Intel adds support for DG2 graphics card in driver

Last year’s intense graphics autumn looks set to leak into 2021, where the year got off to a flying start with rumors about upcoming graphics cards from Nvidia as well as AMD. In previous years, Intel has been a player that has not normally appeared in discussions regarding graphics for gaming computers, but if the company itself can choose, 2021 is the year when it changes, with the graphics card series Xe-HPG.

Videocardz has now unveiled that support for the DG2 card, the PCI Express-based edition in the Xe-HPG series, has been added to Intel’s latest drivers in two variants. Unit ID and the comment “128” and “512 SKU”, respectively, are what differentiate the variants, where the number can be assumed to be a reference to the number of execution units (EU) in the circuit.

Each execution device in Xe contains eight FP32-ALUs (Arithmetic Logic Unit), which are almost similar to stream processors at AMD, or CUDA cores in the case of Nvidia. With simple mathematics, it can thus be calculated that DG2 “128” is equipped with 1,024 cores, while the beefier “512” variant offers 4,096 pieces.

Rumors from last autumn spoke of two more configurations, one with 384 execution units and one with as many as 960. At least the former looks like it could become a reality as Intel learns to bridge the gap between its two models, while reports of a 7,860-core variant based on 960 execution units disappeared as quickly as they emerged.

The graphics cards in the Intel Xe-HPG series are paired with GDDR6 memory and the manufacture of the circuits is not provided by the company itself. Exactly who is responsible for the production is unconfirmed, but TSMC and its 6-nanometer node N6P are believed to be the most likely alternative.

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