Developers can access Intel's processor graphics GPU capabilities through the Intel® Media SDK and Intel® SDK for OpenCL™ Applications. This article provides more information on how the software, driver, and hardware layers map together.
Delivery Models
There are two different packaging/delivery models:
- For Windows* Client: all components needed to run applications written with these SDKs are distributed with the Intel graphics driver. These components are intended to be updated on a separate cadence than Media SDK/OpenCL installs. Drivers are released separately and moving to the latest available driver is usually encouraged. Use Intel® Driver Update Utility to keep your system up-to-date with latest graphics drivers or manually update from downloadcenter.intel.com. To verify driver version installed on the machine, use the system analyzer tool.
- For Linux* and Windows Server*: Intel® Media Server Studio is an integrated software tools suite that includes both SDKs, plus a specific version of the driver validated with each release.
Driver Branches
Driver development uses branches covering specific hardware generations, as described in the table below. The general pattern is that each branch covers only the two latest architectures (N and N-1). This means there are two driver branches for each architecture except the newest one. Intel recommends using the most recent branch. If issues are found it is easier to get fixes for newer branches. The most recent branch has the most resources and gets the most frequent updates. Older branches/architectures get successively fewer resources and updates.
| Processor Architecture | Intel® Integrated Graphics | Windows | Linux |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd Generation Core, 4th Generation Core (Ivybridge/Haswell) LEGACY ONLY, downloads available but not updated |
Ivybridge - Gen 7 Graphics Haswell - Gen 7.5 graphics |
15.33 Operating Systems: Client: Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 Server: Windows Server 2012 r2 | 16.3 (Media Server Studio 2015 R1) Gold Operating Systems: Ubuntu 12.04, SLES 11.3 |
| 4th Generation Core, 5th Generation Core (Haswell/Broadwell) LEGACY |
Haswell - Gen 7.5 graphics Broadwell - Gen 8 graphics |
15.36 Operating Systems: Client: Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 Server: Windows Server 2012 r2 | 16.4 (Media Server Studio 2015/2016) Gold Operating Systems: CentOS 7.1 Generic kernel: 3.14.5 |
| 5th Generation Core 6th Generation Core (Broadwell/Skylake) CURRENT RELEASE |
Broadwell - Gen 8 graphics Skylake - Gen 9 graphics |
15.40 (Broadwell/Skylake Media Server Studio 2017) 15.45 (Skylake + forward, client) Operating Systems: Client: Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 Server: Windows Server 2012 r2
|
16.5 (Media Server Studio 2017) Gold Operating Systems: CentOS 7.2 Generic kernel: 4.4.0 |
Windows client note: Many OEMs have specialized drivers with additional validation. If you see a warning during install please check with your OEM for supported drivers for your machine.
Hardware details
Ivybridge (IVB) codename for 3rd generation Intel processor based on 22nm manufacturing technology and Gen 7 graphics architecture.
| Ivybridge Gen7 3rd Generation Core | GT2: Intel® HD Graphics 2500 GT2: Intel® HD Graphics 4000 |
Haswell (HSW) codename for 4th generation Intel processor based on 22nm manufacturing technology and Gen 7.5 graphics architecture. Available in multiple graphics versions- GT2(20 Execution Units), GT3(40 Execution Units) and GT3e(40 Execution Units + eDRAM to provide faster secondary cache).
| Haswell Gen 7.5 4th Generation Core | GT2: Intel® HD Graphics 4200 GT2: Intel® HD Graphics 4400 GT2: Intel® HD Graphics 4600 GT3: Intel® Iris™ Graphics 5000 GT3: Intel® Iris™ Graphics 5100 GT3e: Intel® Iris™ Pro Graphics 5200 |
Broadwell (BDW) codename for 5th generation Intel processor based on 14nm die shrink of Haswell architecture and Gen 8 graphics architecture. Available in multiple graphics versions - GT2(24 Execution Units), GT3(48 Execution Units) and GT3e(48 Execution Units + eDRAM to provide faster secondary cache).
| Broadwell Gen8 5th Generation Core | GT2: Intel® HD Graphics 5500 GT2: Intel® HD Graphics 5600 GT2: Intel® HD Graphics 5700 GT3: Intel® Iris™ Graphics 6100 GT3e: Intel® Iris™ Pro Graphics 6200 |
Skylake (SKL) codename for 6th generation Intel processor based on 14nm manufacturing technology and Gen 9 graphics architecture. Available in multiple graphics versions - GT1 (12 Execution Units), GT2(24 Execution Units), GT3(48 Execution Units) and GT3e(48 Execution Units + eDRAM), GT4e (72 Execution Units + eDRAM to provide faster secondary cache).
| Skylake Gen9 6th Generation Core | GT1: Intel® HD Graphics 510 (12 EUs) GT2: Intel® HD Graphics 520 (24 EUs, 1050MHz) GT2: Intel® HD Graphics 530 (24 EUs, 1150MHz)
GT3e: Intel® Iris™ Graphics 540 (48 EUs, 1050MHz, 64 MB eDRAM) GT3e: Intel® Iris™ Graphics 550 (48 EUs, 1100MHz, 64 MB eDRAM)
GT4e: Intel® Iris™ Pro Graphics 580 (72 EUs, 1050 MHz, 128 MB eDRAM) GT4e: Intel® Iris™ Pro Graphics p580 (72 EUs, 1100 MHz, 128 MB eDRAM) |
For more details please check
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Additional Resources
Get Amazing Intel GPU Acceleration for Media Pipelines - Webinar Replay