CrystalDiskMark score Read: 2758.52 MB/s Write: 2109.43 MB/s with a Intel Iris Xe Graphics (80EUs, Tiger Lake) [Disk]

Information Detail

Intel Iris Xe Graphics (80EUs, Tiger Lake) is the integrated graphics solution (iGPU) of the 11th generation of Intel Core processors, specifically the Tiger Lake series. With 80 Execution Units (EUs) and support for Intel's latest graphics architecture, Iris Xe is capable of delivering significantly better performance than previous generations, including in terms of lightweight graphics rendering, 4K video playback, and casual gaming. Another advantage is its excellent power efficiency as it is directly integrated in the CPU, making it ideal for thin and power-saving laptops.

In this test, Iris Xe Graphics was configured to utilize part of its shared memory as a VRAMDisk. The VRAMDisk concept allows the use of a portion of VRAM-which in iGPUs like Iris Xe comes from the main system RAM-as high-speed storage. While not as fast as physical RAM-based RAMDisks, VRAMDisks on iGPUs still offer very high read/write speeds, mainly due to the optimization of the graphics architecture and the wide memory bandwidth.

The test was conducted on a Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 14ITL6, with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, 12GB DDR4 3200MHz dual channel RAM, and Windows 11 22H2 operating system. Based on data from dxdiag, the dynamically available VRAM reaches 6GB, and in this test, 2GB was allocated as VRAMDisk using GPU RAM Drive software.

Benchmark results from CrystalDiskMark show read speeds of 2758.52 MB/s and write speeds of 2109.43 MB/s. These speeds are significantly higher than SATA SSDs and even close to mid-range NVMe SSDs, making VRAMDisks on iGPUs an attractive experimental solution for temporary data caching, storage performance testing or other specialized scenarios. With a 128-bit bus width and support for 3200MHz DDR4 memory, Iris Xe VRAMDisk shows that even integrated graphics can be creatively utilized for high-speed storage tasks.

Device test (testbed):

Device: Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3i 14ITL6
CPU: i5 1135G7
RAM: 12GB DDR4 3200MHz Dual Channel (8+4)
OS: Windows 11 22H2