WhenIntel从AMD的图形处理器业务招募了Chip Architect Raja Koduri，2017年，它发出信号，该公司严重雄心壮志AMD和nvidia.in high-end discrete graphics. Now, after half a decade of R&D, it has finally introduced its first standalone graphics chips.
上个月的英特尔推出了一个新的离散图形处理单元（GPU），称为ARC A系列，旨在在笔记本电脑和台式机上运行视频游戏和其他图形繁重的工作负载。它正在将第一个成员推出了其家庭消费者图形芯片，ARC 3，提供更多的图形火力，比其中央处理器中的集成图形更紧凑，超轻的笔记本电脑。
The company said the Xe High-Performance Graphics microarchitecture, or Xe-HPG, underpinning the Arc 3 family of GPUs, code-named Alchemist, is designed from the ground up for gaming and creative tasks. The Xe-HPG is a close relative of the Xe-LP architecture used in its Iris Xe series of integrated GPUs, trading the high-performance of a standalone GPU at the expense of consuming more power.
The fundamental building block of Intel’s Arc GPUs is the “Xe” core. Every Xe core integrates 16 “XVE” vector engines that are designed to run computations while running games, including rasterization. Every Xe core also incorporates 16 “XMX” engines specifically to carry out AI operations, playing a similar role as the tensor cores in NVIDIA’s rival RTX GPUs. Every core adds 192 kB of shared L1 cache, which can be used to save instructions during computing workloads, or shaders and textures while rendering games.
Inside Arc 3, the company has united every Xe core with a real-time “ray-tracing” processing unit that is designed to help video games and other computer graphics more accurately recreate shadows and reflections in a scene.
XE核心也由流媒体视频使用的媒体编码的特定技术补充。弧3内的XE介质引擎支持广泛的标准视频编解码器的加速度，包括业界第一AV1硬件加速编码和解码。AV1比行业标准的H.264视频编解码器高达50％，比H.265.3更有效。XE显示发动机处理高分辨率，高刷新率HDR显示器和标准，包括显示端口2.0。
Intel said all these building blocks are arranged into so-called “render slices” that each contain four Xe cores and four ray-tracing cores, along with all the other components of a modern graphics processor.
The render slices are connected via a high-bandwidth memory fabric with a large L2 cache. This gives Intel the flexibility to scale up the Xe HPG microarchitecture for high-performance gaming GPUs with up to eight slices.
Intel touted the Arc 3 family as a major step up from the integrated GPUs in its flagship CPUs for the personal-computer market. The family includes the A350M, with six Xe cores and six ray-tracing cores consuming 25 to 35 W, and the A370M, with eight Xe cores and eight ray-tracing units that expend up to 50 W.Intel said the Arc 3 graphics chips support enhanced 1080p gaming at more than 60 frames/s.
Both GPUs can be connected to 4 GB of GDDR6 memory, and they support PCIe Gen 4 for connectivity.
The Arc series of GPUs is also a sign of Intel’s willingness under CEO Pat Gelsinger to rely on contract chip foundries. Once famed for its manufacturing prowess, Intel is using TSMC to manufacture the Arc 3.
According to the company, many of the first laptops to feature Arc A-Series GPUs will also include CPUs from its latest generation of client CPUs. These PCs can use a technology called Deep Link to do dynamic power-sharing and bolster performance. The technology intelligently adjusts the amount of power routed to the GPU and CPU based on which processor plays a bigger role in running a program.
“英特尔深度联系能够实现动态功率共享，智能地在平台上分发电力，以提高创建和计算密集型应用程序的性能高达30％，”罗杰钱德勒（英特尔）的图形和游戏的VP表示。
英特尔表示，深度链接技术在其旗舰CPU和独立弧GPU中分为集成的XE GPU，提供更快的媒体编码和图像处理。Hyper Encode功能将来自CPU和GPU的媒体引擎与单独的IRIS XE图形更快地运行高达60％的视频编码工作负载。超级计算使用CPU和GPU的组合资源来加速AI工作负载。
该公司已与顶级OEM合作，如戴尔，联想，惠普，三星等许多其他人向游戏玩家和专业人士推出弧3 GPU的专业人士，价格从900美元左右开始。
此外，英特尔正在针对游戏的高性能移动GPU。It has plans to release the Arc 5 and Arc 7 GPUs later in the year, which will have more graphics cores, ray-tracing units, and memory at the expense of a higher power envelope compared to Arc 3. Intel is also eyeing NVIDIA’s dominance in the market for desktop GPUs, announcing that its first product in the category will be available by mid-2022.
该公司先前表示，其由Raja Koduri领导的加速计算和图形业务将在2022年增加到10亿美元的销售额。
