Intel GPUs Coming in 2020 With Ray Tracing Support

Good news for the future of the gaming market this week. Intel has confirmed that the new Intel Xe GPUs will indeed launch in 2020. Not only that, but Intel also confirmed that the cards will support Ray Tracing. Now, I don’t mean to sound like an ass, but technically any modern GPU can support it. Ray Tracing is a feature of DirectX 12, not of the cards. However, I suspect they mean they’ll have something that accelerates the performance much as Nvidia has done with RTX. No doubt 2020 will see AMD follow suit.

Ray Tracing

This isn’t a gimmick. I know a lot of gamers give Nvidia the s*** end of the stick for it, but it’s not a gimmick. It’s not even something Nvidia invented. Ray Tracing is the holy grail of rendering and will be very much a key feature for the feature of graphics. The performance will get better with time too, so be patient.

Prices and Release Date

Unfortunately, that’s about all we know on the card for now. It’ll be interesting to see what performance levels Intel goes for. Will they try to tackle the top-dog cards from the Nvidia range, or mix it up with the wider consumer base? We really can’t wait to see. Then again, look at Raja Koduri’s licence plate with the Jun 2020 date on there!