Intel discrete GPU: It looks like the release of the first gaming graphics card from Intel is not far off. Known as the Intel Xe-HPG DG2, the graphics processor is likely to appear in both desktop and mobile devices, and will be the company’s entry into the gaming sector. Intel has already teased its release, and since some benchmarks have already been published, we now know more about the potential performance of the card.
Intel announced the card’s upcoming release, inviting Odyssey cardholders to take advantage of its rewards. In a brief statement on the website for Odyssey cardholders, Intel made it clear – the development of the card is nearing completion.
The company stated: “We are approaching a milestone soon – the release of Intel’s Xe HPG microarchitecture.” During the International Supercomputing 2021 (ISC) event, Intel also announced that samples of its DG2 line of cards are on sale now.
The Odyssey is a program launched by Intel in 2019 to promote, test and improve Intel discrete graphics cards with contributions from a group of volunteers.
The Odyssey is […] a beta program, it’s a two-way conversation, it’s an opportunity to listen, and the net result I hope is that when we start launching more visual computing platforms – discrete graphics and things like that – the community will be excited because they had an opportunity to contribute and get products and technology that they really care about,” said Chris Hook, Intel’s director of visual technology marketing.
The Intel DG2 will likely be released in both desktop and mobile formats. That means we may see DG2-based gaming laptops, which will bring discord to the AMD/Nvidia duopoly. It’s even possible that the mobile version of the DG2 will be paired with Intel’s upcoming 12th generation processors called Alder Lake. Already, benchmarks have been spotted in which the DG2 GPU has been paired with a 14-core, 20-threaded Alder Lake-P processor.
While this is a big change for Intel, it’s clear that the company is unlikely to compete with the best graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD-at least until more models from the DG2 line are released. Benchmarks indicate performance similar to that of Nvidia’s rather outdated GeForce GTX 1050.
Of the two leaked benchmarks, one seems to be a discrete graphics card and the other is an integrated GPU combined with an Alder Lake processor. Speaking of a possible discrete GPU option, the card comes with 256 execution units (EU) and clock speeds up to 1400 MHz. Previous rumors indicated the card had 8GB of GDDR6 memory, but the model shown in the benchmark only had 6.22GB. In the OpenCL benchmark, this discrete GPU scored 18,482 points, compared to 18,895 for the GTX 1050.
The second device in the benchmark has 96 EU and a clock speed of 1,200 MHz combined with 1.5 GB of memory. Most likely, it is an integrated GPU paired with Intel Alder Lake-P chips and is designed for mobility. It scored 6,516 points in the same OpenCL benchmark, which means it performed slightly worse than Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 460. As always, it’s important to note that this is unofficial data, and it will likely change once the cards are released with the appropriate drivers.
Prior to the DG2, Intel’s only discrete graphics card was the DG1, which was a budget card released specifically for manufacturers and used in laptops like the Acer Swift 3X. Although it somehow ended up in the CyberPower PC gaming desktop, it was not intended for the gaming sector. This makes the Xe-HPG DG2 the first real attempt at a discrete gaming GPU from Intel.
Intel’s statements show that the company’s interest in the discrete graphics card market may be longer term, and the Xe-HPG DG2 is just the first step. Although no release date has been announced, all signs point to it happening relatively soon.
