Intel Xe-HPG with 512 EUs is faster than GeForce RTX 3070?

Posted on Friday, April 09 2021 @ 11:28 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
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YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead has a major exclusive about Intel's Xe-HPG discrete video cards. The channel reveals the very first photo of an engineering sample of Intel's upcoming high-end gaming card. A couple of angles are shown in the video clip but Moore's Law is Dead did not show the PCB to protect his sources.

Final cooler might be white

The chip giant is reportedly testing three different cooler designs. The photos shown in the video reveal one design, it uses a dual-fan cooling solution. It's said that the final retail version might feature a white color scheme. The photos show this engineering sample uses one 8-pin and one 6-pin PCIe power connector.

Intel Xe-HPG with 512 EUs could beat GeForce RTX 3070

The top model features 512 execution units and will reportedly have a TDP of around 275W. Intel's initial target was said to be 225-250W -- but the chip giant has decided to push the chip harder to reach better performance. Moore's Law is Dead claims it was designed for TSMC's N6 node but he cannot rule out it being moved to N7P. The best configuration will get 16GB GDDR6 memory over a 256-bit memory bus.

In terms of performance, Intel may be able to compete with high-end cards from AMD and NVIDIA. Rumor has it that current samples are typically performing faster than NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 3070 in a range of benchmarks. Moore's Law is Dead also mentions that 3DMark Timespy scores range between an RTX 2080 and RTX 3090. He does make clear that there are no expectations of the final product being able to beat the GeForce RTX 3080.

Intel has NVIDIA DLSS rival called XeSS

Hardware performance is one thing but software is another critical part of a new GPU launch. So far, there have been various indications that Intel's Xe architecture has driver problems. Moore's Law is Dead believes Intel will get good drivers eventually, but notes it will be interesting to see whether Intel's management will want to wait long enough for a good launch. There's a risk that Xe-HPG will be launched without mature enough drivers.

The encoding and prosumer capabilities of Xe-HPG are described as impressive. Intel is shooting for the starts in terms of software -- the chip giant is even working on a rival for the NVIDIA DLSS technology. This project is said to be named XeSS.

Not a lot of volume until 2022?

When Xe-HPG will launch remains a mystery. Moore's Law is Dead claims the 512 EU Xe GPUs are "highly unlikely" to be ready before Q4 2021. He says Intel's AIBs still known very little about Xe and there's speculation that both the prosumer and professional cards won't be ready until 2022.

The 512 EU version is expected first, the 128 EU variant should follow shortly after the 512 EU model. There is also talk about a 256 EU edition but it's unknown when that part is supposed to launch.

In terms of pricing, Intel reportedly aims at $200 to $300 for the DG2 mid-range cards. It's unknown how much the 512 EU cards will cost.

Elasti will succeed DG2 in 2023

The Xe-HPG discrete video cards will use the DG2 series GPUs and there's already some talk about a successor. Moore's Law is Dead heard the successor to DG2 is referred to as "Elasti". It's expected in 2023.

Intel Xe HPG 512 EU engineering sample

Source: VideoCardz



About the Author

Thomas De Maesschalck

Thomas has been messing with computer since early childhood and firmly believes the Internet is the best thing since sliced bread. Enjoys playing with new tech, is fascinated by science, and passionate about financial markets. When not behind a computer, he can be found with running shoes on or lifting heavy weights in the weight room.



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