Intel Xe support multi-GPU paired with its next-gen CPUs

The development of graphics cards Intel Xe is the entry of Intel into the market of GPUS. The company aims at a market segment of the mid-card that could support a feature rather welcome, support multi-GPU.

Intel is reportedly working on an architecture degree to work in pairing the GPU of the Intel Xe with the integrated graphics processor of the CPU for the next gen of the company.

Clues to support multi-GPU have been discovered in the patch Intel for Linux this summer. However, this type of technology was already tested in the past by other companies without success.

Multi-GPU performance could be the Intel Xe graphics cards’ killer feature. Its software engineers are currently hard at work getting both integrated processor graphics and discrete Xe GPU working together.

The thinking is that the Xe GPUs will benefit from having Intel processors in the same machine by treating compatible integrated graphics on a CPU as an extra little bit of GPU silicon to do with as it will. From a deep dive into the latest Linux kernel updates, it’s clear that Intel is working to make this Xe multi-GPU world a reality.

It makes perfect sense given that the discrete Xe graphics cards will be built from the same building blocks as the integrated graphics components of next-generation processors. From what we understand, Intel will be essentially bolting together more of the same silicon that it’s jamming into its CPUs to create its first real discrete gaming GPU.

Intel’s never had to even think about multi-GPU stuff in the past, not having discrete graphics cards to speak of, but now its software engineers are having to restructure the i915 direct rendering manager (DRM) to cope with having more than just one GPU in a system. It’s already had to be tweaked to deal with video memory actually sitting on a device and not just in system RAM, and now it’s being coded so that both integrated and discrete GPU are handled by it.

The patch itself is also titled “Support multiple GPUs.”

If this multi-GPU support extends beyond Linux and is actually usable on Vulcan and DirectX-based games to boost frame rates then that could be a real boon for the Intel Xe graphics cards. They may not necessarily be able to compete with Nvidia or AMD on a card-by-card basis, but if it’s possible to chuck a pair of affordable Xe GPUs into a system and then have the competitive performance we could see Intel making waves.

And, even if it’s just the fillip of having a little extra GPU juice added in from the otherwise dormant integrated graphics silicon on the CPU, that will still give an all-Intel rig a leg up.

Going back always to the last summer, in the month of July were leaked the features of the Intel Xe in a leak.

Source: PCGamesN.