Intel equips Xeon processors with Iris Pro GPU

Intel has announced processors in the Xeon E3-1200v3 line that are equipped with an Iris Pro GPU. Until now, Xeons were equipped with significantly less powerful video chips; the addition provides 3 remote rendering functionality, among other things.

The most powerful GPU to be found in a Xeon E3-1200v3 so far was the HD Graphics P4600, also known as GT2 and included in some Haswell processors. However, Intel reports the arrival of a Xeon E3-1200v3 series codenamed Crystal Well, which will be equipped with Intel Iris Pro or GT3 GPUs. With 40 execution units, the video chips have twice as many eus as the GT2 and therefore perform considerably better.

According to Intel, the extra graphics processing power helps with remote image tasks, such as running CAD applications, video editing and other complex computing tasks. Intel GVT should help with that. This is a set of techniques designed in collaboration with Citrix to enable remote deployment of graphics computing power, such as Workstation Remoting, VDI, daas, and streaming games and other media. For the time being, GVT will consist of a -d, -s and -g variant.

Intel is competing with AMD and Nvidia with the Xeon E3-1200v3. The trend is that companies do not purchase individual workstations for each user, but deploy a small number of powerful server systems that can serve multiple users remotely.