Sunday, July 26th 2020
Intel to Detail Xe Graphics on August 13
Intel is expected to reveal technical details of its upcoming Xe graphics architecture on August 13, according to a tweet by Intel Graphics that has since been deleted. Tom's Hardware believes the reveal is still on the cards. "You've waited. You've wondered. We'll deliver. In 20 days, expect more details on Xe graphics," the tweet read. Senior Fellow and Director of Graphics Architecture at Intel, David Blythe is expected to present a technical brief on the Xe graphics architecture at a Hot Chips 2020 virtual event on August 17.
These technical reveals are closely timed with the launch of "Tiger Lake," Intel's first commercial debut of Xe as an iGPU solution the chipmaker refers to as "Gen12" for consistency with older generations of integrated graphics. Xe is far from designed for just iGPU or small dGPUs, with the architecture being scalable all the way up to large scalar compute processors the size of beer mug coasters. Even as an iGPU, Xe is formidable, as it was recently shown playing AAA games by itself. Recent commentary from Intel at its Q2 2020 financial results provided strong hints of Xe dGPUs being de-coupled from Intel's foundry woes, and possibly headed for third-party foundries such as Samsung or TSMC.
Source:
Tom's Hardware
These technical reveals are closely timed with the launch of "Tiger Lake," Intel's first commercial debut of Xe as an iGPU solution the chipmaker refers to as "Gen12" for consistency with older generations of integrated graphics. Xe is far from designed for just iGPU or small dGPUs, with the architecture being scalable all the way up to large scalar compute processors the size of beer mug coasters. Even as an iGPU, Xe is formidable, as it was recently shown playing AAA games by itself. Recent commentary from Intel at its Q2 2020 financial results provided strong hints of Xe dGPUs being de-coupled from Intel's foundry woes, and possibly headed for third-party foundries such as Samsung or TSMC.
9 Comments on Intel to Detail Xe Graphics on August 13
Things change pretty fast in this industry.
Mostly because Intel's open source graphics drivers actually work on Linux, especially w.r.t. new GPUs and new features. Furthermore, some virtualization features that matter to me, such as GVT-G. Right now, I pass through an entire Nvidia dGPU to a Windows VM while relying on an AMD APU (hoping to consolidate back to ITX) for the Linux host. Trying to share a single GPU with Nvidia or AMD requires professional cards and Nvidia has even more requirements on top of that. Sharing a current Intel IGP is pointless, since there is no performance to be had.
However, an Intel GPU with the same software stack and more performance is noteworthy, in my view. If it's priced less than equivalent Nvidia/AMD pro cards, then I can cheaply consolidate my setup.
The meltdowns, when RDNA2 hits, will be hilarious.
Please, if someone, has ANY source they can point to (that is not a fake, a rumour or something in between), send us in the right direction.
Replace Xe for Big Navi, where applicable, if you will. I hear people talking a lot about Big Navi, but there's really nothing out there other than hopeful rumours to justify that.