Intel’s Next-Gen Falcon Shores GPU To Feature TDP Up To 1500W, No Air-Cooled Variant Planned
Intel’s Next-Gen Falcon Shores GPU To Feature TDP Up To 1500W, No Air-Cooled Variant Planned
Intel's next-generation Falcon Shores GPU is going to be a power-hungry beast as revealed to Computerbase during ISC 24.
During ISC 24, Intel and its partners happened to have teased the power consumption figures for the upcoming Falcon Shores GPUs which will be the follow-up to Gaudi 3. While the Gaudi line of accelerators has been dedicated to the AI segment, Intel seems to have taken a step back with its standard HPC & AI GPU offerings. Recently, we reported how Intel has ended the deployment of its first true HPC GPU, Ponte Vecchio.
Now, all eyes are set on Falcon Shores which will be the first true GPU IP based on the next-gen Xe graphics architecture. While we are still waiting to get the exact details on Falcon Shores, the GPU has seen vast changes from its original design.
Originally planned as an XPU which was going to be a combination of both x86 CPU and GPU cores similar to AMD's Instinct MI300A APU, the product was later downgraded to a GPU-only design. Intel has so far confirmed that Falcon Shores will take the best of Gaudi's AI prowess and combine it with the next-gen Xe graphics architecture for HPC & additional compute-heavy workloads. The GPU will also be backed by a strong software ecosystem in the form of oneAPI.
Based on the information from ISC 24, it is reported that Intel's Falcon Shores will feature a TDP of up to 1500W. This TDP is much higher than NVIDIA's flagship Blackwell AI GPU configuration. Those are rated at 700W, 1000W, and up to 1200W. Even AMD's Instinct MI300X and MI300A accelerators are rated at 750W and 760W, respectively.
Intel's performance predictions are one thing, power consumption is another. At the trade fair, the figure of 1,500 watts that Intel is targeting for Falcon Shore is not only mentioned at one stand. It is said that Intel has ruled out an air-cooled variant for Falcon Shores from the outset, as will be available for Gaudi3.
via Computerbase
With such high TDPs, the cooling requirements of the Intel Falcon Shores GPUs are also going to be quite extravagant. It is reported that Intel and its partners are going to go with liquid cooling and it seems like no air-cooled versions are planned (for now). We think that the 1500W TDP might be the top configuration and there might be standard air-cooled or passive-cooled designs in the 1000W range but that remains to be seen since we are still a year away from the debut of this HPC GPU.
It remains to be seen whether the performance on display of Falcon Shores GPUs would be enough to warrant such an increase in TDPs. Currently, NVIDIA is miles ahead of Intel's Gaudi 2 accelerators and Gaudi 3 might not change much of that. They are a viable alternative to those who can't pay a huge sum for NVIDIA's AI GPUs which cost several thousands of dollars but the majority of vendors are simply going to go with NVIDIA since they have the performance and the right software to meet their demands.
Intel has shown great performance/$ but despite all the efforts, their total revenue from Gaudi is expected to be just $500 million in 2024 which is peanuts compared to what NVIDIA is making. Even AMD is expected to make 7x more revenue from its AI accelerators so let's see if Falcon Shores will be the chip that propels Intel in the AI major leagues.
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