Raja Koduri teases Intel Xe-HPG running 3DMark

Another GPU teaser from Intel's Raja Koduri. This time the graphics chief uploaded a photo to Twitter that shows off an unnamed GPU being tested at Intel's Folsom, California lab. There are two pictures, actually. On the first photo from 2012, you can see Koduri checking out the performance of Crystalwell, a Skylake-R processor with integrated graphics.

20x faster than 2012

In the next photo, Koduri is looking at a 3DMark score of what is most likely the Xe-HPG-based DG2 discrete video card. According to Koduri, this new GPU is "over 20 times faster" than what he was looking at in 2012. The 3DMark feature tests that are installed on the test system include the DirectX DXR test, which suggests the system is testing a GPU with ray tracing support. Xe-LP can't do ray tracing so that's another possible clue for this being DG2.



VideoCardz offers some more insight and speculation over here.

A closer look reveals an engineering board with a large CPU-like heatsink and cooler. This is a common way of testing new GPUs, which are often swapped out of the socket during the evaluation. On the desk, we can see two power supplies, one being directly attached to the GPU evaluation board, while the other one is supplying power to the motherboard. The GPU engineering board is attached to the motherboard through the PCIe riser. It is unclear which motherboard is being used, but it looks similar (but not the same) to the recently teased Alder Lake board.

Intel's Xe-HPG gaming GPUs will be fabbed by an external foundry. It's unknown when the first model will hit the market. A lot of gamers are looking forward to the entry of a third major player in the PC gaming GPU market. It will be very exciting to see what kind of performance Intel can deliver -- and if the firm can nail the drivers too.

From 2012 to 2021 - same Intel Folsom lab, many of the same engineers with more grey hair , I was at Apple back then, getting hands on with pre-production crystalwell, 9 years later playing with a GPU that’s >20x faster! pic.twitter.com/RgmRJuhOXw

— Raja Koduri (@Rajaontheedge) March 12, 2021