No "baap of all" this year? Raja Koduri claims Intel is still focused on integrated graphics in the short term, leaving RTX 2080 Ti safe at the top
Intel earlier tweeted that upcoming Intel Xe high-performance GPUs will have "tens of billions" of transistors, implying that the new Intel Xe parts could go head to head with 4K graphics cards.
However, a recent tweet by Intel's Raja Koduri poured water on hopes of a high-performing Xe part. Apparently in response to a question, Koduri had this to say: Our current focus is very much around unsolved user problems in PC Graphics - particularly in integrated graphics and segments immediately above that reach 100's of millions of gamers every year."
In Koduri's own words, Intel's "current focus" is on integrated graphics and the segment "immediately above," presumably NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050-class hardware. This aligns more or less with the performance figures we've seen so far from Tiger Lake graphics and Intel's DG1 unit.
While the "baap of all" Intel Xe High Performance GPU is being worked on, we don't expect it to arrive any time soon. Our first (and probably second and third) experiences with Intel Xe graphics will likely be with low-profile discrete and integrated options.