Intel Xe DG1 Sampling to Developers

The Intel Xe DG1 GPU is the company’s development vehicle for its re-entry into the dGPU market. Intel will challenge NVIDIA and AMD with its new platform, but first, it needs to catch up on software enablement. That is where the Intel Xe DG1 comes in as a standard PCIe card that ecosystem partners can use to develop for the new architecture.

Intel Xe DG1 at CES 2020

At CES 2020, the Intel Xe DG1 developer platform was shown off. This is a platform that Intel makes available to software developers who are interested in testing and optimizing code for the company’s new dGPU architecture.

One notable fact with the entire Xe line is that Intel is marketing with more flair than with most of its products. The Intel Xe DG1 has LED lights. Compare this to many of the server and embedded dev kits that look spartan in comparison.

The GPU shown at CES is designated as the Intel Xe LP GPU. It is on the other end of the spectrum from the Xe HP and Xe HPC that were covered in more detail at SC19 in Intel Xe HPC GPU is Something to Get Excited About.

Intel did not share performance figures, nor complete specs at CES 2020. Instead, we are teased with the fact that Intel has some kind of development platform for Xe that it is shipping.

Final Words

It is great to see that Intel has silicon. The big question remains how does this design compare to what NVIDIA and AMD will launch later this year. Intel has been out in the market touting its product early and often. That is a luxury that NVIDIA and AMD, who are both shipping dGPUs today, cannot afford lest it stalls current generation sales. Since Turing is aging, and the NVIDIA Tesla V100 is getting old by silicon standards, even with multiple refreshes, it is very likely we will see new NVIDIA architecture at GTC20 in a few months. Time will tell how what Intel has been brewing will stack up to its competition when it actually launches.