Overclocking Intel’s HD Graphics - It Works...Very Well

The coolest part of my job is being able to work with some ridiculously smart people. One such person gave me the idea to try overclocking the Intel HD graphics core on Clarkdale a few weeks ago. I didn’t get time to do it with the Core i5 661, but today is a different day.

Clarkdale offers three different GPU clocks depending on the model:

Processor Intel HD Graphics Clock
Intel Core i5-670 733MHz
Intel Core i5-661 900MHz
Intel Core i5-660 733MHz
Intel Core i5-650 733MHz
Intel Core i3-540 733MHz
Intel Core i3-530 733MHz
Intel Pentium G9650 533MHz

 

The Core i5 661 runs it at the highest speed - 900MHz. The rest of the Core i5 and i3 processors pick 733MHz. And the Pentium G6950 has a 533MHz graphics clock.

Remember that the Intel HD Graphics die is physically separate from the CPU die on Clarkdale. It’s a separate 45nm package and I’m guessing it’s not all that difficult to make. If AMD can reliably ship GPUs with hundreds of shader processors, Intel can probably make a chip with 12 without much complaining.

So the theory is that these graphics cores are easily overclockable. I fired up our testbed and adjusted the GPU clock. It’s a single BIOS option and without any changes to voltage or cooling I managed to get our Core i3 530’s GPU running at 1200MHz. That’s a 64% overclock!

I could push the core as high as 1400MHz and still get into Windows, but the system stopped being able to render any 3D games at that point.

I benchmarked World of Warcraft with the Core i3 running at three different GPU clocks to show the potential for improvement:

CPU (Graphics Clock) World of Warcraft
Intel Core i5 661 (900MHz gfx) 14.8 fps
Intel Core i3 530 (733MHz gfx) 12.5 fpx
Intel Core i3 530 (900MHz gfx) 14.2 fps
Intel Core i3 530 (1200MHz gfx) 19.0 fps

 

A 64% overclock resulted in a 52% increase in performance. If Intel wanted to, it could easily make its on-package GPU a lot faster than it is today. I wonder if this is what we’ll see with Sandy Bridge and graphics turbo on the desktop.

Integrated Graphics - Slower than AMD, Still Perfect for an HTPC Overclocking the i3 - 4GHz with the Stock Cooler
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  • loucm - Sunday, August 1, 2010 - link

    using the same motherboard gigabyte h55m-ud2h
    i manage to get my i3 530 @ 4GHZ stable with only 1.184 core voltage.
  • polarq - Tuesday, August 3, 2010 - link

    Hi, I have a core i3-530 and h55m-ud2h, bought a coolermaster 212 and I'm trying to push the limits :) But with the GPU, in bios there's a possibility to change it from 733mhz, which I did, on 900 - but it still shows 733, both in bios and cpu-z.

    So I can freely input the value, but 733 is still lights up white in bios. Is there any possibility it was locked after it couldnt take 900? Can I unlock it again? I tried CLR_CMOS, load fail safe defaults, but nothing changed. Any advice please?
  • Alejo1879 - Wednesday, February 2, 2011 - link

    Need Opinion For Core i3 550
    Hello people, i need some opinions about the intel core i3 550.
    Is this CPU faster than core i3 530, i think so, but in cpubenchmark.com, in the High End CPUs - Updated 1st of February 2011 the core i3 530 is in the top and the i3 550 don't.

    Intel Core i7 995X @ 3.60GHz 10,795
    Intel Core i3 530 @ 2.93GHz 3,546 $124.95*
    AMD Phenom II X4 B40 3,534 NA
    Intel Core i5 655K @ 3.20GHz 3,525 $192.95*
    Intel Core i7 820QM @ 1.73GHz 3,520 $546.00**
    Intel Core2 Extreme @ 2.26GHz 3,518 NA
    Intel Core2 Quad Q9100 @ 2.26GHz 3,428 $385.89**
    Intel Core i7-2620M @ 2.70GHz 3,415 NA
    Intel Core i5 661 @ 3.33GHz 3,295 $209.99*
    Intel Core i3 560 @ 3.33GHz 3,283 $149.99*
    AMD Phenom II X4 910 3,281 $204.19**
    AMD Phenom II X4 B93 3,275 NA
    Intel Core i5 650 @ 3.20GHz 3,120 $182.99*
    Intel Core i5 660 @ 3.33GHz 3,101 $207.99*
    Intel Core i3 550 @ 3.20GHz 3,026 $124.99*

    IS IN FACT THE CORE I3 530 BETTER THAN I3 540, 550 AND EVEN I3 560?
    PLEASE HELP.
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  • sarp - Wednesday, January 11, 2012 - link

    Ive i3 530 @2.93

    Ive managed to get it to 4.00GHz with 182 BClk by changing QPI, Graphics and RAM Frequencies accodringly. Sometimes my screen just freezes with a solid color and I have to restart it in order to get to Windows again. Anyway, I want to boost Intel Graphics HD 3000 performance, it's default clock is 733MHz, since Ive changed BClk to 182, to be on the safe side it is 500MHz. I wonder, how much should I increase graphics core voltage in order to get to 900Mhz with 182 BClk?
  • KinderJoy - Tuesday, September 28, 2021 - link

    What software are you using to overclock?

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