Though Intel and AMD have yet to wrap their respective Arc Battlemage and Radeon RX 9000 GPU lineups, leakers have already started discovering mentions of some far future architectures. These indicate that AMD is advancing in its UDNA design, but most importantly that Intel has not given up yet on its discreet graphics venture.
Shared by @x86deadandback and @Kepler_L2 on X, these documents mention Intel’s Xe, Xe2, Xe3, and Xe4, plus AMD’s GFX13 – believed to be a follow-up to RDNA 4. Though we already knew about Team Blue’s plans regarding its Arc series, rumours keep changing wind regarding a potential cancellation. Seeing it noted in new files is a good sign, even if said document is mainly meant to clarify the naming revisions Intel follows for its graphics architectures. Thus, spotting Xe3 Celestial and Xe4 Druid in a somewhat recent document keeps hope alive that Intel hasn’t given up on discrete GPUs.
On the AMD side, we have mentions of a GFX13 architecture suspected to be the brand’s UDNA 1 or RDNA 5. Unless AMD delays its plans, next-gen Navi 5 designs will likely be based on UDNA. Team Red has indicated its intent to merge its gaming-optimised RDNA and compute-centred CDNA architectures in a general-purpose formula (GPGPU) named UDNA. This wouldn’t be the first time AMD has attempted such an adventure, as it did so with mild results during its GCN era.
Lastly, the document also lists some of the changes coming with these AMD chips, one of which regards a new ENABLE_WAVEGROUP definition believed to be a method of reordering work before execution, meant to reduce execution divergence.
Be it Intel’s Xe3 Celestial or AMD’s UDNA, both brands are eagerly awaited to fight for the high-end this time around. The former should showcase the lessons learned from first-gen Arc Alchemist and second-gen Arc Battlemage GPUs, whereas the latter would mark an important shift in design, hopefully for the better. PC users are in dire need of competition to draw prices down and performance up, a thing that this generation failed to do.
While exciting and promising, we are still far from market availability of either architecture – more so in Intel’s case, since Xe4 Druid should launch after Xe3 Celestial. For the time being, we are still awaiting the soon-to-come AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT, all while hoping for a more performant Intel Arc B770.
