ASUS is joining the Intel discrete GPU space with a new workstation card focused on AI inference and content creation workloads. This is important as it is adding to the hardware options available when it comes to high memory AI use cases outside of standard reference hardware. This is giving people an alternative option for building a high density of AI if you're interested in focusing on high memory and stability rather than a card built for gaming performance.
ASUS releases its first Intel Arc discrete GPU with 32GB ECC memory
ASUS has released the new UGen Arc Pro B70 card which is ASUS's first Intel Arc branded discrete GPU. It is based on Intel's Xe2-based BMG-G31 silicon. This is their silicon that is specifically for professional workloads and not for consumer gaming. It is meant as a special device for data center and workstations that need it to be a good reliable hardware device with lots of throughput.
Specifications
- GPU Chip: Intel Xe2-based BMG-G31
- VRAM: 32GB ECC GDDR6
- Memory Bus: 256-bit
- Memory Bandwidth: 608GB/s
- AI Performance: 367 TOPS INT8
The GPU has a 32GB of ECC GDDR6 memory. It's using a 256-bit bus with 608GB/s of memory bandwidth. This lets it hit up to 367 TOPS of INT8 AI performance as specified by ASUS.
The board is a 310W power draw with a 12V-2×6 power connector. The video outputs are 3 DP 2.1 ports and a single HDMI 2.1b port.
ASUS touts the ability to have 4 of these cards to get 128GB of VRAM for larger AI workloads. This should be able to handle some 120B parameter workloads that would exceed the capability of single card options. However, we haven't seen any ASUS specific benchmarks to show if this performs any better than Intel's reference design despite being a higher power design. They haven't confirmed pricing or retail yet for this model.
Remember Intel released their reference B70 in March for $949 to give us a sense for this Battlemage architecture. This is ASUS offering an alternative way of getting this particular silicon, albeit with different thermal and power options. We'll have to wait to see how well the UGen Arc Pro B70 performs in real-world AI workloads once it starts shipping.
Source: TweakTown
Discussion
0 comments