Intel could release a mid-range "Xe-HPG" GPU in 2021

Intel could release a mid-range "Xe-HPG" GPU in 2021

Intel is developing a number of dedicated graphics cards in order to enter the market that has been dominated by Nvidia and AMD for two decades. Its Xe-LP GPU is expected to debut before the end of the year, but will be targeting the onboard and entry-level portion of the GPU market. What's arguably more exciting is its now revealed Xe-HPG GPU, which is aimed at the mainstream enthusiast market.

Said to leverage an external process — most likely TSMC's 7nm node — it will use Intel's standard GPU packaging design and will reportedly have just one tile of its multi-tile GPU design. Considering a Two tile model has 1024 execution units, that would suggest this would have around 512 EUs. Performance could be around the 11 TFLOP mark, which would make this alleged GPU about as fast an RTX 2080.

That's not bad at all, if it launched today. But launching with that in 2021 when AMD and Nvidia will have had over a year to further develop their next-generation GPUs, it may not be all too impressive.

Other details Videocardz revealed include the Intel GPU's use of GDDR6 (its datacenter Xe GPUs use HBM2) and that it will support hardware accelerated ray tracing. It seems unlikely that that will be hugely impressive or powerful, but we'll have to see how the technology develops over the next 12 months from both AMD and Nvidia's efforts to truly make an estimate of what Intel's technology could be capable of.

Expect to hear more about this design in the coming months.