The sight of Intel striding boldly into the graphics card arena could provoke all kinds of different reactions from people, not the least of which could be concern that they’ve got lost. However it turns out that the Intel Xe DG1 graphics card is absolutely a thing, it’s definitely able to do graphics, but past that details are thin on the ground.
One reasonable rumour from Tom’s Hardware holds that the Intel Xe DG1 is a discrete version of the Tiger Lake CPU’s integrated graphics. The rumour carries with it the expectation that the Xe DG1 has 96 execution units, but no word on any performance past that. The card was demonstrated running Destiny 2 in a live demo, though that doesn’t tell us much more than it works.
Externally the Intel Xe DG1 is small, equipped with RGB lighting and has an aluminium casing with a single fan. This suggests it could be a budget option, perhaps intended for buyers who trust the Intel name, who possibly know enough to know they need a graphics card and don’t tend to think too much about the build past that.
Intel haven’t made much clear by way of pricing or release dates, so all we really have to go on is that Intel made a neat little graphics card and it demonstrates the all-important ability to provide graphics.