Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580

Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580

Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580: Overview of a Hybrid GPU for Budget Systems (2025)

Introduction

In 2025, integrated graphics continue to evolve, offering users more capabilities without the need to purchase discrete graphics cards. The Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580 is one such example. This hybrid GPU, introduced as part of the Intel Core 12th generation processors (Alder Lake-P), combines energy efficiency with sufficient performance for everyday tasks. Let's delve into what this model can do and who it is suited for.


Architecture and Key Features

Architecture: The Iris Pro P580 is built on the Xe-LP (Gen12.2) microarchitecture, optimized for mobile and compact systems. The chip is manufactured using Intel's 10nm SuperFin technology, ensuring a balance between performance and power consumption.

Unique Features:

- Support for XeSS (Xe Super Sampling) — Intel's proprietary upscaling technology using artificial intelligence. In games, this can increase FPS by 20-30% with minimal loss of image quality.

- Hardware decoding for AV1 for streaming 8K video.

- Partial support for hybrid ray tracing via DirectX 12 Ultimate, but only for non-gaming tasks (e.g., rendering in Blender).


Memory and Bandwidth

The Iris Pro P580 utilizes system RAM (DDR4/DDR5) in a Unified Memory Architecture (UMA) configuration. The amount of allocated VRAM dynamically adjusts from 2 GB to 8 GB depending on BIOS settings and available RAM.

Bandwidth varies by memory type:

- With DDR4-3200: up to 51.2 GB/s.

- With DDR5-4800: up to 76.8 GB/s.

For gaming and video editing, a minimum of 16 GB of dual-channel DDR5 is recommended to reduce latency and improve FPS stability.


Gaming Performance

The P580 is aimed at achieving 1080p/30 FPS in modern titles with medium settings. Examples (tested with DDR5-4800):

- Cyberpunk 2077: 24-28 FPS (Low, XeSS Balanced).

- Fortnite: 45-50 FPS (Medium, TSR).

- CS2: 60-70 FPS (High).

- Hogwarts Legacy: 22-25 FPS (Low, FSR 2.1 Performance).

For esports titles (Valorant, Dota 2), the GPU performs well, achieving stable 60+ FPS. In 4K, launching games is only feasible through upscaling (XeSS/FSR) or with minimum settings.

Ray tracing is nearly unavailable due to limited computational power. In Shadow of the Tomb Raider, enabling RT drops FPS to 10-15.


Professional Tasks

The Iris Pro P580 supports OpenCL 3.0 and Vulkan Compute, making it suitable for basic professional tasks:

- Video Editing: Rendering in DaVinci Resolve (H.264/265) at 1080p takes about 15-20% longer than on the NVIDIA MX550.

- 3D Modeling: Blender Cycles operates slower than on discrete GPUs, but a medium complexity scene can be prepared in reasonable time.

- Scientific Calculations: The card is compatible with Intel oneAPI, but for ML/AI, solutions with dedicated Tensor cores are preferable.


Power Consumption and Thermal Management

Chip TDP: 28-35 W (depending on system configuration).

Recommendations:

- For laptops: passive or combined cooling (fan + heat pipes).

- For mini-PCs (e.g., Intel NUC): a case with ventilation holes and airflow ≥15 CFM.

Peak power consumption under load can reach up to 40 W.


Comparison with Competitors

1. AMD Radeon 780M (RDNA 3):

- 25-30% faster in games due to 12 CUs and support for FSR 3.0.

- Higher price for systems based on Ryzen 7 8700G (~$500 compared to $400 for Intel Core i7-1260P).

2. NVIDIA GeForce MX570:

- Better optimization for professional software (CUDA) but lacks AV1 hardware decoder.

Conclusion: The Iris Pro P580 wins due to its integration into the CPU and the low cost of the platform.


Practical Tips

1. Power Supply: A 200-300 W PSU (for example, Be Quiet! SFX Power 3 300W) is sufficient for PCs with Iris Pro P580.

2. Compatibility: The chip works only with motherboards based on Intel 600/700 series chipsets.

3. Drivers: Regularly update the Intel Graphics Command Center — it is critical for the stability of XeSS.


Pros and Cons

Pros:

- Energy efficiency.

- Support for AV1 and XeSS.

- Low system costs based on it (laptops starting from $600).

Cons:

- Limited gaming performance.

- Dependence on system memory speed.

- Weak drivers for professional software.


Final Verdict

The Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580 is a good choice for:

1. Office PCs and mini-systems where silence and compactness are important.

2. Budget laptops for study and esports gaming.

3. Hobbyists who value AV1 and upscaling support.

If you plan to play AAA titles or work with 3D rendering, consider discrete GPUs (like the Intel Arc A580 or NVIDIA RTX 3050).

Prices in April 2025:

- Laptops with Intel Iris Pro P580: starting at $600 (Acer Swift 5).

- Intel NUC 13 Pro mini-PC: $450 (without RAM and storage).

Basic

Label Name
Intel
Platform
Integrated
Launch Date
September 2015
Model Name
Iris Pro Graphics P580
Generation
HD Graphics-W
Base Clock
350MHz
Boost Clock
1000MHz
Bus Interface
Ring Bus
Transistors
Unknown
TMUs
?
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) serve as components of the GPU, which are capable of rotating, scaling, and distorting binary images, and then placing them as textures onto any plane of a given 3D model. This process is called texture mapping.
72
Foundry
Intel
Process Size
14 nm+
Architecture
Generation 9.0

Memory Specifications

Memory Size
System Shared
Memory Type
System Shared
Memory Bus
?
The memory bus width refers to the number of bits of data that the video memory can transfer within a single clock cycle. The larger the bus width, the greater the amount of data that can be transmitted instantaneously, making it one of the crucial parameters of video memory. The memory bandwidth is calculated as: Memory Bandwidth = Memory Frequency x Memory Bus Width / 8. Therefore, when the memory frequencies are similar, the memory bus width will determine the size of the memory bandwidth.
System Shared
Memory Clock
SystemShared
Bandwidth
?
Memory bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between the graphics chip and the video memory. It is measured in bytes per second, and the formula to calculate it is: memory bandwidth = working frequency × memory bus width / 8 bits.
System Dependent

Theoretical Performance

Pixel Rate
?
Pixel fill rate refers to the number of pixels a graphics processing unit (GPU) can render per second, measured in MPixels/s (million pixels per second) or GPixels/s (billion pixels per second). It is the most commonly used metric to evaluate the pixel processing performance of a graphics card.
9.000 GPixel/s
Texture Rate
?
Texture fill rate refers to the number of texture map elements (texels) that a GPU can map to pixels in a single second.
72.00 GTexel/s
FP16 (half)
?
An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy.
2.304 TFLOPS
FP64 (double)
?
An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy, while single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.
288.0 GFLOPS
FP32 (float)
?
An important metric for measuring GPU performance is floating-point computing capability. Single-precision floating-point numbers (32-bit) are used for common multimedia and graphics processing tasks, while double-precision floating-point numbers (64-bit) are required for scientific computing that demands a wide numeric range and high accuracy. Half-precision floating-point numbers (16-bit) are used for applications like machine learning, where lower precision is acceptable.
1.129 TFLOPS

Miscellaneous

Shading Units
?
The most fundamental processing unit is the Streaming Processor (SP), where specific instructions and tasks are executed. GPUs perform parallel computing, which means multiple SPs work simultaneously to process tasks.
576
TDP
15W
Vulkan Version
?
Vulkan is a cross-platform graphics and compute API by Khronos Group, offering high performance and low CPU overhead. It lets developers control the GPU directly, reduces rendering overhead, and supports multi-threading and multi-core processors.
1.3
OpenCL Version
3.0
OpenGL
4.6
DirectX
12 (12_1)
Shader Model
6.4
ROPs
?
The Raster Operations Pipeline (ROPs) is primarily responsible for handling lighting and reflection calculations in games, as well as managing effects like anti-aliasing (AA), high resolution, smoke, and fire. The more demanding the anti-aliasing and lighting effects in a game, the higher the performance requirements for the ROPs; otherwise, it may result in a sharp drop in frame rate.
9

Benchmarks

FP32 (float)
Score
1.129 TFLOPS

Compared to Other GPU

FP32 (float) / TFLOPS
1.176 +4.2%
1.16 +2.7%
1.102 -2.4%
1.067 -5.5%