Before the details regarding Intel Architecture Day’s agenda were revealed a while back people assumed the most exciting thing would be about the GPU roadmap. Well, if you have read our coverage on the press event, you would see that this is not the case – but we do have updates regarding Intel’s GPU IP roadmap. The primary update is Intel’s unveiling of the Gen 11 graphics and its high level tech specs.

Intel's 10nm Gen11 graphics detailed

The Intel Gen 11 graphics will be Intel’s first TFLOP capable mobile GPU. To put this into perspective, this advancement would make the GT 1030 (which only scores 0.94 TFLOPs) defunct and is one of the first dGPU level integrated processors from Intel (not counting the Vega GPUs in the NUCs). Gen 11 graphics feature a 2x performance increase per clock as well as coarse pixel shading.

Here’s the official blurb:

Intel unveiled new Gen11 integrated graphics with 64 enhanced execution units, more than double previous Intel Gen9 graphics (24 EUs), designed to break the 1 TFLOPS barrier. The new integrated graphics will be delivered in 10nm-based processors beginning in 2019.

The new integrated graphics architecture is expected to double the computing performance-per-clock compared to Intel Gen9 graphics. With >1 TFLOPS performance capability, this architecture is designed to increase game playability. At the event, Intel showed Gen11 graphics nearly doubling the performance of a popular photo recognition application when compared to Intel’s Gen9 graphics. Gen11 graphics is expected to also feature an advanced media encoder and decoder, supporting 4K video streams and 8K content creation in constrained power envelopes. Gen11 will also feature Intel® Adaptive Sync technology enabling smooth frame rates for gaming.

Intel also reaffirmed its plan to introduce a discrete graphics processor by 2020.

At the 1 TFLOP level, you are now able to play most casual games at low-medium settings at 1080p. This is a phenomenal upgrade over the last generation and will definitely help Intel take market share once the processors launch. Another big improvement is the support for Adaptive Sync technology which makes Intel the second major player to support the tech. NVIDIA is now the only player that pushes their proprietary G-Sync technology at an increased cost to consumers.

High resolutions and HDR is also supported along with multi display. HEVC encoding is also supported on a hardware level as well as HDR tone mapping. The iGPU is also great for streaming purposes. The ALUs are based on a 2x Float16 schematic and will improve the efficiency of the execution unit by a lot.

Intel also revealed its grand designs relating to GPU IP scalability that can take graphics to the next level by allowing access to decentralized processing power to all customer segments. Dubbed the X^e, Intel calls this the teraflops to petaflops ambition and currently lists Datacenter, Enthusiast, Mid-Range and Integrated+Entry in their roadmap. Intel confirmed that it is on track to deliver a discrete graphics processor by 2020.

2 of 9