During its press conference at CES 2020, Intel made multiple announcements, the most important being the reference to Tiger Lake processors with integrated Xe graphics. The predictions suggested that the manufacturer would reveal its first dedicated GPU, something that although it happened, disappointed more than one.
Intel demonstrated the DG1 by running Destiny 2, which lasted just a few seconds and the performance was not fully appreciated. DG1 is based on the Xe architecture of the GPUs that will arrive with Tiger Lake this year.
One of the important features is that it can be combined with the integrated graphics of the processor to improve its performance, something similar to what will happen with the Ryzen 4000 and its SmartShift technology. During the presentation, Intel said the Tiger Lake Xe architecture doubles the performance of the iGPUs included in Ice Lake chips.
Three options for different users
Outside of a demo that looked playable, the figures are in the air. Media such as Wccftech lists three microarchitectures derived from Xe: LP, for integrated graphics and input models; HP, for enthusiasts, mid-range and data centers; and HPC, for high-performance computing.
The release date is currently unknown, although Intel plans to offer its Tiger Lake processors in late 2020. The development of this and other graphics solutions is in the hands of Raja Koduri, who for many years remained in charge of the Radeon graphics division at AMD.