Intel Xe HPG Discrete Gaming Graphics Card Might Debut Next Week
Intel has long been trying to convince both users and manufacturers that its graphics tech is all you need but that spiel has always fallen flat when it came to gaming and graphics-extensive applications. It wasn't until its most recent Intel Xe graphics architecture that that claim actually started to finally show some promise. That said, Intel's new graphics tech is still missing one critical market but that might change next week when the chipmaker finally reveals its Intel Xe HPG discrete graphics card made especially for gaming.
Intel Xe, basically the company's 12th gen graphics architecture, introduced a new brand of GPUs that, admittedly, showed more muscle than any of its previous Intel Iris chips. While the technology also covered integrated GPUs like the Intel Iris Xe MAX for laptops, much of the attention and fanfare have been poured over the company's first discrete graphics cards. That said, those graphics cards, based on the DG1 GPU, were made available only to system builders to sell as part of pre-built PCs. What many consumers, especially gamers, are waiting for is the company's first commercial GPU.
That might come as the Intel Xe HPG, short for High-Performance Graphics, that was teased back in 2020. This GPU, targeted at enthusiasts, is meant to combine several traits from the integrated Xe-LP, the server Xe-HPC, and the large-scale compute Xe-HPC. Unlike the already available versions of Intel Xe-LP, this one is made specifically to address the needs of gaming.
Intel hasn't committed to a date when it would announce this Xe HPG but a scavenger hunt discovered by Wccftech hints that an important event is scheduled for March 26 at 9 AM PT. Whether that's an actual announcement or an announcement of an announcement still isn't certain. Right on schedule, however, Intel also started promoting the GPU with a video teaser.
Details about the Inte Xe HPG "DG2" remain slim aside from the DDR6 memory that Intel itself confirmed last year. Recent leaks did hint that the card will have 512 execution units, 4,096 cores, and 12GB of that DDR6 video memory. That, however, may apply to only one graphics card as Intel is also expected to launch a whole line of them covering different tiers.