Intel's upcoming Meteor Lake (MTL) processor is set to deliver a wide range of exciting solutions, with the first being the Intel 4 manufacturing node. However, today we have some interesting Linux kernel patches that indicate that Meteor Lake will have a dedicated "Standalone Media" Graphics Technology (GT) block to process video/audio. Moving encoding and decoding off GPU to a dedicated media engine will allow MTL to play back video without the GPU, and the GPU can be used as a parallel processing powerhouse. Features like Intel QuickSync will be built into this unit. What is interesting is that this unit will be made on a separate tile, which will be fused with the rest using tile-based manufacturing found in Ponte Vecchio (which has 47 tiles).

Intel Linux PatchesStarting with [Meteor Lake], media functionality has moved into a new, second GT at the hardware level. This new GT, referred to as "standalone media" in the spec, has its own GuC, power management/forcewake, etc. The general non-engine GT registers for standalone media start at 0x380000, but otherwise use the same MMIO offsets as the primary GT.

Standalone media has a lot of similarity to the remote tiles present on platforms like [Xe HP Software Development Vehicle] and [Ponte Vecchio], and our i915 [kernel graphics driver] implementation can share much of the general "multi GT" infrastructure between the two types of platforms.

In Win Development Inc., one of the leading manufacturers of innovative PC enclosures, today unveils its latest E-ATX tower enclosure, the 915. The elegant curves on the front and back are the first to catch your eye. Here, the back has an additional alternative, the clean cable management away from the case. The tempered glass cover can be lifted mechanically to expose the ventilation slots. Thus, the warm air can escape directly at the top with the help of up to three 140-millimeter fans. After shutting down the system, the cover closes with a 15 second delay to drain the residual heat out of the system.

The front connectors include a reversible USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port, two USB 3.0 ports and a 3.5mm headphone and microphone jack. Up to nine fans or four radiators can be accommodated in the 915. These help, following the natural convection, to create a flow of air from bottom to top in the housing. Magnetic dust filters keep the inside dust-free and can be easily removed for cleaning.