Last week on Phoronix we provided initial Linux graphics benchmarks for the new Xe3-based Arc B390 graphics found with the higher-end Panther Lake SoCs with 12 Xe cores. Those benchmarks showed great gains over recent generations of Intel graphics like with Lunar Lake, Meteor Lake, and even Alder/Raptor Lake… But what if you hold onto your laptop for even longer? In this article is an Intel integrated graphics comparison looking at the general performance and power efficiency going all the way back to the Gen9 graphics era for what seemed like an eternity of Gen9-derived graphics during the Skylake era.
Today’s benchmarking article is looking at how the Intel Xe3 Panther Lake Arc B390 graphics performance has evolved going back to the Gen9 graphics era. Based on the hardware I had available was comparing all the way back to the once extremely common and too-long-used Gen9 graphics. The laptops/CPUs tested for this Intel graphics generational comparison included:
– Core i7 8550U “Kaby Lake” – Dell XPS 13 9370
– Core i7 8565U “Whiskey Lake” – Dell XPS 13 9380
– Core i7 1065G7 “Ice Lake” – Dell XPS 13 7390
– Core i7 1185G7 “Tiger Lake” – Dell XPS 13 9310
– Core i7 1280P “Alder Lake” – MSI Prestige 14Evo
– Core Ultra 7 155H “Meteor Lake” – Acer Swift 14
– Core Ultra 7 258V “Lunar Lake” – ThinkPad X1 Carbon G13
– Core Ultra X7 358H “Panther Lake” – MSI Prestige 14
The oldest being the Core i7 8550U from the Kaby Lake refresh to Skylake with the UHD Graphics 620 with Gen9 graphics IP. Again the laptop/SoC models tested were based on what I had available for fresh re-testing.
Thanks to the upstream open-source graphics driver stack from Intel on Linux, it’s possible to test all of these integrated graphics — and even further back — using the same kernel and driver packages. That’s unlike under Microsoft Windows where their current driver is focused on Tiger Lake and newer. With this testing all of the laptops were tested using Ubuntu 26.04 with the Linux 6.18 kernel and Mesa 26.1-devel. Thus a fresh, up-to-date look at how Intel graphics are looking from the all-too-common Gen9 era up through the newest Panther Lake with Xe3 graphics.
For those wanting a similar comparison on the CPU performance side, I have an even larger comparison that I have been working on… Likely from Sandy Bridge through Panther Lake. That is still being wrapped up. On the iGPU side I cut it off at Gen9 graphics given how prolific they were for years and going back further would have reduced the scope of gaming/graphics tests even further. Even with Gen9 graphics you can’t run the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 or other newer high-end titles on Steam Play (Proton) with the old integrated graphics.
So let’s see how the Intel iGPU performance and power efficiency has evolved now over the past decade.
