So, Anandtech just posted this video comparison (no numbers) between the Asus UX51 with GT 650M (DDR3) and the Intel-supplied Haswell system with their best-to-be GPU, the GT3.
In the video we see the two running Dirt 3 quite smoothly set on “high quality” preset and 1080p resolution, no AA, vsync off. This is actually exciting. No numbers available, but it seems that the Haswell GPU can deliver quite a punch.
I don’t know if it will be a GT 650M DDR3 level performance, though, because with these settings, we might get good FPSs and smooth gaming with even slower card than the GT 650M. Moreover, the comparison is between a mobile system that doesn’t perform as well as a desktop system.
Lets look at the TH Eon-11S review: we can see that running Dirt 3 on “high quality” preset with no AA on a GT 650M DDR3 and an I7-3720QM results in almost 60FPS. So, in fact, the Haswell system can deliver 60% performance compared to a GT 650M DDR3 and you won’t notice that in this video. Could be even less.
Two final points. One, Haswell systems will start unveiling around June this year. This means they won’t face the GT 650M, but also the new AMD Radeons and some months afterwards, the new Nvidia offerings. Remember that, because this video is afterall, a marketing step.
Secondly, there is the matter of price. I believe that the discrete GPU will deliver a much better cost-effective solution. Saying that, the Haswell performance to come should be still impressive for an integrated GPU and you might be able to get good performance along with good battery performance. But then again, it’s also AMD call in the mobile integrated GPU market.
