Intel Shows Off Graphics Card Designs at GDC 2019

AlphaAtlas

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Intel reportedly unveiled some "early designs" of their upcoming discrete graphics cards at their GDC 2019 presentation. The graphics card in the first and 2nd slides they showed largely reassembles an Optane 905P SSD with a blower fan and a conspicuously short PCB. While the Xe's specs and performance levels are still unknown, to me, the short PCB suggests that Intel will use some kind of on-package memory with their upcoming GPU, or a relatively narrow GDDR memory bus at very least. A shot of the back reveals a full backplate, as well as 3 DisplayPort outputs and one HDMI port. Finally, the last slide shows a card with a fan right on top of the graphics chip, which is something I haven't seen on a high-end reference card in some time.

Unfortunately, full specifications are still not yet available for Intel's upcoming graphics card. Real world performance is essentially completely unknown for now. As the year goes on, there is a good chance Intel may share some numbers given how eager the company is to make everyone aware that they have a major new product incoming.
 
LOL those look nice except the driver support I would be worried about even Nvidia has problems with that.
 
Maybe a final review here and of course a [H] Giveaway as a final salute?
 
I wish Intel well on this.

I see NV having more to lose in market share. At [H] we focus on the top end, that is where Intel is aiming, imo, leaving amd still able to focus on mid to good ranged gpu's.

Hmm an Intel - NV price war could push down the mid range pricing.

Wonder if this could make room for the return of SGI or some such.
 
Hmmmm..... Intel Steals Kyle from HardOCP.... thats the only Intel news that I got.
 
It looks like an NVME to PCI-E adapter ... oh, it's a GPU?! Could have fooled me...

deadpool_works_at_intel_hardocp_hardforum.jpg
 
Like I said before..............

First tell the big shots they should make a card that is top shelf enthusiast compliant.
Second, give Corsair the exclusive retail and etail rights so the customer service will be as good as the product.
Last, make more that 12 at a time so we can buy them on release day.

Hint, hint......hire Brent as Director of Enthusiast GPU performance reviews so we get the skinny on performance right out of the gate.
 
I'm looking forward to a review.
Hopefully it beats Nvidia and has Quicksync.
Having this even on a low-end card would negate me from having to buy an expensive Quadro card for transcoding.
 
I'm not expecting from from their first go at this. More than likely this will be a low end multi-display office setting OEM supplied card in pre-builts from HP and Dell. Maybe handle some super light gaming.

Think 8400GS of the modern day.
 
I'm not expecting from from their first go at this. More than likely this will be a low end multi-display office setting OEM supplied card in pre-builts from HP and Dell. Maybe handle some super light gaming.

Think 8400GS of the modern day.
I disagree a bit. I think it will be what we consider mid range card as they have a few solid engineers working on it. It's not going to directly compete with either AMD or Nvidia in the enthusiast or high end markets, but could just challenge the status quo which would be good for all. We'll have to see the price point, if a virgin like this can develop proper drivers and software support, and how the big players react (intel at this point is nothing to them)... Ultimately I would hope they use deep pockets to undercut pricing and shake up the market with an "acceptable" GPU.

Edit - their onboard basically achieves what you are saying so it would be pointless to create a dGPU with design unless targeting the consumer market.
 
If Intel can make a viable product, and AMD can finally overtake Nvidia, what will happen to Nvidia?

The two main CPU makers will have their own ecosystems that play really well with their own parts. Nvidia will be in the dust, unless they make their own CPU.
 
I wish Intel well on this.

I see NV having more to lose in market share. At [H] we focus on the top end, that is where Intel is aiming, imo, leaving amd still able to focus on mid to good ranged gpu's.

Hmm an Intel - NV price war could push down the mid range pricing.

Wonder if this could make room for the return of SGI or some such.


I kinda think Intel will target mid-tier and low-tier for their first generation. It's hard to leapfrog anyone on a 1st Gen product unless they're doing something completely unheard of. Especially given their foundry problems on smaller nodes. If they had a working/production 7nm, maybe they can go higher.

The move to have a discrete GFX product line was likely pushed by the AI boom. They're losing out big-time on Nvidia's AI boxes, so I'd suspect that any subsequent generation will be targeting that market, with GFX processing chips being the spinoffs.
 
Considering that driver support for the IGPs is lacking, Intel will really need to step up their game if they want an even remotely successful product.

Intel tends to drop support for IGPs pretty quickly, so unless that changes, there will be absolutely no reason to buy a dedicated GPU from them.

AMD and nVidia currently support GPUs for quite a few years.. Intel.. maybe 1-2 years if that. Then it is a huge pain to try to find a driver that is not super buggy and that will actually work with your system and with the OS you are using.
A.K.A.. Intel's download site sucks pretty bad as well.
 
Intel reportedly unveiled some "early designs" of their upcoming discrete graphics cards at their GDC 2019 presentation. The graphics card in the first and 2nd slides they showed largely reassembles an Optane 905P SSD with a blower fan and a conspicuously short PCB. While the Xe's specs and performance levels are still unknown, to me, the short PCB suggests that Intel will use some kind of on-package memory with their upcoming GPU, or a relatively narrow GDDR memory bus at very least. A shot of the back reveals a full backplate, as well as 3 DisplayPort outputs and one HDMI port. Finally, the last slide shows a card with a fan right on top of the graphics chip, which is something I haven't seen on a high-end reference card in some time.

Unfortunately, full specifications are still not yet available for Intel's upcoming graphics card. Real world performance is essentially completely unknown for now. As the year goes on, there is a good chance Intel may share some numbers given how eager the company is to make everyone aware that they have a major new product incoming.

While I don't expect much from it, more competition is definitely a dire need to deal with this nVidia price bullshit. Perhaps Intel with their deep pockets has ability to create a competing product, even if not in high end but at least in mid range. More competition is always good for everyone (well, maybe not the corporations but at least everyone else).
 
I disagree a bit. I think it will be what we consider mid range card as they have a few solid engineers working on it. It's not going to directly compete with either AMD or Nvidia in the enthusiast or high end markets, but could just challenge the status quo which would be good for all. We'll have to see the price point, if a virgin like this can develop proper drivers and software support, and how the big players react (intel at this point is nothing to them)... Ultimately I would hope they use deep pockets to undercut pricing and shake up the market with an "acceptable" GPU.

Edit - their onboard basically achieves what you are saying so it would be pointless to create a dGPU with design unless targeting the consumer market.

I assume it will be similar to the RX480 in terms of pricing / performance for its time period. Otherwise iGPU pretty much does the basics just fine. Doubt they will go for the high end but rather use something modest and decent from a value perspective to get drivers sorted out. People would be more forgiving for some instability if they spent $200 or so. Even if they could put out a $600-800 level card, if drivers were not great up front they'd get a lot of heat for it if they charge premium prices.
 
I assume it will be similar to the RX480 in terms of pricing / performance for its time period. Otherwise iGPU pretty much does the basics just fine. Doubt they will go for the high end but rather use something modest and decent from a value perspective to get drivers sorted out. People would be more forgiving for some instability if they spent $200 or so. Even if they could put out a $600-800 level card, if drivers were not great up front they'd get a lot of heat for it if they charge premium prices.

Actually, as far as I've learned over the past few years, Intel is looking good on the software side when it comes to graphics. They even have Ray Tracing experience under their belt (see https://embree.github.io/). The problem that Intel has is getting the hardware just right, specifically to be fast and power efficient. That's the problem that Intel has to solve. Just look at AMD, they seem to have the same issue with their Vega architecture. If efficiency wasn't an issue, they could just crank up the clock speed. But they can't do it very well even at 7nm. Seems to me like NVIDIA is the only one who's ahead of the curve when it comes to architectural efficiency.
 
lol, wtf is that? I could have come up with a better design on a waffle house napkin.
 
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If Intel can make a viable product, and AMD can finally overtake Nvidia, what will happen to Nvidia?

The two main CPU makers will have their own ecosystems that play really well with their own parts. Nvidia will be in the dust, unless they make their own CPU.
I’m fairly certain nvidia has some amazing talent working on their product stacks. One thing I’ve learned over the years is to never underestimate nvidia.
The one thing I’ve always wondered about is how healthy the working environment is throughout. I suspect it’s a satisfying place to work with all the really cool tech they crank out and the new headquarters. You don’t just keep destroying the competition for all these years if the work environment sucks. Talent acquisition and retention is huge.

I read the bios of a lot of the people who wrote the white paper in raytracing.. was pretty damn impressive. Jen hsun also made a bit of an inappropriate comment at CES wondering who Intel has for talent so they can compete. He didn’t seem worried.

The x86 license is the big thing that can change the market share numbers. But like I said, never underestimate nvidia.
 
Drive prices down? Intel?

I'm getting visual fatigue from how many times I've seen the word "hope" with the word "Intel" in the same sentence. Give it rest folks. Showing GPU mockups (especially ones that look this bad) and dark control panel teasers are silly. Imagine if NVIDIA did the same for a future GPU. They would be ridiculed and the satire would never end. At the very least if Intel showed us a PCB design, well, that would have been a good start.

Way to connect with enthusiasts Intel, creep up the good work!
 
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Intel has never had stellar driver support. Especially in the video cards or integrated video card side. So I have zero faith that even if the product works that it would get proper driver support. Has anyone suddenly heard about Intel hiring AMD/Nvidia Videocard driver personnel away?
 
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The blue rectangle Larrabee design is pure minimalist beauty. I hope they continue the trend.

images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcR1Knuljpr93td3moLtdGkUbV4SsK-cg-r7jowJXShv-Rji83Gm.jpg


This new design isn't too far off but it's a bit teeny bopper by comparison.
 
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