Check out our Monthly Survey Page to see what our users are running.
We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

Intel Haswell now supports OpenGL 4.5 with Mesa-git on Linux

By - | Views: 13,228
In another push towards Mesa finishing OpenGL for all vendors where possible, Intel Haswell chips now have support for OpenGL 4.5 with Mesa on Linux. It comes as of this commit to the mesa-dev list.

Pretty awesome work, in the space of ~2 weeks Haswell went from OpenGL 4.0 right up to 4.5.

Intel HD/Iris graphics aren't exactly the best for gaming, but it's good to know that people stuck with the integrated graphics at least get the chance to try more out.

You can see a list of Haswell processors on Wikipedia here. If you're unsure if yours is or not, you can take a look there.

Looks like Mesa 17, the next stable release, is going to be really quite awesome. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
6 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
9 comments

Creak Jan 16, 2017
To figure out which generation we're talking about, here is also the list of Intel CPUs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_CPU_microarchitectures#x86_microarchitectures


Last edited by Creak on 16 January 2017 at 7:54 pm UTC
hardpenguin Jan 16, 2017
Quoting: liamdaweIntel HD/Iris graphics aren't exactly the best for gaming, but it's good to know that people stuck with the integrated graphics at least get the chance to try more out.
This man would disagree: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQkd05iAYed2-LOmhjzDG6g

And don't say that! I am going to buy a laptop with Intel graphics and play a lot of DOTA2 on it!


Last edited by hardpenguin on 17 January 2017 at 12:22 am UTC
Liam Dawe Jan 16, 2017
Quoting: hardpenguinIntel HD/Iris graphics aren't exactly the best for gaming, but it's good to know that people stuck with the integrated graphics at least get the chance to try more out.
This man would disagree: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQkd05iAYed2-LOmhjzDG6g

And don't say that! I am going to buy a laptop with Intel graphics and play a lot of DOTA2 on it!
With the lower performance from Linux ports we've seen compared to Windows, Intel isn't really a fair fight on Linux ;)
Avehicle7887 Jan 16, 2017
While Intel HD Graphics may not be the best for gaming, they are able to play many games. I have an Acer laptop with an i3-5005U CPU, it's pretty much low end but it can play a lot of games, and when properly optimized even 3D ones - Shadow Warrior (2013) is one such example (around 30fps).

Best advice I can give when buying a laptop with only Intel Graphics is to make sure it has 2 memory slots, running in dual channel will give you a small fps boost in games since the GPU uses system ram.

PS: With so many advancements in Mesa, I hope these make it into the Ubuntu 18.04 / Mint 19 release next year.


Last edited by Avehicle7887 on 16 January 2017 at 11:39 pm UTC
Purple Library Guy Jan 17, 2017
Quoting: hardpenguin
Quoting: liamdaweIntel HD/Iris graphics aren't exactly the best for gaming, but it's good to know that people stuck with the integrated graphics at least get the chance to try more out.
This man would disagree: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQkd05iAYed2-LOmhjzDG6g

And don't say that! I am going to buy a laptop with Intel graphics and play a lot of DOTA2 on it!

Dota2?! I have a laptop with Intel graphics and I play games on it fine . . . specifically, turn-based games, where frame rate doesn't matter a whole ton. But high end real-time games, particularly ones pitting you against other people and their machines, seem to be exactly the most masochistic choice for Intel gaming.
Or was that a joke that just swished over my head?
Creak Jan 17, 2017
Dota 2 is completely playable at 30 fps (unless you're a 4K+ MMR player). You'll have to improve a lot of your errors before the FPS becomes a problem for you.

That being said, I'm surprised to hear that Intel GPUs can achieve 30 fps on Dota... The last Intel benchmark from Phoronix wasn't very good.


Last edited by Creak on 17 January 2017 at 2:40 am UTC
hardpenguin Jan 17, 2017
Quoting: Purple Library GuyDota2?! I have a laptop with Intel graphics and I play games on it fine . . . specifically, turn-based games, where frame rate doesn't matter a whole ton. But high end real-time games, particularly ones pitting you against other people and their machines, seem to be exactly the most masochistic choice for Intel gaming.
Or was that a joke that just swished over my head?

Quoting: CreakDota 2 is completely playable at 30 fps (unless you're a 4K+ MMR player). You'll have to improve a lot of your errors before the FPS becomes a problem for you.

That being said, I'm surprised to hear that Intel GPUs can achieve 30 fps on Dota... The last Intel benchmark from Phoronix wasn't very good.

Well, according to my research once I lower the details, getting stable fluent FPS should not be a problem :)
hummer010 Jan 17, 2017
I've got an i7-4700 in my laptop, and I'm regularly surprised how well the HD4600 graphics can perform, even at 1080p. I do have a GTX765M in there as well for the more taxing games, but I often choose to play on the Intel graphics, just because my laptop stays cooler that way.
Creak Jan 17, 2017
I found the Phoronix article where I thought that Intel still has some improvements to make:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel-ivbskl-2017&num=1

But I don't understand... the i7 4770K gets a lousy 9.33 FPS in Dota 2 at 1080p.
I think no one would argue that 9.33 FPS is not playable :D
Maybe everything is pushed to the max in the setups...
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.