A new spec list for the upcoming Intel Xe DG2 graphics card was published on Twitter. This feels a bit like estimated data mixed with speculation based on previous leaks and rumors. It is a bit like a roundup of rumors. There are ruder ways to explain this, but I'll stand on top.

The numbers listed here seem logical given the more reliable spec speculation and the fact that Intel Xe DG1 and Tiger Lake Iris Xe GPU silicon is already out there. The list highlights six different variants of Intel's future discrete graphics cards, but we are a bit skeptical about whether all of these options will actually make it to market.

What we heard recently from Intel's official channels was from the drivers Intel released in January. These drivers listed support for 128 EU and 512 EU versions of discrete DG2 graphics cards, with no other supported Xe silicon indicated.

We recently saw early DG2 test kits listed in the EEC database. [EU numbers would seem to be a bit off the pace of current graphics cards, if one thinks they are similar to the stream processors and shader units that Nvidia and AMD call GPUs and CUDA cores. However, the way Intel's execution units work (PDF warning) is that they each have a pair of internal floating-point units (ALUs) that can handle four 32-bit floating-point operations per clock. In other words, each Intel EU is roughly equivalent to eight stream processors.

However, each of these ALUs within the execution unit can perform either integer or floating-point operations in a manner similar to the FP/INT branches within Nvidia's GPUs. Thus, Intel's chips can perform a mixture of floating-point and integer operations, but not always to the full potential of FP32.

The point of all this is that the top-of-the-line 512 EU Intel Xe DG2 card has 4,096 stream processors and could outperform the AMD RX 6800. However, only if the same 1.7 GHz clock speed can be achieved. However, even using the released DG1's current clock speed of 1.65 GHz as a starting point, 13.5 TFLOPS of potential processing power is available. [However, the RX 6800 can be boosted to 2.1 GHz, in which case it can achieve about 16.2 TFLOPS.

If this latest GPU list is correct, the 384 EU card would be above the AMD RX 6700 XT, clock speed notwithstanding. The remaining anticipated cards could fill the low-end of Intel's Xe DG2 lineup, and the bottom 96 EU chips could align the current DG1 cards with OEMs looking to offer low-end editing machines.

No release date has been set for these stock gaming versions of Intel's Xe GPUs, but we are still positive about a 2021 release for the cards, if Intel can get some out while Nvidia and AMD are still struggling with inventory, Intel will provide a third way for gamers to get their graphics cards, and it could be a hell of a lot better. That is if they are competitive.