Intel HD Graphics P4600 vs NVIDIA GeForce 830M Comparison

# The Verdict - who should pick which, strictly from the data

The database places the NVIDIA GeForce 830M and the Intel HD Graphics P4600 in clearly different performance tiers, but the gap is not uniform across every metric. The GeForce 830M records an average benchmark score of 3957, while the Intel HD Graphics P4600 settles at 3389. That is a 16.8% advantage for the NVIDIA part in average compute, and the head-to-head test shows a 27.6% gap in its favor. Looking at the percentile rankings, the NVIDIA GeForce 830M sits at the 24th percentile among all GPUs, meaning 76% of recorded parts are faster. The Intel HD Graphics P4600 sits at the 20th percentile, with 80% of parts faster. In short, the GeForce 830M is the pick for anyone who needs a discrete mobile chip that plays in a higher performance class, while the Intel part is best treated as a platform-filler for everyday display and light compute duties. The data is unambiguous: NVIDIA GeForce 830M is the faster part in every recorded test.

# Architecture Differences

The two parts come from different design philosophies. The GeForce 830M uses the NVIDIA GM108 chip, built on the Maxwell architecture, fabricated at TSMC on a 28 nm process. The Intel HD Graphics P4600 uses the Haswell GT2 chip, belonging to Intel's Generation 7.5 architecture, built at Intel's own 22 nm fab. Node sizes differ, 28 nm for NVIDIA versus 22 nm for Intel, and while the NVIDIA part integrates 1,020 million transistors on a 77 mm² die, the Intel part has no publicly recorded transistor count or die size in the database. The resulting transistor density is also only recorded for NVIDIA at 13.2 million transistors per mm². The GeForce part draws 33 W of thermal design power and uses an IGP slot width, meaning it is a discrete chip with no integrated power connectors. The Intel part consumes more platform power at 84 W TDP and uses the integrated graphics processor slot width (IGP). Clock behavior is the inverse of the power story: the GeForce 830M has a base clock of 1082 MHz and a boost clock of 1150 MHz, whereas the Intel HD Graphics P4600 runs at a lower base 350 MHz and boosts up to 1200 MHz. The GeForce memory is a dedicated 2 GB DDR3 pool on a 64-bit bus, delivering 14.40 GB/s of bandwidth. The Intel part uses system shared memory, so its type, bus width, and bandwidth are all system-dependent. In raw shading resources, NVIDIA includes 256 shading units, 16 texture mapping units, and 8 render output units, with a pixel rate of 9.200 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 18.40 GTexel/s. Intel offers 160 shading units, 20 TMUs, and 2 ROPs, with a pixel rate of 2.400 GPixel/s and 24.00 GTexel/s. Peak FP32 compute is 588.8 GFLOPS for the NVIDIA part versus 384.0 GFLOPS for Intel, a 53% difference in raw shader math. Both support DirectX 12 (11_0 for NVIDIA, 12_11_1 for Intel), OpenGL 4.6 versus 4.3, and Vulkan 1.4 versus 1.0. The GeForce part has no direct output, display is portable-device dependent, whereas the Intel part is motherboard dependent.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only recorded direct head-to-head test is the Geekbench OpenCL run. In it, the NVIDIA GeForce 830M scores 4324, while the Intel HD Graphics P4600 scores 3389. That works out to a 27.6% win for the NVIDIA part. The delta is substantial and consistent with what one expects from a dedicated discrete GPU versus an integrated graphics engine. The score gap is not a small margin of noise; it is a large enough gap to change workload recommendations. The GeForce 830M's score (4324) places it in the same general performance envelope as the AMD Radeon R5 M420 (3956, within 0%), NVIDIA GeForce GT 745M (3953, +0.1%), NVIDIA Quadro K2000 (3964, -0.2%), and the AMD Radeon HD 6850 X2 (3977, -0.5%). The Intel HD Graphics P4600's score of 3389 keeps company with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M (3431, -1.2%) and NVIDIA Quadro 2000M (3434, -1.3%). What is more, the Intel is also close to Intel HD Graphics 530 (3332, +1.7%) and NVIDIA GeForce GT 730M (3316, +2.2%). So the GeForce 830M is in a faster peer group and the HD P4600 is in a slower one, and the delta between them is statistically meaningful.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster, the NVIDIA GeForce 830M or the Intel HD Graphics P4600?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce 830M is faster. The single head-to-head test (Geekbench OpenCL) shows NVIDIA scoring 4324 versus 3389 for Intel. That is a 27.6% higher score for the NVIDIA part.

Q: Is there a big performance difference in average?

A: Yes. Across all recorded runs, the GeForce 830M averages 3957, against 3389 for the Intel HD Graphics P4600. That is a 16.8% average gap in favor of the NVIDIA part.

Q: Which one is better supported by the API?

A: The GeForce 830M supports DirectX 12 (11_0), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Intel HD Graphics P4600 supports DirectX 12 (11_1), OpenGL 4.3, and Vulkan 1.0. Both are modern, but NVIDIA's API set is more recent for OpenGL and Vulkan.

Q: Are there any major architecture differences?

A: Yes. The GeForce 830M uses the NVIDIA GM108 chip (Maxwell, 28 nm, TSMC) with 1,020 million transistors on a 77 mm² die. The Intel HD Graphics P4600 uses the Haswell GT2 (Generation 7.5, Intel, 22 nm) and does not list a transistor count or die size in the database. The GeForce has 2 GB of dedicated DDR3 memory and 14.40 GB/s of bandwidth; the Intel uses system shared memory, so its bandwidth depends on the rest of the system.

Q: Which GPU wins in raw shading power?

A: The GeForce 830M has 256 shading units, 16 texture units and 8 ROPs, with 9.200 GPixel/s pixel fill and 18.40 GTexel/s texel fill rate. The Intel P4600 has 160 shading units, 20 texture units, and 8 ROPs, with 2.400 GPixel/s and 24.00 GTexel/s. The NVIDIA part is ahead in pixel fill and raw shader throughput, while the Intel part has a slightly higher texture rate (24.00 versus 18.40 GTexel/s).

Q: Which one is the end-of-life part?

A: Both are marked as end-of-life in the database. The GeForce 830M was released on 2014-03-11, the Intel HD Graphics P4600 on 2013-05-31.

Where Each One Wins

Looking at the recorded test results, the GeForce 830M wins in the only head-to-head benchmark, and it also has a higher average score. Beyond the raw score, the NVIDIA chip wins on the feature set that matters for compute: more shading units, more texture units, and a much higher pixel fill rate. It also has its own dedicated memory with substantially more bandwidth, which matters in real workloads. The Intel HD Graphics P4600, on the other hand, is the winner in platform integration: it uses shared system memory, no extra power connector, and its output is tied to the motherboard rather than the display. It has a modest edge in texture fill rate (24.00 GTexel/s vs 18.40 GTexel/s) and a lower thermal design power at idle, but it is a variable draw from the system memory pool. For a desktop or laptop that needs casual graphics and low power, the Intel part has merit. For any scenario where 3D performance is the point, the GeForce 830M is the clear choice.

Specification Differences

Here is the summary of the fields where the two parts differ, based only on the database records.

| Field | NVIDIA GeForce 830M | Intel HD Graphics P4600 |

|---|---|

| Chip | GM108 | Haswell GT2 |

| Architecture | Maxwell | Generation 7.5 |

| Process Node | 28 nm | 22 nm |

| Foundry | TSMC | Intel |

| Transistors | 1,020 million | Not recorded |

| Die Size | 77 mm² | Not recorded |

| Transistor Density | 13.2M / mm² | Not recorded |

| Base Clock | 1082 MHz | 350 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1150 MHz | 1200 MHz |

| Memory Clock | 900 MHz, 1800 Mbps effective | System Shared |

| Memory Size | 2 GB | System Shared |

| Memory Type | DDR3 | System Shared |

| Memory Bus Width | 64 bit | System Shared |

| Memory Bandwidth | 14.40 GB/s | System Dependent |

| Shading Units | 256 | 160 |

| TMUs | 16 | 20 |

| ROPs | 8 | 8 |

| Pixel Rate | 9.200 GPixel/s | 2.400 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 18.40 GTexel/s | 24.00 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 588.8 GFLOPS | 384.0 GFLOPS |

| TDP | 33 W | 84 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | IGP |

| Power Connectors | None | None |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 3.0 x8 | Ring Bus |

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | Motherboard Dependent |

| DirectX | 12 (11_0) | 12 (11_0) |

| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.3 |

| Vulkan | 1.4 | 1.0 |

| Release Date | 2014-03-11 | 2013-05-31 |

| Production Status | End-of-life | End-of-life |