Intel Drops Teaser For Upcoming Xe-HPG GPU Architecture
by Ryan Smith on March 18, 2021 5:00 PM EST
With the launch of their first-iteration Xe-LP architecture now firmly in the proverbial rearview mirror, Intel’s GPU division has turned its sights towards its next consumer-focused GPU architecture, Xe-HPG. Today the company has posted a very light teaser video advertising the forthcoming architecture.
Xe HPG microarchitecture teaser = 🍬👀 pic.twitter.com/kdzBokBiW4
— Intel Graphics (@IntelGraphics) March 18, 2021
The brief, 30 second promotional video highlights how Xe-HPG is built on top of Intel’s current Xe-LP architecture. And while there aren’t any concrete technical details disclosed within the otherwise abstract video, it’s notable that the video does briefly show 5 layers of blocks on the Xe-HPG chip. Assuming for the moment that Intel isn’t being quite literal here – a 5 layer GPU would be extravagant and hard to cool, to say the least – it’s more likely an allusion to the number of Execution Units (EUs) or some other aspect of the architecture.
Finally, the video also includes a short block of binary text as a further game for the audience to play.
10100000
11101101
11010000
For the moment we don’t have a solid idea of what it means. But no doubt someone will figure it out before too long.
Otherwise, this will no doubt be the first of many teasers for Xe-HPG. While Intel hasn’t provided a more recent roadmap for chips based on the architecture, the company previously announced in 2020 that they were aiming for a 2021 launch. And with the first DG2 chip already in the labs as of October, we know that Intel is well underway in bringing up Xe-HPG silicon.
Update (03/19): Sharp-eyed sleuths have since solved the binary code mystery. As it turns out, the digits are for an IPv4 address, which leads to https://xehpg.intel.com/. According to Intel's page, a scavenger hunt is starting on the 26th, so it looks like Intel will have some additional games for audiences to play.
Source: Intel
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
50 Comments
View All Comments
tomatotree - Friday, March 19, 2021 - link
I'll be happy if it's just faster and cheaper than the Nvidia cards that are actually in stock, which is mostly ones from 3+ years ago...mode_13h - Thursday, March 18, 2021 - link
As Tiger Lake benchmarks show, Xe has come quite a ways. I'm not saying it's going to dominate Nvidia or even AMD, but it should be fast enough that the right pricing could make it very interesting.Spunjji - Monday, March 22, 2021 - link
Xe is roughly a generation behind the other two, so pricing is going to be the key.brucethemoose - Thursday, March 18, 2021 - link
I think the blocks are there because it looks cool.But setting that aside, that beam of light sorta, *kinda* resembles photolithography, right? And modern chips do have multiple layers.
Danvelopment - Thursday, March 18, 2021 - link
So is this where Intel swoops in with discrete GPUs with no shaders but MASSIVE compute and gaming GPUs crash in value?Because their examples were pretty mediocre on the gaming front but they could absolutely do that, saving gamers and creaming it on profit.
It would make perfect sense for them to do so, compute is what they're good at, gaming graphics is not what they're good at and they'd be able to break into GPUs in a big way and generate more profit with less risk. While simultaneously nailing goodwill from gamers without actually selling them anything.
mode_13h - Thursday, March 18, 2021 - link
Huh? How do you do "MASSIVE compute" with "no shaders"? Compute is traditionally all about the shaders (i.e. their number, clock speed, and efficiency).MayDayComputers - Friday, March 19, 2021 - link
Intel will be releasing a compute focused line in the form of Xe-HPC. So, they could cover both sides.nunya112 - Thursday, March 18, 2021 - link
if its as fast as a 2060 or 56-5700 9AMD) and its priced well and its AVAILABLE ill defo be ditching NV/AMDeastcoast_pete - Thursday, March 18, 2021 - link
Is this dGPU one of the Intel chips that is fabbed at TSMC in 7 nm? If so, this could get really interesting!Kurosaki - Friday, March 19, 2021 - link
Well, we can't hope to get it reviewed with other half year old cards, can we? Is all hope lost?