HD Graphics 3000 vs Iris Graphics 540
Aggregate performance score
Iris Graphics 540 outperforms HD Graphics 3000 by a whopping 361% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in performance ranking | 733 | 1147 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | 89 |
| Cost-effectiveness evaluation | 0.12 | no data |
| Architecture | Gen. 9 Skylake (2015−2016) | Gen. 6 Sandy Bridge (2011) |
| GPU code name | Skylake GT3e | Sandy Bridge |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Release date | 1 September 2015 (8 years ago) | 1 February 2011 (13 years ago) |
| Current price | $1043 | $476 |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
Iris Graphics 540 and HD Graphics 3000 have a nearly equal value for money.
Detailed specifications
General performance parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. These parameters indirectly speak of performance, but for precise assessment you have to consider their benchmark and gaming test results. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.
| Pipelines / CUDA cores | 48 | 12 |
| Core clock speed | 300 MHz | 350 MHz |
| Boost clock speed | 1050 MHz | 1350 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 189 million | 995 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 14 nm | 32 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 15 Watt | unknown |
| Texture fill rate | 50.40 | 13.80 |
| Floating-point performance | no data | 20.4 gflops |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on Iris Graphics 540 and HD Graphics 3000 compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For notebook video cards it's notebook size, connection slot and bus, if the video card is inserted into a slot instead of being soldered to the notebook motherboard.
| Interface | PCIe 3.0 x1 | PCIe 1.0 x16 |
VRAM capacity and type
Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.
| Memory type | eDRAM | System Shared |
| Maximum RAM amount | 64 MB | System Shared |
| Memory bus width | eDRAM + 64/128 Bit | 64/128 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | System Shared | System Shared |
| Shared memory | + | + |
Connectivity and outputs
Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.
| Display Connectors | No outputs | No outputs |
Supported technologies
Supported technological solutions. This information will prove useful if you need some particular technology for your purposes.
| Quick Sync | + | no data |
API compatibility
List of supported graphics and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 12 (12_1) | 11.1 (10_1) |
| Shader Model | 6.4 | 4.1 |
| OpenGL | 4.6 | 3.1 |
| OpenCL | 2.1 | N/A |
| Vulkan | 1.1.97 | N/A |
Synthetic benchmark performance
Non-gaming benchmark performance comparison. The combined score is measured on a 0-100 point scale.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark performance score. We are regularly improving our combining algorithms, but if you find some perceived inconsistencies, feel free to speak up in comments section, we usually fix problems quickly.
Iris Graphics 540 outperforms HD Graphics 3000 by 361% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Passmark
This is the most ubiquitous GPU benchmark, part of Passmark PerformanceTest suite. It gives the graphics card a thorough evaluation under various types of load, providing four separate benchmarks for Direct3D versions 9, 10, 11 and 12 (the last being done in 4K resolution if possible), and few more tests engaging DirectCompute capabilities.
Benchmark coverage: 25%
Iris Graphics 540 outperforms HD Graphics 3000 by 395% in Passmark.
3DMark Vantage Performance
3DMark Vantage is an outdated DirectX 10 benchmark using 1280x1024 screen resolution. It taxes the graphics card with two scenes, one depicting a girl escaping some militarized base located within a sea cave, the other displaying a space fleet attack on a defenseless planet. It was discontinued in April 2017, and Time Spy benchmark is now recommended to be used instead.
Benchmark coverage: 17%
Iris Graphics 540 outperforms HD Graphics 3000 by 463% in 3DMark Vantage Performance.
3DMark Cloud Gate GPU
Cloud Gate is an outdated DirectX 11 feature level 10 benchmark that was used for home PCs and basic notebooks. It displays a few scenes of some weird space teleportation device launching spaceships into unknown, using fixed resolution of 1280x720. Just like Ice Storm benchmark, it has been discontinued in January 2020 and replaced by 3DMark Night Raid.
Benchmark coverage: 14%
Iris Graphics 540 outperforms HD Graphics 3000 by 353% in 3DMark Cloud Gate GPU.
Gaming performance
Let's see how good the compared graphics cards are for gaming. Particular gaming benchmark results are measured in FPS.
Average FPS across all PC games
Here are the average frames per second in a large set of popular games across different resolutions:
| Full HD | 28
+250%
| 8
−250%
|
FPS performance in popular games
Full HD
Low Preset
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 6−7
+100%
|
3−4
−100%
|
Full HD
Medium Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 6−7 | 0−1 |
| Battlefield 5 | 5−6
+400%
|
1−2
−400%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 7−8
+133%
|
3−4
−133%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 6−7
+100%
|
3−4
−100%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 8−9
+700%
|
1−2
−700%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 12−14
+550%
|
2−3
−550%
|
| Hitman 3 | 6−7
+200%
|
2−3
−200%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 18−20
+58.3%
|
12−14
−58.3%
|
| Metro Exodus | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 12−14
+71.4%
|
7−8
−71.4%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 16−18
+70%
|
10−11
−70%
|
Full HD
High Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 6−7 | 0−1 |
| Battlefield 5 | 5−6
+400%
|
1−2
−400%
|
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 7−8
+133%
|
3−4
−133%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 6−7
+100%
|
3−4
−100%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 8−9
+700%
|
1−2
−700%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 12−14
+550%
|
2−3
−550%
|
| Hitman 3 | 6−7
+200%
|
2−3
−200%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 18−20
+58.3%
|
12−14
−58.3%
|
| Metro Exodus | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 12−14
+71.4%
|
7−8
−71.4%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 7−8
+133%
|
3−4
−133%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 16−18
+70%
|
10−11
−70%
|
Full HD
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 6−7 | 0−1 |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 7−8
+133%
|
3−4
−133%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 6−7
+100%
|
3−4
−100%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 6−7
+500%
|
1−2
−500%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 12−14
+550%
|
2−3
−550%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 18−20
+58.3%
|
12−14
−58.3%
|
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 12−14
+71.4%
|
7−8
−71.4%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 7−8
+133%
|
3−4
−133%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 16−18
+70%
|
10−11
−70%
|
Full HD
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 7−8
+600%
|
1−2
−600%
|
1440p
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 5−6
+400%
|
1−2
−400%
|
| Far Cry New Dawn | 4−5 | 0−1 |
1440p
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 2−3 | 0−1 |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 5−6
+25%
|
4−5
−25%
|
| Cyberpunk 2077 | 1−2
+0%
|
1−2
+0%
|
| Far Cry 5 | 5−6
+400%
|
1−2
−400%
|
| Forza Horizon 4 | 4−5 | 0−1 |
| Hitman 3 | 8−9
+33.3%
|
6−7
−33.3%
|
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 8−9
+167%
|
3−4
−167%
|
| The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt | 2−3 | 0−1 |
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 1−2 | 0−1 |
1440p
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 6−7
+100%
|
3−4
−100%
|
4K
High Preset
| Battlefield 5 | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Far Cry New Dawn | 2−3 | 0−1 |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 3−4
+200%
|
1−2
−200%
|
4K
Ultra Preset
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 2−3
+100%
|
1−2
−100%
|
| Assassin's Creed Valhalla | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Call of Duty: Modern Warfare | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Far Cry 5 | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Forza Horizon 4 | 1−2 | 0−1 |
| Horizon Zero Dawn | 3−4
+200%
|
1−2
−200%
|
| Metro Exodus | 5−6
+25%
|
4−5
−25%
|
| Watch Dogs: Legion | 1−2 | 0−1 |
4K
Epic Preset
| Red Dead Redemption 2 | 4−5
+100%
|
2−3
−100%
|
This is how Iris Graphics 540 and HD Graphics 3000 compete in popular games:
- Iris Graphics 540 is 250% faster in 1080p
Here's the range of performance differences observed across popular games:
- in Far Cry New Dawn, with 1080p resolution and the Medium Preset, the Iris Graphics 540 is 700% faster.
All in all, in popular games:
- Iris Graphics 540 is ahead in 32 tests (97%)
- there's a draw in 1 test (3%)
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 3.04 | 0.66 |
| Recency | 1 September 2015 | 1 February 2011 |
| Chip lithography | 14 nm | 32 nm |
The Iris Graphics 540 is our recommended choice as it beats the HD Graphics 3000 in performance tests.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
Comparisons with similar GPUs
We selected several comparisons of graphics cards with performance close to those reviewed, providing you with more options to consider.
