Intel’s first Xe graphics card is aimed at the middle class

In 2020, Intel will launch the first graphics cards in the Xe family. Reports have previously revealed information about the first graphics card aimed at consumers, which has the working name Intel DG1. Now the diligent Twitter user reveals KOMACHI_ENSAKA more concrete details about its capacity.

The data comes from a prototype that Intel registered with the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU). The details reveal that the DG1 graphics card is equipped with 96 calculation units (Execution Units, EU). If the graphics card follows the same architectural structure as Intel’s integrated graphics circuits, this means 8 shader units per EU, for a total of 768 units.

Intel’s first dedicated graphics card then matches the specifications of the integrated graphics circuit in Intel’s portable processors in the Tiger Lake family, which also reportedly gets 96 EU units with the Gen12 architecture. The Gen12 architecture is part of the Xe family, which spans everything from integrated graphics to consumer and server-adapted graphics technology.

Comparison between DG1 and Intel’s integrated graphics

* Unconfirmed data based on Intel’s current number of shading devices in integrated graphics architectures.

Although the DG1 matches the specifications of Intel’s current configuration for the EU devices in integrated graphics, performance is likely to be significantly higher. In addition to the fact that the designers of the graphics circuits learn to differ, a dedicated graphics card is also equipped with its own graphics memory and full memory bandwidth for this. Own access to dedicated graphics memory should provide significantly increased performance compared to integrated counterparts.

A comparison can be made with AMD’s Kaveri-based processor A10-7850K with integrated graphics. This matched the company’s dedicated graphics card Radeon R7 250, where the graphics circuit in the A10-7850K was equipped with more texture units but the Radeon R7 250 was run at a higher clock frequency.

The graphics circuit in the Radeon R7 250 was run at a clock frequency of 1 GHz versus 720 MHz in the A10-7850K. The big advantage, however, was the memory bandwidth, where the dedicated memory access in the Radeon R7 250 provided bandwidth of 72 GB / s versus about 34.1 GB / s shared memory access in the A10-7850K.

Regardless of the final configuration, the Intel DG1 looks to be aimed at the budget to mid-range segment. The information from the EaEU registration states the name Alpha, which in combination with previous prototypes indicates that the graphics card is in a late stage of development.

As Intel DG1 probably still has a number of months of development time left, a possible launch can take place during the summer of 2020 in connection with the Computex trade fair, or alternatively the gaming trade fair Gamescom at the end of August.

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