Wednesday, October 21st 2020
Intel's First Discrete Graphics Solution, Iris Xe MAX, Debuts in Acer's Swift 3X Featuring Intel 11th Gen Tiger Lake
Acer today announced the Swift 3X, a new laptop which will give consumers the first taste of Intel's discrete graphics solution powered by Xe. Remember that Intel's Xe is Intel's first discrete-class graphics architecture, whose development was helmed by former AMD graphics head Raja Koduri after Intel hired him just a week after he tendered his resignation with AMD. This is the first materialization of an Intel-developed, discrete graphics product for the consumer market, and thus should blow the lid on Intel's Xe performance. Whether or not the blue giant cements itself as a third player in the discrete graphics accelerator space - at first try - depends on the performance of this architecture.
The Swift 3X features the new Intel Iris Xe MAX discrete graphics solution paired with 11th Gen Intel Core processors "in order to offer creative professionals such as photographers and YouTubers unique capabilities and powerful on-the-go performance for work and gaming." The Swift 3X comes in at 1.37 kg (3.02 lbs), and Acer quotes up to 17.5 hours of up time in a single charge; if necessary, the Swift 3X can also be fast-charged to provide four hours of use in just 30 minutes.
The Swift 3X features a 14-inch FHD IPS screen that covers 72% of the NTSC color gamut and offers an 84% screen-to-body ratio; offers Intel Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+); and features USB-C, Thunderbolt 4 and USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports for expanded connectivity.
Acer Swift 3X (SF314-510G) will be available in North America in December starting at USD 899.99; in EMEA in November starting at 849 EUR; and in China in October, starting at RMB 4,999.
The Swift 3X features the new Intel Iris Xe MAX discrete graphics solution paired with 11th Gen Intel Core processors "in order to offer creative professionals such as photographers and YouTubers unique capabilities and powerful on-the-go performance for work and gaming." The Swift 3X comes in at 1.37 kg (3.02 lbs), and Acer quotes up to 17.5 hours of up time in a single charge; if necessary, the Swift 3X can also be fast-charged to provide four hours of use in just 30 minutes.
Jerry KaoThe Swift series has always been about pushing the envelope, trying to fit as much power into as portable a package as possible. The new Swift 3X continues that mindset, with discrete graphics in a sleek chassis for those who need style and performance on the go."
Chris WalkerIt is exciting to see the new Aspire, Spin and Swift series of laptops take advantage of the real-world performance and platform integration delivered in new 11th Gen Intel Core processors. With the Swift 3X, we've partnered closely with Acer to unlock new capabilities for creators on thin-and-light laptops with the unmatched performance of 11th Gen plus the all-new Intel Iris Xe MAX discrete graphics."Price and Availability
Acer Swift 3X (SF314-510G) will be available in North America in December starting at USD 899.99; in EMEA in November starting at 849 EUR; and in China in October, starting at RMB 4,999.
24 Comments on Intel's First Discrete Graphics Solution, Iris Xe MAX, Debuts in Acer's Swift 3X Featuring Intel 11th Gen Tiger Lake
As far as current leaks, it's the same 96EUs, but 64-bit memory interface running 4GB of LPDDR4X, and with much tighter thermal/power envelope.
E.g. it's meant to replace the likes of MX200/300 in thin and light segment, since MX450 hasn't really materialized yet.
This appears to be a separate low power mobile chip. I dont expect anything from this at all. Even if it can technically be called "Discrete"
Xe's IGP was touted as having 40% better performance than Renoir, that turned out to actually be 15% better than Renoir but only in cherry-picked synthetics and it's actually worse than Vega7 (not Vega8) in real-world gaming tests.
Given that Xe as a dGPU was never promising that much in the first place, if it misses the mark as much as the laptops have then we've got a damp squib on our hands in Q1 2021.
Competition is good, but it has to actually compete to be useful to us consumers.
This is just a rebrand of Intel's IGP, trying to look fancy running Windows desktop. At least they managed to cram another X in the name, can't go wrong.
Laptops are the worst possible way to show off your GPU performance. Especially at this form factor of thin and light.
I've still not seen a sliver of what would make Intel's Xe even remotely compete with the current midrange.
Either way, this snowballed into things like Xe graphics on Acer, and Lenovo Thinkpad E-series switching to things like integrated Vega on AMD and discrete RX640 on Intel variants.
Raja didn't lead AMD through its best products of the last two decades but he certainly moved things on successfully and managed to get architectural improvements out of 28nm over and over again when all the fabs screwed up at once and we were stuck on 28nm for 3-4 generations.