Something to expect: Intel is planning to launch its first GPU chips for X and HPG games this year, but we don’t know when – it could be later this year or later this week when Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger takes the stage for his first presentation . Either way, they will be something worth watching.
Intel is augmenting the marketing engine for the Xe HPG, its next line of GPUs for high-performance games. In a short clip posted on Twitter, they trigger a treasure hunt that will enter stage two on Friday.
In the Intel teaser, an Xe LP (low power consumption) chip is hit by a beam and upgraded to an Xe HPG chip. The latter is five times bigger, which could be a nod to their designs: Intel’s current LP offerings reach 96 EUs, while the HPG line reaches 512 EUs, five times more and change. It is usually a little exaggerated to draw conclusions like this, but this video is full of clues.
At around 17 seconds, the code “79.0731W” appears in the lower right corner of the platform where the chips are. At the time of writing, the code is uninterrupted, but there is speculation that “thirty-one weeks” may be a release date. Four more lines of code appear at the 22-second mark at the bottom right of the chip. They have already been decoded. (If you want to decode them yourself, don’t scroll.)
Microarchitecture Teaser X and HPG = 🍬👀 pic.twitter.com/kdzBokBiW4
– Intel Graphics (@IntelGraphics) March 18, 2021
Credit goes to duckofdeath for posting the solution. Each line is a binary number and the four lines together are an IP address: 35.160.237.208. It is the address of xehpg.intel.com.
The Intel website says that the “Xe HPG Scavenger Hunt” will be released at 9 am PST on March 26, and that a “secret code” will be needed. It could be the first code in the video or something revealed next week. We’ll keep you updated – if you share the clues you discover.