More Intel Xe-HPG gaming GPU specs and performance info leak out

Youtuber Moore’s Law Is Dead aka Tom is back with a new round of insider info that is focusing on Intel’s upcoming Xe-HPG (DG2) gaming GPUs. Now, we recently reported on some leaks regarding execution unit count for the DG2 chips and how these relate to the Tiger Lake-H desktop CPUs, but this time around, we got more detailed specs including fabrication process, memory configuration and performance targets.

It is important to first point out that half of Tom’s sources are quite reserved when it comes to Intel really achieving what it has planned for DG2. The potential is always there, but, given Intel’s track record in regards to sticking to its own roadmaps and plans, DG2 might not turn out as good as Intel hopes.

First off, Tom confirms that DG2 is planned to be produced on TSMC’s intermediary 6 nm nodes. The architecture is an enhanced version of the Gen 12 currently featured in the new Tiger Lake CPUs with Xe iGPUs. Previous reports mentioned that there could be 960 EU SKU, but Tom’s sources say that the top DG2 SKU only has 512 EUs with 4096 stream processors all packed in one big tile. Intel wanted to transition to a multi-tile design with the DG2 generation, but this plan was apparently pushed to DG3.

DG2’s memory configuration is slated to be similar to AMD’s Navi 21 with 16 GB of GDDR6 and 256-bit bus. Intel hopes the top DG2 chips can be faster than an Nvidia RTX 3070, but most sources say that this is just wishful thinking. No TGP ratings for now, yet we should expect something between 150 - 200 W since it uses superior production nodes compared to AMD’s Navi 22.

Some of the strong sale points for the DG2 cards include stable drivers for gamers as well as for content creators, very good media encoder, ray tracing support, and aggressive pricing for an upper mid-range card: $399 -$499. Release date is expected around Computex 2021.