When it comes to discrete graphics cards for PCs, it’s currently a two-horse race between NVIDIA and AMD. NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 30 Series is going up against the Radeon RX 6000 Series in the current-generation discrete GPU wars. However, Intel is looking to barge in on the fireworks with its DG2 family of discrete graphics cards based on the Xe-HPG GPU.
According to a new rumor making the rounds on the internet, Intel will launch DG2 early next year at CES 2022. However, the massive electronic show, which will be in-person again for 2022 — is still roughly five months away. So there’s still the possibility that Intel could officially announce DG2 later this year — perhaps at the upcoming event on October 27th — with availability set for June 2022.
According to recent rumors, the DG2 lineup will be available with up to 512 execution units, with performance that could land somewhere in between NVIDIA’s GeForce RTX 3070 and GeForce RTX 3080. In other words, we’re talking about performance that would line up perfectly with the recently launched GeForce RTX 3070 Ti.
The GeForce RTX 3070 Ti has an MSRP of $599, but that price point is quite laughable considering that you can’t find one anywhere at that price. So instead, you must be prepared to pay a few hundred bucks (at least) over MSRP to get your hands on one from a third-party marketplace like eBay. We currently see new GeForce RTX 3070 Ti cards selling for around $1,200, twice its MSRP.
If Intel can match the GeForce RTX 3070 Ti’s performance while coming in at around $599 or less, it could have a hit on its hands. However, that also means that Intel will likely be subject to the same insane pricing that afflicts current NVIDIA and AMD cards if it can’t get a handle on chip production.
