What appears to be a genuine looking slide, containing alleged Intel’s DG2 graphics memory configurations for laptops, has been shared on Twitter by a usually reliable source. Tech Twitterer 9550pro has reproduced a table which is purported to show the memory configurations for five DG2 laptop graphics processors, due to be released by Intel partners later this quarter. Take the news with a pinch of salt until we hear officially, but the best laptop GPU coming from Intel, dubbed SKU1 in the document, looks pretty strong, with 512 execution units (EUs), and 16GB of VRAM offering up to 512 GB/s bandwidth.
| DG2 Laptop SKU | SKU1 (512EU) | SKU2 (384EU) | SKU3 (256EU) | SKU4/5 (128/96EU) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Recommended VRAM config | 16GB – 8 VRAMs, 256-bit, 1.35V | 12GB – 6 VRAMs, 192-bit, 1.35V | 8GB – 4 VRAMs, 128-bit, 1.35V | 4GB – 2 VRAMs, 64-bit, 1.35V |
| Recommended GDDR6 data rate | 16Gbps | 16Gbps | 16Gbps | 14Gbps |
| Max bandwidth | 512 GB/s | 384 GB/s | 256 GB/s | 112 GB/s |
| PCB support | Type-3 12L, Type 4 | Type-3 12L | Type-3 10L | Type-3 8L |
In the table above you can quickly see that the five laptop GPUs range from 512 to 96EUs, with VRAM quotas dropping from 16GB to 4GB, if this leak is genuine. This gives a good overview of the broad range of performance targets Intel and its laptop design partners are going to cover. However, performance remains a big unknown. We have seen various leaked performance indicators, most recently of a desktop DG2 with 512EUs (performance ~ RTX 3070 Ti), and a desktop DG2 with 128EUs (performance ~ GTX 1650 Super). Remember though, that the GPUs installed in laptops will have different configurations to desktop cards, with the greatest difference usually due to the power/thermal limits of a laptop design.
In summary, this is an interesting leak. However, we must add salt to such leaked data, and it doesn’t really give us any clearer indications about what to expect in terms of performance when Intel and its partners let loose the first salvo of laptops using the Arc Alchemist series of GPUs. Laptop partners do seem to have an agreeably large choice of Intel DG2 parts though.
If a previous driver-based leak is correct there will be even more desktop options than you see tabulated above for laptops. One particular missing SKU from the laptop space appears to be and SKU that features 448EUs.
Expectations that we could see Intel Arc Alchemist in laptops launched in Q1, with desktop GPUs emerging in Q2, as derived from Intel’s CES 2022 presentations, may be overly optimistic.
