It's certainly a great time to get into PC gaming, that's for sure.
Intel's chief architect, Raja Koduri, is touting the upcoming lineup of graphics cards from Intel, AMD, and Nvidia as a forthcoming 'GPU Golden Age.' He's also offered us a glimpse of the final Intel Xe-HP data centre GPU design, which is a little bland but what do you expect from a card that will be locked inside a server rack away from prying eyes 24 hours of the day.
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Koduri says developers will have a lot of performance to play with as we head into 2021, in reference to upcoming Intel Xe GPUs and existing Nvidia Ampere and AMD RDNA 2 and CDNA architectures. So much so that we may be entering a GPU golden age, and one which will see three key players in the market—now wouldn't that be something.
Intel's Xe graphics architecture is currently shipping within Intel Tiger Lake SoCs, such as those laptops denoted with the Intel Evo badge. Further discrete GPUs are expected in mobile, desktop, and server form factors, however, including one destined for gaming: Intel Xe-HPG.
A100, Xe LP, RTX 3X, Navi2, MI100, M1 - moved the GPU bar significantly forward, all the way from devices through edge to the data center. Can't wait to see what developers will do with all of this performance + Xe HP/HPG/HPC in 2021 and beyond - GPU Golden Age...December 8, 2020
There's no finalised design for the Xe-HPG gaming card as of yet, but Koduri notes the gaming architecture as a part of the overall performance package the company hopes to offer developers in 2021.
And I have to say I'm inclined to agree with Koduri on the GPU golden age sentiment, in regards to PC gaming especially. The latest generations of GPUs from AMD and Nvidia are proof of that alone. But perhaps the GPU golden age won't truly begin until we can actually get a hold of them at MSRP—here's hoping that begins early 2021.
