In a surprising move, Intel this week began its Xe-HPG graphics architecture promotion campaign. So far, the company has posted a teaser video that leads to a website which announces an Xe-HPG-dedicated scavenger hunt game that starts on March 26, next Friday. Also, the video may give a clue about Intel’s internal codename for the first Xe-HPG GPU. 

For starters, Intel has posted an Xe-HPG microarchitecture teaser video on Twitter. The footage emphasizes that the Xe-HPG is both evolution and extension of Intel’s Xe-LP architecture and also contains three cryptic messages. When decoded, the first one leads to https://xehpg.intel.com, a website dedicated to the Xe-HPG Scavenger Hunt. Another two messages are coordinates — 79.0731W and 43.0823N — that lead to a point to the west of the Goat Island overlooking the Niagara river near Niagara Falls. 

Intel tend to give unannounced products codenames typically after various geographical locations (that cannot be trademarked), such as cities, islands or rivers. Keeping in mind that Intel’s 4th and 5th Generations Xeon Scalable server processor are codenamed Sapphire Rapids and Granite Rapids (i.e., after a section of a river) and their platform is called Eagle Stream (i.e., a body of water), it is highly likely that its first Xe-HPG GPU is codenamed Niagara Falls (i.e., another section of a river). 

Intel powered on its first GPU based on the Xe-HPG architecture in late October, 2020. Silicon bringup process, driver development, extensive testing, and other necessary steps to bring a new chip to the market usually take about a year. Therefore, it is unlikely that the upcoming GPU will arrive to the market earlier than in early Q4 2020. Starting a promotion campaign for a product that will not be available for more than half of a year is a bit strange. Meanwhile, Intel possibly wants to attract maximum attention to its gaming GPU architecture, perhaps to show gamers its dedication to the Xe-HPG project.