappetta — Wednesday, May 13, 2015, 12:43 PM EDT

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Gaming and Graphics: 3DMark Firestrike

In the following game benchmarks and actual in-game testing, we're specifically pitting Intel integrated graphics solutions versus similar solutions from AMD APUs. Its Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6100/5200 and HD 6000 versus the Kaveri APU offering from AMD with AMD's GCN (Graphics Core Next) GPU architecture. Traditionally, Intel has been at a marked deficit versus AMD when it comes to graphics horsepower.

Futuremark 3DMark Fire Strike

Synthetic DirectX Gaming

3DMark Fire Strike has two benchmark modes: Normal mode runs at 1920x1080, while Extreme mode targets 2560x1440. GPU target frame buffer utilization for normal mode is 1GB and the benchmark uses tessellation, ambient occlusion, volume illumination, and a medium-quality depth of field filter. The more taxing Extreme mode targets 1.5GB of frame buffer memory and increases detail levels across the board. For the following tests, we ran the benchmark in Normal mode since we were testing integrated graphics solutions and not high-end discrete GPUs.

3DMark Fire Strike

The Iris 6100 series graphics engine in the NUC5i7RYH edges out the HD 4600 series GPU in the Core i5, but it can't quite catch the AMD-based solutions or the more powerful Iris Pro graphics in the Gigabyte Brix.