A benchmark for Intel’s first desktop graphics card in over 20 years has appeared. But the results leave a lot to be desired.
Back in January, Intel released the DG1 card without any fanfare. The product itself is only available as an add-in card for prebuilt systems. Moreover, the GPU only works with a special motherboard BIOS, so you can’t swap it into another desktop PC.
Nevertheless, someone recently tested an Asus-branded DG1 using the GPU benchmarking tool from Basemark. The resulting score shows the Intel graphics card performs just under 2012’s Radeon HD 7850 GPU, according to VideoCardz.
The benchmark specifically measured the DG1’s performance over the Vulkan graphics API, which is used in games and 3D applications. The Twitter user who originally discovered the benchmark also noted the DG1 is pretty comparable to the more recent RX 550, a $79 entry-level graphics card AMD launched back in 2017.
We suspect Intel quietly released the DG1 because there’s not much to brag about. The card itself only uses 4GB of older LDDR4 memory. Intel also isn’t marketing the GPU to gamers, but to mainstream users as well as small and medium businesses. At the same time, only two vendors have decided to build DG1 GPUs, limiting its availability.
The real test for Intel will be with the company’s DG2 graphics card, which is going to launch later this year and target PC gamers. Intel has said an outside foundry, possibly TSMC, will manufacture the graphics card. The company has already begun teasing the eventual unveiling of the GPU with a scavenger hunt. So there’s a good chance Intel may announce more details soon.