Intel launches DG1 graphics card for desktops with partner manufacturers

In 2021, the market for graphics cards will be a player stronger, as Intel takes up the battle with AMD and Nvidia with the architecture Xe. Intel’s recruitment of AMD’s former Radeon boss Raja Koduri will then bear fruit, but the first graphics cards for gamers are a little later in the year. However, getting a first graphics card is an important step, and Intel is now doing just that together with partner manufacturers Asus and Colorful.

The graphics card in question is called DG1 and is a scaled-down version of Intel’s first graphics card for laptops, the Iris Xe Max. Where the graphics card for laptops is equipped with 96 computing units (EU), DG1 takes a step down to 80 EU or 640 graphics cores. One possible explanation for the simpler specifications is that Intel uses graphics circuits that have suffered defects during manufacturing, a strategy other graphics card makers use to maximize the use of manufactured circuits.

The production of DG1 is done on Intel’s latest technology 10 nanometers Superfine. The TDP level stays at a modest 30 watts, which together with the energy-efficient manufacturing technology means that DG1 can be operated completely fanlessly. With that power budget, the DG1 can run at a clock frequency of 1,700 MHz, but since the TDP level is 5 watts above its portable equivalent, the graphics cards probably have the ability to run at higher clock frequencies.

In terms of graphics memory, the DG1 is equipped in its first editions with 4 GB which connects over a 128 bit wide memory bus. It provides total memory bandwidth of 68 GB / s, just like with its portable siblings. Intel does not specify the type of memory used. Iris Xe Max for laptops uses LPDDR4X, but early developer versions of DG1 used GDDR6 and it does not appear if this also applies to launched versions. The graphics card connects to the system over PCI Express of unknown version.

DG1 may be Intel’s first launched graphics card for desktops, but it uses the energy-efficient Xe-LP input circuit. The first graphics cards aimed at higher-performance gaming instead use the Xe-HPG circuit and will be the first to be manufactured outside Intel, as the contract manufacturer TSMC is said to be assigned the task.

Intel does not manufacture its own products on DG1 but relies on partner manufacturers for the task. The first to be presented are Asus and Colorful, whose DG1 graphics cards can be used for pre-built computers in the future. What the first computers will be and when they will appear is unclear at the time of writing.

Read more about Intel’s Xe graphics: