12th Generation Intel® Core™ Processors

Datasheet, Volume 1 of 2

ID Date Version Classification
655258 08/08/2022 Public

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Document Table of Contents

Hybrid Graphics

Microsoft* Windows* 10 operating system enables the Windows*10 Hybrid graphics framework wherein the GPUs and their drivers can be simultaneously utilized to provide users with the benefits of both performance capability of discrete GPU (dGPU) and low-power display capability of the processor GPU (iGPU). For instance, when there is a high-end 3D gaming workload in progress, the dGPU will process and render the game frames using its graphics performance, while iGPU continues to perform the display operations by compositing the frames rendered by dGPU. We recommend that OEMS should seek further guidance from Microsoft* to confirm that the design fits all the latest criteria defined by Microsoft* to support HG.

Microsoft* Hybrid Graphics definition includes the following:

  1. The system contains a single integrated GPU and a single discrete GPU.
  2. It is a design assumption that the discrete GPU has a significantly higher performance than the integrated GPU.
  3. Both GPUs shall be physically enclosed as part of the system.
    1. Microsoft* Hybrid DOES NOT support hot-plugging of GPUs
    2. OEMS should seek further guidance from Microsoft* before designing systems with the concept of hot-plugging
  4. Starting with Windows*10 Th1 (WDDM 2.0), a previous restriction that the discrete GPU is a render-only device, with no displays connected to it, has been removed. A render-only configuration with NO outputs is still allowed, just NOT required.