Kaby Lake-G unveiled: Intel CPU, AMD GPU, Nvidia-beating performance

Enlarge / The enormous Kaby Lake-G package: HBM2 and the AMD GPU are closely coupled, with the Intel CPU a little further away. (credit: Intel)

One of the more surprising products announced last year was an Intel CPU with embedded AMD graphics, an unusual collaboration between two competitors. With the full specs now available, it's clear that the the companies are taking aim at a common enemy: Nvidia.

The result is perhaps one of the most annoyingly named products we've seen in a while: the full branding is "8th generation Intel Core processor with Radeon RX Vega M Graphics." The CPU part is a Kaby Lake-R chip; these are the four-core, eight-thread versions of the 7th generation chips. The CPUs are paired with either a Radeon RX Vega M GH or a Radeon RX Vega M GL GPU, which in turn is connected to 4GB of second generation High Bandwidth Memory (HBM2).

In total, Intel is launching five variants of the Kaby Lake-G platform, with the inclusion of the AMD graphics indicated by the "G" at the end of the chip name. Four are i7 branded, the other i5. While clearly aimed at gamers first and foremost, One i7 part supports vPro management, suggesting that there may be some interest in corporate-oriented systems too.