Intel HD Graphics 4000 Mobile

Intel HD Graphics 4000 Mobile is an integrated graphics processor built on the Ivy Bridge GT2 chip, using Intel’s Generation 7.0 architecture and a 22 nm process node. It was released in 2012 and is now end-of-life, occupying the 50th percentile among all GPUs tracked in the database, though its average benchmark score is listed as zero, indicating a lack of standardized performance data. The following analysis relies strictly on the supplied facts, interpreting what the specifications imply for real-world usage.

Power and Cooling — TDP, PSU recommendation, connector requirements

The Intel HD Graphics 4000 Mobile carries a thermal design power (TDP) of 45 W, which covers the entire integrated graphics solution within a mobile processor package. Because this is an IGP (integrated graphics processor), there is no dedicated slot width, no power connector requirement, and no suggested PSU rating provided in the data. The absence of power connectors means the GPU draws all its power through the motherboard’s socket, sharing the CPU’s power delivery. For a laptop or mobile workstation, the 45 W TDP is modest by discrete GPU standards, but it is shared with the CPU cores on the same die, so total system thermal load can be higher depending on processor configuration. Cooling solutions for such chips are typically passive heatsinks or low-profile fans designed for ultrabooks and thin-and-light notebooks, as the IGP does not generate the concentrated heat of a standalone card. The data shows no separate power phase requirements, so any system built around this chip must rely on the platform’s integrated voltage regulators. Since the GPU is end-of-life, modern PSU recommendations are irrelevant, but for historical context, the 45 W figure places it in a low-power tier suitable for battery-optimized devices. The lack of a suggested PSU field reinforces that this part was never intended for desktop builds with aftermarket power supplies. Instead, the power envelope is entirely dictated by the laptop’s design, with the IGP consuming a fraction of the total platform power under typical loads. The 22 nm process node helps keep leakage currents manageable, but the 1,200 million transistors on a 133 mm² die produce a transistor density of 9.0M per mm², which is dense for its era. This density, combined with the 45 W TDP, suggests that thermal throttling could occur in poorly ventilated chassis, though the base clock of 650 MHz and boost clock of 1000 MHz are low enough to avoid extreme heat generation. No explicit cooling solution is specified, so the data implies that the original equipment manufacturer’s thermal design is the sole determinant of sustained performance. The absence of a slot width and power connectors further confirms that this is a soldered, non-upgradeable component, making cooling and power delivery entirely the laptop’s responsibility.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set — RT/tensor cores, API support from facts

The Intel HD Graphics 4000 Mobile has no dedicated ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, as these fields are null in the data. This places it firmly in the pre-DXR era, where hardware-accelerated ray tracing was not available on any consumer GPU. Instead, the feature set relies on its 128 shading units, 16 texture mapping units (TMUs), and 2 raster operations pipelines (ROPs), which are the traditional building blocks of rasterization. The API support includes DirectX 11.1 (with a feature level of 11_0), OpenGL 4.0, and Vulkan 1.0. The DirectX 11.1 support means the GPU can run games and applications built for DirectX 11, but it lacks the newer features of DirectX 12 Ultimate, such as mesh shaders or variable rate shading. The OpenGL 4.0 support is sufficient for many OpenGL-based titles from its release period, but it falls short of later versions that introduced more advanced compute and tessellation options. Vulkan 1.0 is notable because it provides a low-overhead API that can improve CPU-bound scenarios, but the GPU’s limited compute power (256.0 GFLOPS fp32) will still be the bottleneck in most Vulkan titles. The pixel rate is 2.000 GPixel/s, and the texture rate is 16.00 GTexel/s, which are modest figures that constrain fill-rate-heavy workloads. The lack of RT and tensor cores means no DLSS-style upscaling or ray-traced effects are possible, leaving the GPU to rely solely on traditional rendering techniques. For users expecting modern features, this is a clear limitation, but for its 2012 release, the feature set was competitive for integrated graphics, offering a baseline of API compatibility that allowed older games to run. The 128 shading units are arranged in a configuration that supports basic compute shaders via DirectX 11, but the fp32 throughput of 256.0 GFLOPS is roughly what a low-end discrete GPU from that era offered. The absence of fp16 data suggests no half-precision acceleration, which further limits its use in modern machine learning or high-dynamic-range compute tasks. In summary, the feature set is entirely rasterization-focused, with no path for ray tracing or tensor-based acceleration, and the API support caps out at DirectX 11.1 and Vulkan 1.0, meaning any game requiring DirectX 12 or OpenGL 4.5+ will be incompatible.

Benchmark Performance — analyze scores vs rivals with exact % deltas

The FACT PACK lists no benchmark scores for the Intel HD Graphics 4000 Mobile, as the benchmarks array is empty and the average benchmark score is 0. The percentile versus all GPUs is 50, which indicates that it sits exactly at the median of the database’s tracked GPUs, but this percentile is not derived from actual performance measurements in this instance. Since there are no nearest rivals provided, no direct percentage deltas can be calculated. However, the raw specifications allow for theoretical performance estimates. The fp32 throughput of 256.0 GFLOPS is the primary compute metric, and it is paired with a pixel rate of 2.000 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 16.00 GTexel/s. These numbers suggest that the GPU is capable of handling 720p gaming at low to medium settings for titles released around 2012, but modern games would struggle due to the 2 ROPs, which severely limit pixel fill at higher resolutions. The base clock of 650 MHz and boost clock of 1000 MHz are low, but they are typical for integrated GPUs of that generation, where power efficiency was prioritized over raw speed. The memory bandwidth is listed as “System Dependent,” meaning the GPU shares system RAM, and the bus width is likewise “System Shared,” so performance will vary dramatically based on the laptop’s memory configuration — dual-channel DDR3 will provide significantly more bandwidth than single-channel. Without benchmark scores, the data cannot confirm real-world FPS figures, but the 50th percentile ranking suggests that, historically, this GPU was mid-pack among all GPUs, which includes many low-end integrated and entry-level discrete parts. The zero average benchmark score is likely a data artifact, but it means there is no empirical basis to claim a specific performance level. In practical terms, the 2 ROPs are the most limiting factor, as they cap resolution scaling; at 1080p, the pixel rate of 2.000 GPixel/s would be insufficient for demanding scenes, forcing the GPU to operate well below its texture rate potential. The 16 TMUs are adequate for texture-heavy workloads, but the 128 shading units are too few to handle modern shader complexity. Overall, the data paints a picture of a GPU that was entry-level even at launch, with no rivals to compare against in the nearestRivals field, so any performance positioning is speculative and based solely on the architectural specs.

How It Compares — position vs each nearest rival, one short paragraph per rival

The FACT PACK provides no nearest rivals for the Intel HD Graphics 4000 Mobile, so there are no direct competitor comparisons available from the data. This absence means that the GPU’s relative performance cannot be benchmarked against any specific other product. The percentile of 50 versus all GPUs is the only positional metric, but it is not tied to a named rival. Without a nearestRivals list, the analysis must rely on the intrinsic specifications to infer placement. The 256.0 GFLOPS fp32 performance is roughly comparable to early discrete mobile GPUs from the same era, but no names or scores are provided to make a quantitative comparison. The 2 ROPs are unusually low, even for integrated graphics, which suggests that the GPU would be outpaced by any competing product with even 4 ROPs, but this cannot be stated as a fact because no rival data exists. The data also lacks any predecessor or successor information, so the HD Graphics 4000 Mobile’s evolution within Intel’s lineup is undocumented. The absence of rivals may indicate that the database categorizes this GPU as too unique or too old for direct comparisons, or the benchmarks array is simply empty due to a lack of testing. In either case, the only verifiable statement is that the GPU sits at the 50th percentile, which, without context, is a neutral position. If the percentile were based on a comprehensive dataset, it would imply that half of all GPUs perform better and half perform worse, but the average score of 0 contradicts this, suggesting the percentile might be a default or placeholder value. Therefore, this section must conclude that no rival comparisons can be made from the provided facts, and any attempt to position the GPU against competitors would be unfounded speculation.

Who Should Consider It — resolution/settings-based recommendations grounded in the scores

Given the lack of benchmark scores, recommendations must be derived from the hardware specifications alone. The Intel HD Graphics 4000 Mobile is suitable for users who primarily run legacy software or light productivity tasks, as its 128 shading units and 2 ROPs are insufficient for modern gaming at any resolution above 720p. At 720p, the pixel rate of 2.000 GPixel/s can handle simple 2D interfaces and very old 3D titles, but even there, the texture rate of 16.00 GTexel/s will bottleneck when textures are high-resolution. For 1080p, the data strongly indicates that the GPU is not viable for gaming, as the 2 ROPs would need to fill over 2 million pixels per frame at typical refresh rates, far exceeding the 2.000 GPixel/s limit. Users who play pre-2010 games with low system requirements might find acceptable performance at 720p with all settings on low, but the shared memory bandwidth (System Dependent) means performance will degrade if the system RAM is single-channel or slow. The DirectX 11.1 support allows for compatibility with many games from 2012, but the API’s feature level of 11_0 limits advanced effects like tessellation or compute shaders, which could cause some titles to run poorly or fail to launch. Productivity applications like web browsing, office suites, and video playback are well within the GPU’s capabilities, as these tasks rely more on the CPU and memory bandwidth than raw GPU throughput. For users who need to run modern software, the 45 W TDP and lack of RT/tensor cores make this GPU obsolete, and the end-of-life status means no driver updates are likely. The 50th percentile ranking suggests that, among all GPUs, this is a mid-tier performer, but that ranking is likely skewed by the inclusion of many older and weaker integrated parts. The absence of a suggested PSU and power connectors confirms this is a laptop-only component, so it is not a candidate for desktop builds. In summary, this GPU is for users who have very light graphical demands, such as retro gaming at 720p, or who need basic 2D acceleration for browsing and document editing. Anyone expecting to play titles released after 2015 should look elsewhere, as the data provides no evidence of capability beyond the most modest workloads.

FAQ

Q: What is the thermal design power of this GPU?

A: The TDP is 45 W, which is shared with the CPU in a mobile platform.

Q: Does it support DirectX 12?

A: No, the supported DirectX version is 11.1 (with a feature level of 11_0).

Q: How many shading units does it have?

A: It has 128 shading units, along with 16 TMUs and 2 ROPs.

Q: What is the maximum boost clock speed?

A: The boost clock is 1000 MHz, with a base clock of 650 MHz.

Q: Is there any ray tracing support?

A: No, there are no ray tracing cores or tensor cores listed.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth?

A: The memory bandwidth is “System Dependent,” meaning it relies on shared system RAM.

Q: What is the GPU’s percentile ranking?

A: It is at the 50th percentile among all GPUs in the database.

Memory Subsystem — VRAM size/type, bus width, bandwidth and what it means for high resolutions

The Intel HD Graphics 4000 Mobile uses System Shared memory, meaning it has no dedicated VRAM. The memory size is listed as “System Shared,” the type is “System Shared,” and the bus width is also “System Shared.” The bandwidth is explicitly stated as “System Dependent,” which is the critical factor for performance. This design means the GPU accesses the same system RAM as the CPU, so the effective bandwidth depends entirely on the laptop’s memory configuration — dual-channel DDR3 memory will provide roughly double the bandwidth of single-channel, and faster memory speeds will also improve GPU performance. For high resolutions like 1080p or 1440p, the shared memory subsystem is a severe limitation because the GPU must compete with the CPU for memory access, and the system-dependent bandwidth cannot sustain the high data throughput required for modern textures and frame buffers. The 2 ROPs further compound this issue, as they limit the pixel fill rate to 2.000 GPixel/s, which is insufficient for high-resolution rendering. Even at 720p, the shared memory can become a bottleneck if the system RAM is slow or if other applications are using significant memory bandwidth. The lack of a dedicated bus width means there is no fixed data path, so performance is unpredictable and varies from one laptop to another. For users who plan to play games, the memory subsystem alone would disqualify this GPU for anything beyond low-resolution, low-detail scenarios. The “System Dependent” bandwidth also affects texture streaming, where large assets must be loaded from system RAM, causing stutters if the memory bandwidth is inadequate. In contrast, discrete GPUs have dedicated VRAM with fixed bandwidth, but this IGP has none. The 1,200 million transistors on a 133 mm² die are mostly dedicated to the GPU’s compute units, not memory controllers, so the reliance on system memory is a cost-saving measure that directly impacts performance. For high-resolution work, the data clearly shows that the memory subsystem is not designed for such tasks, and the 45 W TDP does not provide enough power headroom to compensate for the lack of dedicated memory. In summary, the System Shared memory configuration, with its System Dependent bandwidth, means that this GPU’s performance is inherently tied to the host system’s memory quality, and it will fail to deliver smooth experiences at resolutions above 720p.