Intel launched its first Iris Xe desktop graphics cards yesterday, but you won’t see them appearing in AMD-powered systems. While Nvidia and AMD’s desktop GPUs typically work across a variety of Intel and AMD processors, Intel’s new desktop GPUs are a little more limited for now.
“The Iris Xe discrete add-in card will be paired with 9th-gen (Coffee Lake-S) and 10th gen (Comet Lake-S) Intel Core desktop processors and Intel B460, H410, B365, and H310C chipset-based motherboards,” an Intel spokesperson told PCWorld. “These motherboards require a special BIOS that supports Intel Iris Xe, so the cards will not be compatible in other systems.”
That’s a bitter cherry on top of a momentous announcement. By comparison, Nvidia’s GeForce and AMD’s Radeon graphics cards work in pretty much any system with a PCIe slot, and yes, Nvidia GPUs work just fine in AMD Ryzen computers. Their hardware is well-established however, while Intel’s is hot out of the proverbial oven. What remains to be seen is whether Intel’s move occurred simply to help iron out technical issues in a first-gen release sticking to a handful of chipsets and CPUs would surely help ease validation efforts or if it winds up being a policy that affects eventual gaming-oriented Intel Xe graphics cards as well. Fingers crossed it’s the former.
Intel’s idea with its initial Iris Xe desktop GPUs is to simply improve what’s available on mainstream PCs right now. Most standard business-focused PCs ship with integrated graphics, and Intel is trying to offer something that improves multi-display support and hardware acceleration.
These cards aren’t designed to improve gaming or to be used in gaming rigs. Intel is also working on its Xe-HPG architecture that could eventually deliver cards that can compete with AMD and Nvidia. Hopefully these cards won’t be restricted to Intel systems in a similar way, though.
