Intel’s first batch of Xe graphics cards has finally arrived. Kind of. Although they are not available for purchase as standalone GPUs, Intel announced that it has finally started shipping them to system integrators worldwide for use on basic desktops.
I look forward to the launch of Intel’s Xe GPUs since we first saw them at CES 2020. At that time, it was Intel’s DG1 prototype that took center stage, and today’s initial crop of Iris Xe graphics cards is based on that same design.
On the outside, they look quite different from Intel’s first prototype. So far, two models have been confirmed: the one shown above, made by Asus, and another totally blue version, in the photo below, made by Colorful. It is not yet clear whether we will see more manufacturers launch their own Iris Xe cards in the coming months, but given the current shortage of PC hardware in general now, it is not surprising that Intel is starting small instead of making a big fuss.
It appears to be a rather modest launch, as Intel says its first pair of Iris Xe graphics cards will come with only 4 GB of memory, placing them at the lower end of the video card’s spectrum. They will also have 80 execution units (Intel’s equivalent to Nvidia’s CUDA cores and AMD stream processors), which is just under the top 96 EU specifications that Intel previously described as part of its comprehensive Xe-LP (or lower power) microarchitecture. As for the rest of its specifications, details are still scarce at the moment.
In fact, the only other information that Intel has confirmed so far is that the cards will have three video outputs, as well as support for hardware video decoding and encoding adjustment (including support for AV1 decoding), adaptive synchronization and HDR display. They will also have some degree of AI capability thanks to Intel’s DP4a deep learning inference technology, but otherwise, this is their destiny.
We also don’t know when these OEM systems with Xe technology will start to go on sale, but I imagine that we will see them appear in the coming months, as system integrators start delivering their products. I will be interested in seeing exactly what type of PC they will end up on as well. Intel says it is currently targeting “mainstream users and small and medium-sized businesses” with these first two Iris Xe cards, but with so little information available it is now difficult to say whether they will be suitable competitors for other low-cost GPUs like Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 or AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT. We’ll just have to wait and see.