Reviewers who have been testing Intel’s Haswell chip are reporting that they are surprised that it is giving Nvidia based graphics chips a run for their money.

A video posted by The Tech Report shows off two systems - with one system featuring a Haswell-based Intel chip with integrated graphics, while the second system included an Ivy Bridge-based Core i7 CPU and a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 650M GPU. Using Dirt 3 as the software it was set at 1920x1080 with all details set to high.

Looking at the video, the  Haswell chip does rather well and even if we don’t know what frame rates the test uses it looks like it is getting close to its  30fps mark. This is pretty important for an integrated, and more power-efficient method of gaming.

While the final retail version of Haswell, will not perform as well as a perfectly-tuned demo by Intel for a show, it is a good sign that things are going to get much better at the lower end of the market.

More here.