For Intel’s 2021 Architecture Day shows, the yin to the CPU firm’s conventional yang is GPUs. Intel has spent the previous couple of years making ready to enter the marketplace for discrete GPUs, with goals of competing in every little thing from client video playing cards as much as HPC-class accelerators. And now, as the corporate already begins making ready for 2022, these efforts are lastly coming to a head. Intel’s large breakout effort within the discrete GPU house begins in earnest subsequent 12 months with Xe-HPG and Xe-HPC, so for his or her 2021 structure day, Intel is opening up a bit extra in regards to the GPU architectures that will likely be driving their first wave of high-performance merchandise subsequent 12 months.
Between Xe-HP, Xe-HPC, and Xe-HPG, Intel has a really full plate of GPU designs and architectures. And whereas of these, it’s Intel’s datacenter class GPUs which can be seemingly going to make or break Intel’s general GPU efforts, for our protection at this time we’re going to begin with one thing a bit nearer to residence and a bit nearer to our hearts: Xe-HPG. Intel’s discrete GPU structure for high-performance graphics playing cards was first introduced simply over a 12 months in the past, and for many AnandTech readers it’s the one Xe GPU variant they’ll truly be out there for. Plus let’s face it: whereas calculating pi is cool, operating Doom Eternal at 144 frames per second is cooler.
So with out additional ado, let’s dive proper in to Intel’s Xe-HPG disclosures from this 12 months’s structure day occasion.
The Story So Far: Xe-HPG Leads to Alchemist
Intel’s Xe-HPG structure was first unveiled eventually 12 months’s structure day occasion. The last taste of Xe to be introduced, Xe-HPG is designed to leverage the applied sciences and learnings from Intel’s different Xe tasks to provide a household of discrete, high-performance gaming and graphics GPUs that may go toe-to-toe with AMD and NVIDIA. And whereas Intel will compete with the 2 present GPU corporations on a number of fronts, it’s within the client discrete graphics house that they may face their largest problem, as using trade customary APIs like DirectX and Vulkan signifies that client video playing cards is a commodity market – there’s comparatively little loyalty or vendor lock-in to draw or maintain ahold of consumers if a product is not any good.
For many of the final 12 months, Intel has been staying comparatively mum about Xe-HPG following its preliminary announcement. But throughout the final week – and in preparation for at this time – Intel has lastly opened up the data spigot. On Monday we came upon the identify of Intel’s first Xe-HPG structure: Alchemist. The Alchemist household will likely be used to drive the 2022 technology of merchandise, and will likely be comprised of not less than two distinct GPU configurations. Alchemist, in flip, will likely be a completely trendy GPU structure, supporting not simply ray tracing as beforehand revealed, however the remainder of the DirectX 12 Ultimate function set as properly – which means mesh shaders, variable price shading (tier 2), and sampler suggestions.
Intel additionally revealed that they’re already exhausting at work at successive generations, with the Battlemage, Celestial, and Druid architectures all below improvement for future generations of merchandise. By revealing successive structure names now, Intel is trying to display that they’re executing on a long-term plan for Xe-HPG that goes a number of years down the street, and that avid gamers who soar on board with relative newcomer Intel gained’t be rapidly deserted.
Finally, Intel revealed the model identify for his or her client graphics merchandise: Arc. Arc will likely be Intel’s new model identify for his or her client video playing cards, in addition to the related software program and companies. The first Arc merchandise will likely be launching in Q1 of 2022, with Intel providing Arc merchandise for each cellular discrete graphics as…
