Intel’s upcoming Xe HPG discrete graphics card will certainly have {hardware} ray tracing, the corporate confirmed on Wednesday. The catch? That new discrete GPU for avid gamers gained’t really present up till 2021, whereas laptops will get Xe LP first.
Still, Intel’s Raja Koduri (senior vice chairman, chief architect, and common supervisor of Architecture, Graphics and Software) was visibly giddy to announce that Intel would quickly have a GPU focused to one of many loudest crowds on the Internet: fanatic PC avid gamers. “We know enthusiast gamers are the hardest bunch to impress. They love products that have the best performance, best performance per watt, performance per dollar and latest, greatest features all at the same time,” Koduri stated. “I’m excited to share with you that this GPU is now in our labs as we speak, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it soon.”
Intel’s 2021 Xe HPG will use constructing blocks from the corporate’s laptop computer and high-performance Xe graphics. And sure, it’ll have {hardware} ray tracing.
For dramatic impact, Koduri lastly added: “And yes, this GPU will have support for hardware accelerated ray tracing along with several exciting features you expect for a GPU.”
Details of the brand new Xe HPG weren’t disclosed, however we do comprehend it makes use of design cues from Intel’s Xe HPC for high-performance deep studying computing, the Xe HP that’s designed for intensive duties resembling real-time media encoding, and the Xe LP that’s going into laptops.
Koduri additionally stated Xe HPG will use a totally new GDDR6 reminiscence controller, not like the Xe HP and Xe HPC, which use high-bandwidth reminiscence (HBM). Koduri stated that’s factor: “I still have the scars on my back trying to bring expensive memory subsystems like HBM to gaming, at least twice,” he stated. Koduri is referring to his earlier stint at AMD, and the corporate’s lengthy and tortured relationship with HBM in shopper GPUs.
Intel additionally stated the Xe HPG gained’t be manufactured by Intel, as a substitute saying it will be “external.” Naturally this results in hypothesis as to which fab will get the work completed.
The final bit of information on Intel’s long-awaited discrete GPU got here in a Q&A with media after the presentation. Koduri stated Intel plans to compete from the highest to the underside of the GPU market, nevertheless it’s sticking with its beforehand acknowledged purpose of getting Xe graphics first into the realm with the best demand: Laptops.
IntelYou’ll first see Intel Xe graphics in laptops, a ground-up redesign that includes the Xe LP with 96 EUs and successfully about 2X the efficiency of Ice Lake graphics.
Intel Xe LP comes first
That’s proper: What will come first for customers is Xe LP, which will likely be utilized in laptops that includes the upcoming Tiger Lake CPU.
Intel’s David Blythe stated the purpose was to supply 2X the efficiency over the 10th-gen Ice Lake’s Gen 11 graphics, whereas not rising the die house and likewise not rising the facility consumption. “So effectively this means…increasing performance per millimeter squared, performance per watt and performance per flop simultaneously,” Blythe stated. Blythe described it as a “daunting” process that required a ground-up redesign, with the structure, micro-architecture, and course of groups all working collectively to attain their targets.
IntelIntel’s new Xe LP options execution items that function a shared thread controller and are basically “wider,” which aids effectivity whereas rising efficiency.
Blythe stated to hit the goal, they determined to develop the engine by 1.5X, leading to 96 execution items vs. the 64 execution items of the Gen 11 graphics within the 10th-gen Ice Lake CPUs. This took Xe LP a lot of the approach towards its purpose of 2X the efficiency over Gen 11 Ice Lake graphics. The relaxation largely comes from the improved transistors and steel stack Intel used to construct the cores, in addition to bottlenecks faraway from the earlier design.
For instance, a better dynamic vary means Xe LP EU’s will hit a lot increased clock speeds throughout the whole band. The present Iris Plus graphics in a Core i7-1065G7 has a base clock of 300MHz with a lift clock of 1.1GHz. Intel didn’t say precisely what clocks the brand new Xe LP EUs will run at, nevertheless it’s clear it’ll exceed 1.7GHz on enhance. That enhance clock will even eat extra energy, however the effectivity of the design means the brand new Xe LP EUs will run at about 1.6GHz whereas consuming the identical energy because the 10th-gen Ice Lake operating at its max enhance of 1.1GHz. That can be roughly a 45-percent increased clock enhance.
IntelThe effectivity of the brand new Xe LP for laptops means it has a better “dyamic range,” so it could use much less energy whereas producing extra efficiency than 10th-gen Ice Lake graphics. It may enhance far increased.
What all of it means: Faster built-in graphics gaming
What Intel’s Xe LP provides as much as is a reasonably beefy enhance in efficiency over Intel’s built-in graphics method, which has lengthy been the butt of jokes amongst avid gamers.
In demonstrations the corporate confirmed Xe LP enjoying fashionable video games resembling PUBG and AAA video games resembling Battlefield V. Intel was sand-bagging, too: The efficiency of Xe LP was with the chip restricted to a 15-watt TDP, whereas the 10th-gen, Gen 11 graphics Ice Lake laptop computer was set for a 25-watt TDP. That clearly implies that if a laptop computer can supply 25 watts of cooling, it ought to supply much more gaming efficiency.
IntelIntel’s Xe LP will supply increased efficiency than its earlier Gen 11 graphics in Ice Lake CPUs, whereas consuming much less energy.
Intel was very coy concerning the efficiency of the Xe LP, however in a voiceover throughout Battlefield V, the Intel narrator says: “With Xe you can expect outstanding performance across a breadth of games including previously unachievable game play on some AAA titles in this form factor.”
Because tech firms can’t make efficiency claims with out legal professionals parachuting in by the window armed with lawsuits, that assertion appears to indicate that Xe LP will supply efficiency past each 10th-gen Ice Lake laptops in addition to AMD’s present Ryzen 4000 chips. But be aware the phrase “form factor:” Is Intel referring to a 13-inch laptop computer or a 14-inch laptop computer? There generally is a world of distinction between these two sizes.
One different X consider Intel’s demo is what reminiscence expertise the Xe LP used. Intel has added assist for LPDDR5-5400 RAM, whereas the Ice Lake and Ryzen 4000 laptops are restricted to LPDDR4.
IntelIntel’s first discrete GPU in many years will likely be made by an exterior fab somewhat than the corporate’s personal.
No ray tracing in built-in graphics laptops (but)
One final element that must be stated: Hardware-accelerated ray tracing will likely be within the discrete GPU due subsequent 12 months, nevertheless it gained’t be in Tiger Lake/Xe LP-based laptops when they’re unveiled in September. There’s hope: When requested whether or not {hardware} ray tracing might be completed in an built-in chip, Intel’s Blythe responded, “it’s not that it can’t do it, it’s more about when is the right time.”