GPUs or graphics processing units are one of the core components of PC building. Everything you see on your monitor is there because of your GPU.

GPUs are responsible for myriads of tasks. From simple tasks like displaying images and videos to more complex stuff like video gaming, creating professional animations, 3D rendering, and so on. The gaming industry is heavily influenced by GPUs, and with so many new and advanced game releases every year, we see a lot more variants in the GPU industry as well.

Out of all the GPU manufacturers, NVIDIA, AMD & Intel have been making amazing units for a while now and it is easy to get confused when you have to choose one out of the three.

In this article, we will be going through some of the major differences between 3 models of these 3 manufacturers.

First up we have-

Intel Iris Xe MAX vs. GeForce MX 350

Before we jump into comparison, let us take a closer look at these two amazing units separately.

The Intel Iris Xe MAX

The Xe Max is a mobile entry-level graphics card that comes with PCI express 4.0, has 96 EUs or execution units, and is actually based on Intel’s 12 Gen architecture. 

Unlike the previous standard Iris Xe, this is a discrete GPU that Intel has been marketing for both content creators and casual gamers who do not want to carry around heavy gaming laptops but still want to enjoy a quality gaming experience.

It also comes with the latest deep link technology, then can intelligently load balance between a discrete GPU and an integrated GPU to increase performance and battery life.

At present, the Xe Max GPUs are available for Tiger Lake Laptops only. However, a laptop expert from the dutch magazine Laptoid told us that even though the Xe MAX are laptop first GPUs, they will be making their way to desktops during mid 2021.

The NVIDIA GeForce MX 350

The MX 350 can be found on most performance ultrabooks like the Acer Swift 5 and the Zenbook 13. The MX 350 is considered faster than average integrated GPUs like the Intel UHD ones but is slower compared to GeForce RTX or GTX series.

The Comparison

Considering the weight class of the Intel Iris Xe MAX, it is an absolute beast, and it surpassed NVIDIA’s entry-level MX 350 and even trades blows with the MX 450, which is considered as a replacement for the GTX 1050.

The Mx 350 comes with a dedicated 2 GB or 4 GB video memory. However, the iris Xe MAX has 68 GB/s compared to the 56 GB/s of the MX 350/s.

Another part where the iris Xe MAX beats the MX 350 is the clock speed where the former has 1.65 GHz and the latter has 1.35 GHz. The power consumption for both GPUs is 25 watts.

The reason the Xe MAX is the clear winner is that it’s AI performance can even beat the RTX 2080. It even has a higher TDP envelope, variable-rate shading, and Intel DL Boost. 

The best part, however, is the deep link technology that allows utilizing the integrated and dedicated GPU alongside the CPU. 

The Xe Max also provides a better gaming performance in AAA gaming titles like Metro Exodus, Witcher 3, and Grid 2019. However, for games like Borderlands 3 and Gears Tactics the MX 350 does slightly better, but overall the iris Ex MAX is more consistent. It can easily achieve 30+ FPS on most AAA titles on low to medium settings.

In terms of AI and productivity workload, the Iris Xe MAXs DL boost and deep link technology allow it to trade blows with the RTX 2080 mobility GPU. In coding, Intel’s benchmarks found that the Iris Ex MAX is 78% faster compared to the RTX 2080.

Which makes the Intel Iris Xe MAX a clear winner.

Now let’s see how it holds up with the AMD Ryzen 4000 APU.

AMD Radeon RX Vega 8 (Ryzen 4000)

For the 4000 series, we are going to be talking about the Vega 8 since this is the latest version of the APUs. APU stands for accelerated processing unit and these work as 64-bit microprocessors that act as both a CPU & a GPU.

The vega 8 of Ryzen 4000 has a clock speed of and is a high-end Vega architecture APU manufactured primarily for gamers.

The high boost clock speed of 1750 MHz certainly helps in this regard. It also has 8 CU which is 512 out of the 704 shaders and a TDP of 12-25 W. The Vega also architecture allows DirectX 12.

However, since it is integrated into the processor, it does not have a separate dedicated memory. Instead, it uses a part of the system’s RAM. 

According to Metacritic, the Vega 8 got a decent 82 score for the game Metro Exodus, which is fairly well and means it can handle most AAA titles with ease.

Comparison between AMD ryzen 400 Vs Intel Iris Xe MAX

For purely gaming, you will be better off with the AMD ryzen 4000 APUs. Meaning if you are looking for a laptop with APU solely for gaming then the ryzen 4000 APUs should be your top choice, then go for the Intel Iris Xe MAX and finally, there will be the NVIDIA MX 350.

But in other cases, like coding and AI development, the Iris Xe Max takes the cake. Because of its DL booster and Deep Link technology, the Xe MAX stills seem unbeatable amongst the three despite having a slower clock speed of 1650 MHz.

Final Thoughts

Integrated GPUs and APUs are bringing a new surge of gamers to laptop gaming. However, these GPUs are also going to be available for desktops in the coming years. Intel has also declared that they will make a gaming-focused chip in 2021. 

The competition between these three giants is only going to get more intense and they will also offer competitive prices, which only means that better days are yet to come.