Intel's senior vice president, chief architect, and general manager of Architecture, Graphics, and Software has published a close-up photo of the firm's Xe-HPG GPU, destined for DG2 gaming graphics cards. The photo shows the chip in hand, and clearly labelled as boasting 512 EUs. Interestingly, the powerful new GPU, which is expected to deliver performance somewhere between the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 and 3080, is said to be operating "buttery smooth" after a few weeks spent optimising drivers and games – but there is still lots of work to do. I think we last saw this GPU being tested at Folsom Labs, back in March.
Above you can see the nice and clear die shot as revealed by Koduri on his Twitter feed. It is described as an Xe-HPG (DG2) chip by the Intel graphics boss, so there is no uncertainty regarding what we are looking at here. Making things even more clear is the fact that someone in Koduri's team has taken a Sharpie and scrawled 'DG2 – 512' on the substrate.
From previous information and leaks it is expected that the Xe-HPG with 512EUs will be Intel's top consumer graphics card of the DG2 generation, probably accompanied by 8 or 16GB of GDDR6. There are indications that Intel is looking at models with 384 and 128 EUs, and with 4, 6, 8 or 12GB of GDDR6, too.
Intel to adopt FSR?
Koduri's Tweet spoke a lot about the ongoing software development side of things which seems to be the focus now. If you read about AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) tech yesterday, and its open nature, you shouldn't be surprised to hear that Koduri has confirmed that Intel is "definitely looking at it," with its open approach being an attraction.
Intel's entry into the consumer gaming graphics card market can't come soon enough, with the scarcity problems and various degrees of price gouging we are seeing hitting PC gamers and enthusiasts hard.
