Intel UHD Graphics 600

Description

The Intel UHD Graphics 600 is a low-end integrated graphics processor (IGP) that was introduced on December 11, 2017. The IGP can be found in the Celeron processors of the Gemini Lake generation and is the smallest version of the Intel UHD 600 series. The graphics solution is almost identical to its predecessor, the Intel HD 500, but is based on a minimally updated graphics architecture and therefore supports newer functions such as image output via the HDMI 2.0 standard and decoding of VP9 10-bit videos in hardware. However, the Intel UHD Graphics 600 still has 12 Execution Units (EUs) with a total of 96 FP32 Arithmetic Logic Units (ALUs). The 200 MHz base clock is also unchanged and even the maximum burst frequency has not increased. The integrated GPU achieves up to 650 MHz in the Celeron N4000 and up to 700 MHz in the Celeron N4100. As it does not have its own memory, the iGPU has to access the DDR4/LPDDR4 system memory. It can theoretically make up to 8 GB its own.

Architecture
The Intel UHD Graphics 600 is based on the Gen9.5 graphics architecture, which was introduced with the iGPUs of the Kaby Lake generation. The graphics architecture hardly differs from the Gen9 architecture found in the Skylake CPUs. Changes are really only limited to additional features that were not found in Gen9-based iGPUs. The graphics processor is made up of various sub-areas: the 2 main components Unslice and Slice as well as the display controller and the Graphics Technology Interface (GTI). The GTI connects the graphics processor to the rest of the processor, while the display controller outputs the image to one or more screens via various interfaces. The Unslice integrates a number of fixed-function pipelines for geometry, tessellation and vertex, among others. In addition, the Media Fixed-Function Multi-Format Codec (MFX) is responsible for hardware-accelerated decoding and encoding. Particularly important is the Command Streamer (CS), which forwards all commands to MFX, fixed-function pipelines or to the slice. Programmable shader units can be found on the slice, which Intel calls execution units. The Intel UHD Graphics 600 has 2 so-called subslices, on each of which 6 EUs are integrated. Each EU has 8 shader units. The EUs can be used in a variety of ways and are suitable for the execution of 3D shaders, media decoding and general-purpose computing (GPGPU), for example.

Functions
The iGPU supports the APIs DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.5, OpenCL 2.1 and Vulkan 1.0. As it is based on the Gen9.5 graphics architecture, it has advanced, hardware-accelerated video capabilities, including encoding and decoding of MPEG-2 (H.262) in FullHD, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264) in 4K, JPEG/MJPEG, HEVC (H.265) in 4K, VP8 in FullHD and VP9 in 4K. VC-1 can only be decoded with 3840x3840 pixels. Although most Intel technologies are missing, functions such as Quick Sync Video and Clear Video are still supported. Devices with this GPU can be connected to up to 3 screens. The image is output via HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort (DP) 1.2 or embedded DisplayPort (eDP) 1.4.

Performance
Thanks to the improved video decoding in hardware, the Intel UHD Graphics 600 is suitable for smooth and energy-saving playback of 4K HEVC videos. However, 3D performance is not far behind. Due to unchanged clock frequencies, the GPU is practically identical to the HD Graphics 500 in this discipline. It is therefore just sufficient to display undemanding games such as Sims 4 in low resolution.