In a strategic move to empower automakers with groundbreaking opportunities, Intel unveiled its first discrete graphics processing unit (dGPU), the Intel Arc Graphics for Automotive, at its AI Cockpit Innovation Experience event. To advance automotive AI, the product will be commercially deployed in vehicles as soon as 2025, accelerating automobile technology and unlocking a new era of AI-driven cockpit experiences and enhanced personalization for manufacturers and drivers alike.

Intel's entry into automotive discrete GPUs addresses growing demand for compute power in increasingly sophisticated vehicle cockpits. By adding the Intel Arc graphics for Automotive to its existing portfolio of AI-enhanced software-defined vehicle (SDV) system-on-chips (SoCs), Intel offers automakers an open, flexible and scalable platform solution that brings next-level, high-fidelity experiences to the vehicle.

The industrial grade A380E graphics card features an exceptional cost/performance ratio, high reliability and low power consumption (50 W). As with all ADLINK industrial products, it delivers on longevity with availability guaranteed for a minimum of five years. In addition, the A380E graphics card is slim and compact with a single slot design, measuring only 69 mm x 156 mm.

Flexible application
Although the core market is likely to be commercial gaming, the A380E graphics card is also suited to industrial Edge AI applications such as Industrial IoT and retail analytics. Video wall graphics and media processing and delivery are examples of the many other potential uses.

Last October, Intel handed over its Next Unit of Computing (NUC) product lines—in an official capacity—to a new patron; ASUS. A couple of months later, the latter's Republic of Gamers brand introduced a new NUC model—"Scorpion Canyon"—during their Transcendence Virtual Launch Live event at CES 2024. TPU staffers in attendance managed to spend some time with the ROG NUC, at the ASUS booth. A preview placard advertised that the best configuration could be powered by up an Intel Core Ultra 9 185H CPU and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Mobile GPU. At the time, company representatives did not disclose any pricing information.

Finalized units are pre-orderable at one retailer, according to reports from Friday—Proshop's listing reveals that customers in Denmark, Germany and Finland can purchase the top-end ASUS ROG NUC 14 configuration (RNUC14SRKU9189A2I) for €2499 (~$2724). NotebookCheck has discovered the existence of six different SKUs—on ASUS Spain's official website. Despite the diverse list of (apparent) options, ROG: "only really offers Core Ultra 7 155H and GeForce RTX 4060, or (the aforementioned) Core Ultra 9 185H and GeForce RTX 4070 spec. While pricing for the former remains unknown, Proshop is selling the latter with 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of storage for €2499 in the Eurozone...Currently, Proshop expects to begin shipping ROG NUC orders from April 10, signalling an April 2024 global launch."

Intel has awarded TSMC with some big contracts for future manufacturing of next generation GPUs, according to Taiwan's Commercial Times. As previously covered on TPU, the second generation Battlemage graphics processing units will get fabricated via a 4 nm process. According to insider sources at both partnering companies, Intel is eyeing a release date in the second half of 2024 for this Xe2-based architecture. The same sources pointed to the third generation Celestial graphics processing units being ready in time for a second half of 2026 launch window. Arc Celestial, which is based on the Xe3 architecture, is set for manufacture in the coming years courtesy of TSMC's N3X (3 nm) process node.

One of the sources claim that Intel is quietly confident about its future prospects in the GPU sector, despite mixed critical and commercial reactions to the first generation line-up of Arc Alchemist discrete graphics cards. The company is said to be anticipating great demand for more potent versions of its graphics products in the future, and internal restructuring efforts have not dulled the will of a core team of engineers. The restructuring process resulted in the original AXG graphics division being divided into two sub-groups - CCG and DCAI. The pioneer of the entire endeavor, Raja Koduri, departed Intel midway through last month, to pursue new opportunities with an AI-focused startup.

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has issued the news, via a tweet, of Raja Koduri's departure from the silicon giant. Koduri, who currently sits as Executive Vice President and Chief Architect, will be leaving the company at the end of this month. This ends a five year long tenure at Intel, where he started as Chief Architect back in 2017. He intends to form a brand new startup operation that will focus on AI-generative software for computer games. His tweeted reply to Gelsinger reads: "Thank you Pat and Intel for many cherished memories and incredible learning over the past 5 years. Will be embarking on a new chapter in my life, doing a software startup as noted below. Will have more to share in coming weeks."

Intel has been undergoing numerous internal restructures, and Koduri's AXG Graphics Unit was dissolved late last year. He was the general manager of the graphic chips division prior to its split, and returned to his previous role as Chief Architect at Intel. The company stated at the time that Koduri's new focus would be on: "growing efforts across CPU, GPU and AI, and accelerating high-priority technical programmes."

With the once-lucrative business of cryptocurrency mining now slowly falling out of favor for discrete graphics, crypto miners are turning their heads to creative solutions to "refurbish" and sell their remaining inventory to third-party users. When GPU components, such as the die or GDDR memory, overheat, they can produce visual signs of damage, such as discoloration or melting. Some miners have started painting the memory on their GPU's boards with special thermal paint to hide the wear and tear from the naked eye and make the GDDR chips appear new in hopes that no one would notice. According to Iskandar Souza and TecLab, their cases are now getting debunked.

As these reports note, miners are removing the stock cooling systems from GPUs to install a third-party solution or recently tried to resolder failed GPU dies back in place and paint the yellowish GDDR memory chips. According to the testing done by Iskandar Souza, you can see below the difference between a worn-out yellowish GDDR chip and its painted deception standing next to one another. Below you can also see the process of resoldering failed GPUs back in place. Crypto miners have been very careful to make them look almost as brand new, so GPU buyers from third-party sources need to be extra cautious before making a purchase.

ASUS today announced the all-new TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition, an all-AMD gaming laptop with a redesigned chassis and an incredibly immersive 16-inch display. The TUF Gaming A15, A17, F15 and F17 laptops also make a triumphant return, sporting the latest silicon from AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA to power players into the next generation of gaming performance.

TUF A16 Advantage Edition announced
Built for serious gaming with subtle styling, the TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition is a sleek gaming laptop built to demolish the competition. Powered completely by AMD, the TUF Gaming A16 features up to an AMD Ryzen 9 Zen 4 processor and AMD Radeon RDNA 3 mobile graphics. "AMD and ASUS have partnered to deliver our latest 'Zen 4' and RDNA 3 technologies into the most innovative form factors," said Jason Banta, CVP and GM OEM PC. "The TUF Gaming A16 Advantage Edition delivers blistering gaming performance and outstanding power efficiency in a sleek portable chassis."

Acer today introduced a suite of powerful new Nitro gaming laptops, featuring the latest 13th Gen Intel Core processors and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs. Aimed at casual gamers who are ready for enhanced gameplay, extra features, and a more immersive experience, the new 16-inch and 17-inch Acer Nitro laptops come in more compact, thinner, and lighter form factors with higher screen-to-body ratios. Whether it's exploring the ever-growing catalog of game titles or editing montages of gameplay videos, the Nitro's solid construction and powerful performance lead users to experience a new level of gaming.

The latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs are powered by the ultra-efficient NVIDIA Ada Lovelace architecture which delivers a quantum leap in both performance and AI-powered graphics. Gamers can experience lifelike virtual worlds with ray tracing, massively boost performance with DLSS 3, and get a competitive edge with Reflex.

ASUS today announced ExpertBook B5 (B5602C) and ExpertBook B5 Flip (B5602F), all-new laptop models engineered with an expansive 16-inch, 16:10 display and strong, lightweight build for extreme flexibility and business productivity on the go—plus the option of an OLED panel for stunning visuals.

The new models laptops are set for serious travel with amazing all-day battery life, and are engineered with many cutting-edge technologies to improve mobile work efficiency. These include an up to 12th Gen Intel Core processor with up to Intel Arc A350M discrete graphics, dual-fan cooling, AI-powered conferencing technology, and dual-SSD RAID support. B5 Flip additionally benefits from a 360°-flippable screen, plus the added versatility enabled by support for a fast-charging, garaged stylus. ExpertBook B5 and ExpertBook B5 Flip are also packed with features to protect personal privacy and business data, including vPro support, a built-in fingerprint sensor and TPM 2.0 chip.

ASUS, a global technology leader renowned for continuously reimagining today's technologies for tomorrow, today announced three new Expert-series laptops, including the ExpertBook B5 (B5602C), ExpertBook B5 Flip (B5602F) and the first Expert Series workstation, the ExpertBook B6 Flip (B6602F). Debuting at IFA 2022 (Hall 11.2, booth 101), the new laptops and mobile workstation offer unrivaled performance and mobility, designed for business users in today's fast-paced world, where work is no longer confined to the office.

ASUS Computer International President Benjamin Yeh said: "The workplace has changed, and it's up to business owners, executives, retailers, and other workers to decide its future. These users are forging the new future of work, and they need tools that work invisibly, reliably and seamlessly day after day. ASUS is known for innovating highly reliable and durable devices for the consumer and gaming markets. Now, with the Expert-series portfolio, we are setting a new standard for the commercial PC market to enable businesses to define their new work style—whatever that might be—with elite performance, premium craftsmanship, durability and enterprise-grade tools."

Jon Peddie Research (JPR) provides some of the most authoritative and informative market-research into the PC graphics hardware industry. The firm just published a scathing editorial on the future of Intel AXG (Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics), the business tasked with development of competitive discrete GPU and HPC compute accelerators for Intel. Founded to much fanfare in 2016 and led by Raja Koduri since 2016; AXG has been in the news for the development of the Xe graphics and compute architecture, particularly with the Xe-HP "Ponte Vecchio" HPC accelerator; and the Arc brand of consumer discrete graphics solutions. JPR reports that Intel has invested several billions of Dollars into AXG, to little avail, with none of its product lines bringing in notable revenues for the company. Xe-LP based iGPUs do not count as they're integrated with client processors, and their revenues are clubbed with CCG (Client Computing Group).

Intel started reporting revenues from the AXG business since Q1-2021, around which time it started selling its first discrete GPUs as the Intel DG1 Xe MAX, based on the same Xe-LP architecture powering its iGPUs. The company's Xe-HPG architecture, designed for high-performance gaming, was marketed as its first definitive answer to NVIDIA GeForce and AMD Radeon. Since Q1-2021, Intel has lost $2.1 billion to AXG, with not much to show for. The JPR article suggests that Intel missed the bus both with its time-to-market and scale.

According to sources close to Igor Wallossek from Igor's lab, Intel's upcoming Arc Alchemist discrete graphics card lineup is in trouble. As the anonymous sources state, certain add-in board (AIB) partners are having difficulty adopting the third GPU manufacturer into their offerings. As we learn, AIBs are sitting on a pile of NVIDIA and AMD GPUs. This pile is decreasing in price daily and losing value, so it needs to be moved quickly. Secondly, Intel is reportedly suggesting AIBs ship cards to OEMs and system integrators to start the market spread of the new Arc dGPUs. This business model is inherently lower margin compared to selling GPUs directly to consumers.

Last but not least, it is reported that at least one major AIB is stopping the production of custom Arc GPUs due to quality concerns. What this means is yet to be uncovered, and we have to wait and see which AIB (or AIBs) is stepping out of the game. All of this suggests that the new GPU lineup is on the verge of extinction, even before it has launched. However, we are sure that the market will adapt and make a case for the third GPU maker. Of course, these predictions should be taken with a grain of salt, and we await more information to confirm those issues.

Intel's Arc Alchemist graphics cards launched in laptop/mobile space, and everyone is wondering just how well the first generation of discrete graphics performs in actual, GPU-accelerated workloads. Tellusim Technologies, a software company located in San Diego, has managed to get ahold of a laptop featuring an Intel Arc A370M mobile graphics card and benchmark it against other competing solutions. Instead of using Vulkan API, the team decided to use D3D12 API for tests, as the Vulkan usually produces lower results on the new 12th generation graphics. With the 30.0.101.1736 driver version, this GPU was mainly tested in the standard GPU working environment like triangles and batches. Meshlet size is set to 69/169, and the job is as big as 262K Meshlets. The total amount of geometry is 20 million vertices and 40 million triangles per frame.

Using the tests such as Single DIP (drawing 81 instances with u32 indices without going to Meshlet level), Mesh Indexing (Mesh Shader emulation), MDI/ICB (Multi-Draw Indirect or Indirect Command Buffer), Mesh Shader (Mesh Shaders rendering mode) and Compute Shader (Compute Shader rasterization), the Arc GPU produced some exciting numbers, measured in millions or billions of triangles. Below, you can see the results of these tests.

A part of the process of building a graphics card is designing compatibility to execute the latest graphics APIs like DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan. Today, we have confirmation that Intel's Arc Alchemist discrete graphics cards will be compatible with Vulkan's latest iteration - version 1.3. In January, Khronos, the team behind Vulkan API, released their regular two-year update to the standard. Graphics card vendors like NVIDIA and AMD announced support immediately with their drivers. Today, the Khronos website officially lists Intel Arc Alchemist mobile graphics cards as compatible with Vulkan 1.3 with Intel Arc A770M, A730M, A550M, A370M, and A350M GPUs.

At the time of writing, there is no official announcement for the desktop cards yet. However, given that the mobile SKUs are supporting the latest standard, it is extremely likely that the desktop variants will also carry the same level of support.

Last month, Intel released its Arc Alchemist lineup for mobile/laptop configurations. As expected, being the first discrete GPU that the company made, there are some hiccups here and there that happen along the way. Today, we have an interesting case of Intel Arc A350M getting a heavy performance boost with Dynamic Tuning Technology (DTT) disabled. The DTT is Intel's solution to automatically and dynamically allocate power between an Intel processor and an Intel Discrete Graphics Card to optimize performance and improve battery life. This is essentially a competing tech for AMD SmartShift and NVIDIA Dynamic Boost implementations. Thanks to a South Korean YouTuber, BullsLab, we have information that disabling DTT in drivers helps Arc 350M GPU reach higher performance targets.

He found when disabling DTT in drivers that the gaming performance improved significantly and that the Arc 350M was outputting 30-80 more frames per second. This is no slight improvement and shows that the drivers are still not yet mature. Creating a discrete graphics card is not an easy task, as noted here; however, we hope to see Intel put out more fixes in the coming weeks and hopefully end this strange behavior.Below, you can see the YouTube video with benchmarks.

A few days ago, Intel announced its first official discrete graphics card efforts, designed for laptops. Called the Arc Alchemist lineup, Intel has designed these SKUs to provide entry-level to high-end options covering a wide range of use cases. Today, AMD has responded with a rather exciting Tweet made by the company's @Radeon Twitter account. The company compared Intel's Arc Alchemist A370M GPU with AMD's Radeon RX 6500M mobile SKUs in the post. These GPUs are made on TSMC's N6 node, feature 4 GB GDDR6 64-bit memory, 1024 FP32 cores, and have the same configurable TDP range of 35-50 Watts.

Below, you can see AMD's benchmarks of the following select games: Hitman 3, Total War Saga: Troy, F1 2021, Strange Brigade (High), and Final Fantasy XIV. The Radeon RX 6500M GPU manages to win in all of these games, thus explaining AMD's "FTW" hashtag on Twitter. Remember that these are vendor-supplied benchmarks runs, so we have to wait for some media results to surface.

For decades, Intel has been a champion for PC platform innovation. We have delivered generations of CPUs that provide the computing horsepower for billions of people. We advanced connectivity through features like USB, Thunderbolt and Wi-Fi. And in partnership with the PC ecosystem, we developed the ground-breaking PCI architecture and the Intel Evo platform, pushing the boundary for what mobile products can do. Intel is uniquely positioned to deliver PC platform innovations that meet the ever-increasing computing demands of professionals, consumers, gamers and creators around the world. Now, we take the next big step.

Today, we are officially launching our Intel Arc graphics family for laptops, completing the Intel platform. These are the first discrete GPUs from our Intel Arc A-Series graphics portfolio for laptops, with our desktop and workstation products coming later this year. You can visit our Newsroom for our launch video, product details and technical demos, but I will summarize the highlights of how our Intel Arc platform and A-Series mobile GPU family will deliver hardware, software, services and - ultimately - high-performance graphics experiences.

Intel's Arc discrete lineup of graphics card are set to hit the notebook/laptop segment first, and today's discovery is no different. BHPhotoVideo, one of the largest US tech retailers, has posted a listing of Samsung's Galaxy Book2 Pro laptop, spotting Intel's Arc discrete graphics solution. According to the listing, this model was spotting an undisclosed Intel Arc Graphics, 2.1 GHz 12-core CPU, 16 GB of LPDDR5-6400 memory, 512 GB of NVMe PCIe Gen4 storage, 15.6-inch 1080p AMOLED display, WiFi-6E, and came in just 1.13 KG body weight. All of this is packed at 1349.99 USD, which is an early sign of the structure of laptop prices carrying Intel's Arc GPUs.

BHPhotoVideo has now taken down the website listing; however, we still have evidence thanks to the leaker, which you can see below. For more information regarding the exact SKU and more Arc Alchemist data, we have to wait for the March 30th launch.

"Join us on March 30th at 8 A.M. Pacific Time to see Intel Arc graphics take center stage and get a first look at our new discrete graphics for laptops." - is the statement that Intel posted on its website regarding the launch of its upcoming Arc Alchemist GPUs for laptops. While we await the final reveal of the desktop Arc Alchemist graphics cards, it looks like team blue will give us a very first look at Arc discrete graphics cards for laptops. Regarding the performance numbers, Intel's Lisa Pearce, Vice President and General Manager for the Visual Compute Group, posted a quick performance claim stating that the Intel Arc A370M mobile GPU will feature two-fold performance improvement over integrated GPU designs found in Intel Core i7-12700H processor.

Lisa PearceWhat performance can we expect from the first product to make it to market, the Intel Arc A370M?
The first Intel Arc discrete graphics products to enter the mobile market will enable up to a 2X improvement in graphics performance vs. integrated graphics alone while maintaining similar form factors.
2x performance claim based on average FPS at 1080p Medium with Metro Exodus (DX12) as of March 3, 2022 as the beginning of the disclosure. Intel Arc system: Intel Core i7-12700H processor 14C/20T, 32 GB 4800Mhz system memory, Intel Arc A370M graphics, Windows 11 Pro v10.0.22000, Preproduction driver as of March 2022, total system TDP 40 W. Intel Core system: Intel Core i71280P 14C/20T, 32 GB 4800 MHz system memory, Iris Xe integrated graphics, Windows 11 Pro 21H2 22000.493, Driver version 30.0.101.1029, total system TDP 28 W.

Today, Intel announced the Intel NUC 12 Extreme (code-named Dragon Canyon) and the Intel NUC 12 Extreme Compute Element (code-named Eden Bay), a highly modular desktop PC kit engineered to provide phenomenal performance for high-end gaming and content creation tasks. With the latest 12th Gen Intel Core desktop processors, capacity for full-size 12-inch discrete graphics cards and a full range of I/O ports including Thunderbolt 4, the Intel NUC 12 Extreme delivers massive performance and features that enthusiast gamers and professional creators need in a compact and modular form factor.

The Intel NUC 12 Extreme brings Intel's new performance hybrid architecture and a socketed motherboard to the NUC line for the first time. For those who want a powerful system with a small footprint and more versatility than ever before, the Intel NUC 12 Extreme Kit is an outstanding option. The most powerful Intel NUC yet encompasses new features, like performance hybrid architecture and access to faster PCIe interfaces, accelerating load times, all in a footprint that can fit on any desk.

Intel's upcoming Arc Alchemist lineup of discrete graphics cards generates a lot of attention from consumers. Leaks of these cards' performance and detailed specifications appear more and more as we enter the countdown to the launch day, which is sometime in Q1 of this year. Today, we managed to see a slide from @9950pro on Twitter that shows the laptop memory configuration of Intel's DG2 GPU. As the picture suggests, we can see that the top-end SKU1 with 512 EUs supports a 16 GB capacity of GDDR6 memory that runs at 16 Gbps speeds. The memory runs on a 256-bit bus and generates 512 GB/s bandwidth while having eight VRAM modules present.

When it comes to SKU2, which is a variant with 384 EUs, this configuration supports six VRAM modules on a 192-bit bus, running at 16 Gbps speeds. They generate a total capacity of 12 GBs and a bandwidth of 384 GB/s. We have SKU3 DG2 GPU going down the stack, featuring 256 EUs, four VRAM modules on a 128-bit bus, 8 GB capacity, and a 256 GB/s bandwidth. And last but not least, the smallest DG2 variants come in the form of SKU4 and SKU5, feating 128 EUs and 96 EUs, respectively. Intel envisions these lower-end SKUs with two VRAM modules on a 64-bit bus, and this time slower GDDR6 memory running at 14 Gbps. They are paired with 4 GB of total capacity, and the total bandwidth comes down to 112 GB/s.

Intel has dropped plans to build Xe-HP server GPUs commercially. This line of products would have powered cloud-based graphics rendering instances, for cloud-gaming or cloud-rendering applications. An announcement to this effect came from Raja Koduri, overseeing the development and monetization of Xe. Koduri stated that Xe-HP based instances were originally set up to power Intel's oneAPI devcloud as a software development vehicle for oneAPI and the upcoming Aurora supercomputer of the Argonne National Laboratory.

The company will now focus on Xe as a compute accelerator in the form of Xe-HPC "Ponte Vecchio," and discrete graphics in the client segment, leveraging the Xe-HPG graphics architecture. The smallest derivatives, the Xe-LP, powers integrated graphics solutions found in the company's Core processors (11th Gen and later). Back in the August 2021 Architecture Day presentation, Intel's technical brief for Xe HPC revealed that the silicon itself features certain on-die hardware relevant to graphics rendering (more here). This would have gone on to power the Xe-HP server GPU solutions.

With the 15.6 and 17.3 inch XMG APEX gaming laptops, XMG is positioning a new model series below its own high-end range consisting of the NEO and PRO series. These new laptops combine mobile AMD eight-core processors up to the Ryzen 9 5900HX with NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics cards up to the RTX 3070. The company is simultaneously introducing the XMG FOCUS, a new product series in the entry-level segment. Intel's Core i7-11800H and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti offer decent gaming performance, while good connectivity and memory round off the overall package. All four new models feature an IPS display with 144 Hz.

Until now, the XMG APEX 15 in the older E20 generation represented uncompromising desktop CPU performance, with processors up to the Ryzen 9 3950X in a laptop. Although XMG is already working on a direct successor under a slightly different name, it is unleashing the XMG APEX 15 and APEX 17 of the M21 generation for the time being with the currently fastest eight-core mobile processors from AMD. The laptops are available with an AMD Ryzen 7 5800H as well as with the slightly faster Ryzen 9 5900HX from the 54 watt TDP class, as well as with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 or RTX 3060 in the respective maximum TGP configuration (RTX 3070: 125 watts plus 15 watts Dynamic Boost 2.0; RTX 3060: 115 watts plus 15 watts Dynamic Boost 2.0).

The stay-at-home economy remains robust due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, so the sales of gaming products such as game consoles and the demand for related components are being kept at a decent level, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. However, the values of cryptocurrencies have plummeted in the past two months because of active interventions from many governments, with the graphics DRAM market entering into a bearish turn in 3Q21 as a result. While graphics DRAM prices in the spot market will likely show the most severe fluctuations, contract prices of graphics DRAM are expected to increase by 10-15% QoQ in 3Q21 since DRAM suppliers still prioritize the production of server DRAM over other product categories, and the vast majority of graphics DRAM supply is still cornered by major purchasers.

It should be pointed out that, given the highly volatile nature of the graphics DRAM market, it is relatively normal for graphics DRAM prices to reverse course or undergo a more drastic fluctuation compared with other mainstream DRAM products. As such, should the cryptocurrency market remain bearish, and manufacturers of smartphones or PCs reduce their upcoming production volumes in light of the ongoing pandemic and component supply issues, graphics DRAM prices are unlikely to experience further increase in 4Q21. Instead, TrendForce expects prices in 4Q21 to largely hold flat compared to the third quarter.

The discrete GPU market has been a duopoly for quite some time, and when Intel announced that the company is rebooting plans for its discrete GPU lineup, another player was about to break that duopoly. Today, that has been changed forever and Intel has officially become the third manufacturer of discrete GPUs, as we can see on the online listing. On BestBuy, CyberPowerPC has listed "Gamer Xtreme Gaming Desktop" powered exclusively by Intel components. When it comes to the CPU choice, Intel's 6C/12T Core i5-11400F CPU model is present without iGPU. Now comes the interesting part. The GPU powering the system is Intel Iris Xe discrete graphics card, which is a DG1 GPU based on Xe-LP SKU.

This model features 80 EUs, resulting in 640 shading units. While this is not any gaming beast, casual 1080p gaming should be just fine on this configuration. The system is listed for 750 US Dollars, and it is sold out, as of the time of writing this. While the performance of this configuration may not be something monumental, it is an important step towards Intel's inclusion in the discrete GPU market. By using OEMs, the GPU will reach a very large market without any major problems. We are waiting to see the first reviews of the system, which will surely take a good look at the card and examine its performance.