Iris Grpahics between processors (MBP13 Question)

So I'm contemplating getting a new MBP13 now that the Kaby Lake has been released.

This is primarily for grad school and I have a desktop that is for gaming, but from time to time I want to be able to run simple games when I have to wait and am not at home like Civ VI/Kerbal Space Program/Minecraft (read: not demanding).

With that in mind, how substantial will the difference in Iris Plus 650 performance be between the base and higher end processors? From what I can tell the base clocks at 1050mhz and the higher end one clocks at 1150mhz.

 

That's a 5-10% difference if the only variable is clockspeed.

 

The difference is not going to be dramatic. You would actually come out ahead by purchasing a refurbished 2016 MBP since they're covered with the same warranty as new, plus you can extend it with AppleCare, which I would strongly recommend adding as basically none of the parts are user serviceable.

 

If you load windows Intel XTU can overclock just about any Intel IGP mobile/desktop as well as IGP voltage. I've not played with anything from this generation, but my Iris 5200 was able to get +200Mhz which is quite substantial. As long as you don't hit the Package TDP limit, you'll be fine as temps are pretty outstanding in the non-Dgpu models (usually).

What most people aren't going to tell you is that the Iris 640 usually has a package TDP of around 15-17W for both the CPU and GPU. While, the 650 has around a 25-28W package TDP. Which means, more consistent and longer lasting boost + higher clocks + less throttling. The bigger the TDP (as long as temps are within spec) the better the performance will be in a max use CPU+GPU case scenario. Coming from a SP3 i7, once you throttle your performance basically gets cut atleast by half on the IGP.