Intel’s ambitious entry into the GPU market, the Ponte Vecchio, looks like it’s on the way to becoming a reality.
According to a recent EEC registry listing spotted by tech leaker @momomo_us, Ponte Vecchio is now in alpha stage.
What Information Is In The Listing?
In the listing, Ponte Vecchio is referred to as an Add-In Card (AIC) form factor rather than a test board which is interesting.
Multiple variants of the Ponte Vecchio have been spotted in the EEC listing which also shows a pre-alpha version. These appear in 4 iterations – Pre Alpha, GAPV2, GAPV3, GAPV4, and GAPV5.
The details revealed in the listings are as follows.
Intel Ponte Vecchio GPU Listing 1 says: “Graphics card Ponte Vecchio RVP AIC (Pre-Alpha), GAPV3KI2TC; Graphics card Ponte Vecchio RVP AIC (Pre-Alpha), GAPV4KI2TC; Graphics card Ponte Vecchio RVP AIC (Pre-Alpha), GAPV5KE2TC.”
The GPU listing 2 says: “Graphics card Ponte Vecchio RVP AIC (Pre-Alpha), GAPV2KE2TP; Graphics card Ponte Vecchio RVP AIC (Pre-Alpha), GAPV4KI2TP; Graphics card Ponte Vecchio RVP AIC (Pre-Alpha), GAPV5KE2TP.”
The third listing says: “Ponte Vecchio Si Upgrade Kit (Pre-Alpha), GAPV2KE2TP; Ponte Vecchio Si Upgrade Kit (Alpha), GAPV3KE2TA; Ponte Vecchio Si Upgrade Kit (Qual Internal), GAPV3KI2TQ; Ponte Vecchio Si Upgrade Kit (Qual External), GAPV3KE2TQ.”
What Can We Expect From Ponte Vecchio?
The Intel Ponte Vecchio has been described as the “father of all GPUs” by Intel’s Chief Architect Raja Koduri. This is certainly a confident statement but this GPU is designed as an enterprise-class GPU for supercomputers so maybe it isn’t an exaggeration.
Six Ponte Vecchio GPUs are expected to be used in an upcoming exascale supercomputer called Aurora. This will be alongside two Sapphire Rapids Xeon processors. These GPUs will make use of CXL and a OneAPI software stack to connect.
There are also rumors that the GPU will use Foveros packaging technology and feature high memory bandwidth and ultra-high cache, despite not being a gaming GPU.
It’s expected that the Ponte Vecchio GPU will also have high double-precision FP throughput too.
These details are largely down to rumors and speculation so there’s not a whole lot of confirmed details to go on. Ponte Vecchio does look like an interesting project that Intel has been working on for a while and it will be intriguing to see where it ends up.