Intel UHD Graphics 605

Description

The Intel UHD Graphics 605 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) that was introduced on December 11, 2017. The IGP can be found in the Pentium processors of the Gemini Lake generation, such as the Pentium Silver N5000. The graphics solution is almost identical to the Intel HD 505 from the previous generation, 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 the VP9 10-bit codec in hardware. In contrast to the weaker UHD Graphics 600, the Intel UHD Graphics 605 has 18 Execution Units (EUs) with a total of 144 FP32 Arithmetic Logic Units (ALUs), which act as shader units. The IGP has a 200 MHz base clock and can dynamically increase its clock frequency up to 750 MHz. The graphics processor has to manage without its own memory and therefore accesses up to 8 GB of the system memory, DDR4 and LPDDR4 are supported.

Architecture
The Intel UHD Graphics 605 is based on the Gen9.5 graphics architecture, which was introduced with the Kaby Lake processors. Despite the similarity in name to the other UHD Graphics 600 models found in the Coffee Lake processors, the graphics processor does not come with the same features as these. Instead, it uses a slightly modified Gen9 architecture that has been optimized for low power consumption. The graphics processor is made up of various subsections, which are all integrated together on the chip alongside the CPU. These are 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 with the CPU and the memory, while the display controller outputs the image to one or more screens via various interfaces. The unslice integrates a series of fixed-function pipelines for geometry, tessellation and vertex, among others. The Media Fixed-Function Multi-Format Codec (MFX), which is responsible for hardware-accelerated decoding and encoding, is also located here. Upstream is the Command Streamer (CS), which receives all commands via the GTI directly from the CPU and passes them on to MFX, fixed-function pipelines or the slice. The slice contains programmable shader units, which Intel calls Execution Units. The Intel UHD Graphics 605 has 3 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 Intel UHD Graphics 605 provides important functions of the Gen9.5 graphics architecture, including, for example, the optimized multi-format codec engine. With the MFX, the codecs 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 are hardware-accelerated. Hardware acceleration makes video playback more energy-efficient and smoother. Some Intel technologies such as Quick Sync Video and Clear Video as well as the APIs DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.5, OpenCL 2.1 and Vulkan 1.0 are also supported.

Performance
Despite the additional Execution Unit compared to the UHD Graphics 600, the Intel UHD Graphics is hardly suitable for more than video playback. But thanks to the revised multi-format codec engine, it is still ideally suited for this. Only older games such as Sims 4, Team Fortress 2 and Dirt 3 run at low settings and low resolution with stable frame rates.