Raja Koduri has a tendency to reveal absolute filth on his Twitter profile. For example, the latest silicone obscenity he exposed to us today. It is truly NSFW. The oddly offset chip between his fingers is the most powerful of Intel's new gaming GPUs, a B0 stepping Intel Xe-HPG 512 execution unit DG2.

He calls it "real candy" and it certainly looks pretty sweet. At least it is shiny. It also appears to be a rather chunky GPU. Also, the B0 stepping indicates that the hardware may indeed be complete.

[18] [19] [20] [20] [20] We had hoped that "Intel would announce its first true gaming-focused graphics card with the most powerful chip available."

The 512 EU model will be the top of the line new DG2 chip based on the Xe-HPG architecture. And while one might wonder how this compares to the new GPUs from AMD and Nvidia, which have thousands of cores, Intel's execution units are not really equal to the floating point units that GPU manufacturers currently advertise as "cores."

Each of these EUs can perform up to 8 floating point operations per clock, so if we are attempting a comparison with the Red and Green teams, we can see that they are actually equivalent to 4096 cores.

In terms of performance, this 512 EU card seems to be aimed squarely at the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070. However, if it can match the RTX 3070 (itself a great gaming card) and do so at a competitive price point, it could be a huge success for Intel.

Also in the discrete GPU range, 384EU chips have been launched, and smaller 256EU and 128EU versions are expected to be used in future gaming laptops.

The B0 stepping indicated by the scribble on the PCB indicates that this is several iterations down. In short, this is not an early prototype and is well on its way to production. Intel has already stated that "DG2 is right around the corner.

And honestly, just when we need it, another GPU maker parachuting in with critical supplies in the graphics card drought is a great time for Intel to get into the game and potentially make things really exciting. The timing is perfect for Intel to get into the game and potentially make things really exciting.

In any case, as long as the graphics card drivers are in working order. No matter how good the hardware is, the software will make or break this third option in the cutthroat GPU market.