Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

BRENTWOOD, N.Y. (PRWEB) December 12, 2020

Royal Kitchen and Bath has been remodeling kitchens and bathrooms on Long Island Since 2006. Royal Kitchen and Bath is one of the highest rated Long Island Kitchen Bathroom remodeling contractors on Long Island. The Royal main website now features a Virtual 360 Showroom Page so potential customers can see the showroom online prior to visiting.

Investing in a kitchen remodel is a major decision in terms of cost and effort. Besides adding value to a home, choosing Royal Kitchen and Bath to perform a Long Island Kitchen Remodel will ensure the highest quality materials are used during the remodel. Royal will works with every customer to design the kitchen to specification, plus experienced design specialists are able to suggest potential kitchen options and accessories no previously known.

Whether it's a complete Long Island Bathroom Remodel or a simple changeRoyal Kitchen and Bath will do it all. Royal works with homeowners on every single aspect of the remodel process, help pick out the faucet(s), cabinet(s), bathroom mirror, tile and tub to perfectly complement each other.

Our Long Island Kitchen Bathroom showroom features multiple full size Kitchens and Baths, along with multiple cabinet and tile samples and finishes from American Standard, Delta, Grohe, Merola Tile, JSI cabinetry, Fabuwood Cabinets, J&K Cabinets, Alleanza Quartz, Citi Quartz, and more. We also offer a Free In-Home Estimate.

Cabinet Selection - the showroom selection of colors and styles is second to none, featuring cabinets from five vendors in the showroom and examples from over one dozen cabinet companies.

Tile Options - plenty of options that will add some style, pop and contrast to tile selection. featuring tile selections for backsplash, wall and floors from over one dozen vendors.

Finishes & Accessories - choosing the brand new finishes & accessories for the bathroom or kitchens, addressing your lighting, vanity, faucet and any other finishes or accessories perhaps not thought of or unknown.

Performing a Long Island basement renovation can be challenging as well. Interested in updating that unused and underutilized space in almost every home? Royal Kitchen and Bath also performs complete floor to ceiling basement renovation. Updating a basement on Long Island is not an easy process let Royal Kitchen and Bath design a multi-purpose basement space that the entire family can use for both entertainment and storage.

Royal Kitchen and Bath is one of the highest rated kitchen and bathroom remodel contractors on Google, Facebook and Yelp. All work performed by Royal Kitchen and Bath is of the highest quality and to customer specification.

If there have any other questions or would like to arrange a free in-home estimate or schedule a showroom visit please call Royal Kitchen and Bath at (631) 236-5405 or email the owner Robert Viteri - robert@royalknb.com.

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Royal Kitchen and Bath New Virtual Showroom - PR Web

UL Lafayette says that renovations to the J. Arthur Roy House the oldest building on the University of Louisiana at Lafayette campus will begin next year.

The building will serve as the new home of the university's Center for Louisiana Studies.

The university says that renovations can begin now that the centers Restore the Roy initiative has reached its fundraising goal.

Despite the turmoil of 2020, we've received an outpouring of support this year, both from people who love the Roy House and value its architectural and historical significance, as well as from people who support the mission of the Center for Louisiana Studies," said Dr. Joshua Caffery, the centers director.

According to the university, a major gift received in November took the campaign over the finish line. The Restore the Roy initiative launched in 2018, but fundraising for the historic structures restoration and plans for its transformation into the centers new home began about eight years ago, they say.

The project has also received a challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities earlier this year. Caffery said the promise of matching funds from the federal agency helped galvanize support and momentum that built through the spring and summer.

The project received assistance from donors in the region and around the state and country.

"An amazing group of philanthropic people from different walks of life who saw the possibilities of bringing this lovely building back to life as a fitting home for the study and preservation of Louisiana culture and history," Caffery said.

In all, the university says that the project raised about $1 million for the restorations initial stages. Fundraising, according to Caffery, will continue to ensure the projects completion and for future maintenance of the house and grounds.

"[the fundraiser's] amazing success couldnt have happened without these generous donors, and without the vision, passion and dedication of Dr. Caffery, as well as the centers previous director, Dr. Michael Martin, and the staff of the Universitys Office of Development," said Dr. Jordan Kellman dean of the UL Lafayettes College of Liberal Arts

The Roy House, situated at the corner of Johnston Street and University Avenue, was completed in 1901. It is the only University structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The 120-year-old home built by businessman J. Arthur Roy the same year Southwestern Louisiana Industrial Institute, now UL Lafayette, welcomed its first students has never had a major renovation, Caffery noted. But thats about to change.

The building needs new plumbing and electrical systems; central air conditioning and heat; modern insulation in the walls, ceilings and floors; and new interior and exterior paint.

Restoring the elaborate ornamental wood and tilework that adorns the homes interior will receive special attention, Caffery said.

The Roy Houses true treasures are its interior touches, the quality of the mantlepieces, the staircase, and the woodwork and tilework in general. At some point, that woodwork was painted over, but we'll be bringing it back to its original, natural finish.

In addition, the university says the grounds of the home will be relandscaped with native plants and flowers.

Restoration plans for the Roy House include a reading and listening room where scholars and patrons can access the centers audiovisual archives, and a bookstore where UL Press and other Louisiana-focused titles will be sold.

I anticipate that the Roy House will become an inspiring setting for creativity and scholarship anchored in the richness and depth of regional and statewide culture, Caffery said. It will be a hub for our culture in the middle of the Hub City, and a fitting home for the Center for Louisiana Studies.

Find more about the Center for Louisiana Studies, the Roy House and the Restore the Roy initiative by visiting restoretheroy.org.

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UL Lafayette: Restoration of Roy House to begin next year - KATC Lafayette News

St. Louis is home to the Gateway Arch, St. Louis-style ribs, a population that consumes more barbecue sauce than any other in the nation, and two historic Catholic cathedrals. St. Louis was founded by immigrants from France, Ireland, and Germany and named for St. Louis IX of France, a king of great faith. These immigrants brought their faith to their new homeland, and as a result, Catholicism has deep roots in the Gateway City.

The original cathedral, also named for St. Louis but often referred to as the Old Cathedral, is located near the Mississippi River and the Gateway Arch. The Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis is the New Cathedral. The groundbreaking took place in 1907. Today, the structure looms large with its distinctive, green-tiled dome rising 217 feet. The building is reminiscent of some of the finest churches around the world: the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, St. Marks Basilica in Venice, and St. Peters Basilica in Vatican City.

The exterior is Romanesque in design, but the interior is Byzantine, with its hallmark domes and mosaics. The floor plan of the church resembles a cross, with the narthex, nave, and sanctuary making up the long part of the cross and the east and west transepts forming the crossbar.

As you open the hand-carved outer doors that are 14 feet high and 8 feet wide, prepare to be amazed. The cathedrals interior is a work of art in keeping with tradition. In the early days of the Church, many of the faithful were illiterate. Paintings and mosaics depicted Bible stories, the crucifix reminded them of Jesuss suffering and death, and statues of the saints honored holy men and women of the past and kept their memory alive.

Here are just a few reasons to visit the magnificent Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis.

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7 Beautiful Reasons To Visit The Cathedral Basilica Of St. Louis - TravelAwaits

James Leng

Salvage Swings was first installed in Lighthouse Park on Roosevelt Island in New York for the 2019 summer season. This project received a 2020 Small Project Award from The American Institute of Architects.

Alumni and faculty of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design have been recognized for design excellence by the American Institute of Architects and in the AIA Gulf States Region annual awards program.

"Congratulations to the school's faculty and alumni for these recognized national and regional achievements in architectural design," said Peter MacKeith, dean of the school. "These awards and recognitions further confirm that the design education provided here is one of design excellence at all scales, and across locales, material palettes and typologies. Such recognition furthers our efforts in student and faculty recruitment and builds our morale all the more."

Salvage Swings, a project by Somewhere Studio, a faculty-led practice, recently received one of seven 2020 Small Project Awards handed out by the national American Institute of Architects. This honor recognizes small project practitioners for the high quality of their work and promotes excellence in small project design.

Somewhere Studio is led by Jessica Colangelo, an assistant professor of architecture in the Fay Jones School, and Charles Sharpless, AIA, an assistant professor of interior design in the school.

Using leftover construction materials from a University of Arkansas building project, this pavilion design explored the ways such materials can be diverted from landfills and made into an engaging and fun space for both children and adults. The pavilion consists of 12 repetitive modules that frame swings and views of the surrounding landscape. The open framework of the pavilion allows the flexibility to host a variety of activities, including picnics, concerts and hide-and-seek games.

It won the 2019 City of Dreams international pavilion competition, and the pavilion was first installed on Roosevelt Island, a narrow strip of land that sits in New York's East River, for the 2019 summer season. It was then installed on the lawn of Vol Walker Hall during the fall 2019 semester, before being relocated to its current home at the Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville.

One jury member called this "a tremendously successful project, and a great amenity for the public. I love the reuse of materials and the many different ways the 'building blocks' can be combined." The jury also noted that "the novel design shows great clarity, rigorous thought, and careful execution. The reuse of materials, calibration of material use, and construction techniques deliver a project in which the whole is greater than the parts, but where the parts have been given equal consideration to the whole."

The jury for the AIA Small Projects Award was led by Melissa Harlan, AIA (Jury Chair), of Christner Inc., in St. Louis, Missouri; Mark English, AIA, of Mark English Architects, in San Francisco, California; Meryati Blackwell, AIA, ASID, LEED, of Marlon Blackwell Architects, in Fayetteville; Upali Nanda, Ph.D., of HKS Research and on faculty at Taubman School of Architecture and Urban Planning, University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan; and Brian Korte, AIA, of Clayton & Little, in San Antonio, Texas.

Architects from the Gulf States Region of the American Institute of Architects assembled recently via Zoom to celebrate that organization's 2020 Design Awards. The awards program identifies built works of distinction and strives to promote the excellent work done by architects practicing in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Of the 131 projects submitted for the competition, the jury recognized 17 projects for their exceptional choices in lighting, materials, color palettes, sustainability and overall design excellence.

Michael Lejong, AIA, principal with MAHG Architecture in Fort Smith, served as this year's Design Awards Chair and assembled a group of design professionals to jury the entries. Ric Abramson, FAIA, head of the Urban Design and Architecture Studio for the City of West Hollywood, California, led the group as jury chair. Other jury members were Karin Liljegren, FAIA, of Omgivning, in Los Angeles, California, and Dan Brunn, AIA, of Dan Brunn Architecture, also in Los Angeles. The jury noted the wide variety of project types and styles submitted and commented on the exceptional work being done in the region.

Bradley Edwards, principal with Bradley Edwards Architect, received an Honor Award - Interiors for Onyx Coffee Lab in Bentonville, Arkansas. Onyx Coffee Lab in the Momentary (Monyx) is a third-wave coffee bar and caf located in this former Kraft cheese factory now converted into a contemporary art museum. Drawing inspiration from the vast network of machinery within the museum, Onyx was originally conceived as a meditation on the duality of human and robot. A simple material palette of terrazzo tile, white perforated metal and glass create a soft, luminous interior. Edwards, AIA, is a 1993 graduate of the Fay Jones School.

Jury members called Onyx Coffee Lab "the essence of place making. Here is a new space, new tenant and use that is melding their identity to the historical and current use of the building they sit within. This interconnection is not often considered in tenant spaces. All the while they are creating a completely unique sense of place that is theirs as it is beautiful and inviting."

Honor Citation Awards - New Construction went to Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, founder and co-principal with Marlon Blackwell Architects, for The Lamplighter School in Dallas Texas; to Charles Sharpless, AIA, founder and co-principal with Somewhere Studio, for Salvage Swings, installed at Roosevelt Island, New York; and to Reese Rowland, FAIA, principal with Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects, for the Jacksonport State Park Visitor Center in Jacksonport, Arkansas.

The Innovation Lab is the heart of the Lamplighter School, whose campus master plan was designed by the architect O'Neil Ford. Programmed with hands-on learning classrooms, including a woodshop, robotics lab, and teaching kitchen, the building suggests a holistic approach to design, systems and learning with a relationship to the natural environment. The jury approvingly noted "the spaces created by the intersections. Typically this many angles can create tension, but in this project, they create flow." Blackwell is also a Distinguished Professor and the E. Fay Jones Chair in Architecture in the Fay Jones School, and he received the AIA Gold Medal and was named Southeast Conference Professor of the Year, both in 2020.

Salvage Swings, which also won a 2020 AIA Small Project Award, was made using cross-laminated timber salvaged from the shipping palettes of a U of A campus construction project, Adohi Hall. The pavilion consists of 12 repetitive modules that frame swings and views of the surrounding landscape, and it is currently installed at the Scott Family Amazeum in Bentonville. The jury noted that "the strength of this project is that is creates an abundance of exploration through minimal architecture and minimal means." Sharpless is an assistant professor of interior design in the Fay Jones School.

The Jacksonport State Park Visitor Center, located at the confluence of Arkansas' White and Black rivers, celebrates a historically significant port town, while lifting visitors above a levee to reunite river and town, past and present. Conceived as a modern dogtrot, the center juxtaposes two glass cubes embedded in earth representing a divided North and South under one roof connected by a bridge. The jury appreciated the siting of this project, "connected to the ground in a formal yet functional way. Juxtaposing the ridge seating with the earth berm seating allows different conversation areas for large groups." Rowland is a 1990 graduate of the Fay Jones School.

Fay Jones School faculty and alumni received three Merit Awards in various categories.

A Merit Award - Interiors went to Marlon Blackwell for CO-OP Ramen in Bentonville. This project is a casual dining restaurant honoring the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi. The materials are ordinary, made extraordinary through articulation, supporting a union of roughness and refinement.

A Merit Award - Renovation and Restoration went to Jason Jackson for Idlewild Presbyterian Church Education Building and Entryway Expansion. This project is a modernization of an iconic, religious building in midtown Memphis, Tennessee, including a new entryway, a new early childhood education center and ADA improvements. Jackson, AIA, is principal with brg3s architects in Memphis, Tennessee, and he is a 2006 graduate of the Fay Jones School.

A Merit Award - New Construction went to Chris Baribeau for Adohi Hall on the U of A campus in Fayetteville. The 202,027-square-foot, 708-bed sustainable residence hall and living-learning community is the nation's first large-scale mass timber project of its kind. Connected by a ground-level passage, a serpentine band of student rooms defines three distinctive courtyard spaces that create a dynamic environment for interactive learning in architecture, design and the arts. Baribeau, AIA, is founder and principal at Modus Studio, and he is a 2003 graduate of the Fay Jones School.

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Fay Jones School Faculty and Alumni Win National and Regional AIA Design Awards - University of Arkansas Newswire

CHICAGO, Dec. 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Chi-Cal Rivers Fund partners today announced seven projects selected to receive $1.6 million in grant funding to improve and enhance waterways in the Chicago-Calumet region. These investments will enhance fish and wildlife habitat, reduce stormwater runoff, and improve access to and use of natural areas and greenspace for communities. The grants will generate $1.9 million in matching contributions, for a total conservation impact of $3.5 million.

Administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), the fund is supported in 2020 with contributions from ArcelorMittal, BNSF Railway, Crown Family Philanthropies, the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, The Joyce Foundation, the Walder Foundation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the U.S. Forest Service. The awards announced today mark the funds seventh annual slate of grants, bringing its total cumulative impact to $32 million.

The Chi-Cal Rivers Fund continues to demonstrate the vital role of public-private partnerships and their unique ability to create lasting benefits for wildlife habitat and for communities at a regional scale, said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. The projects awarded today will continue to build on our previous restoration efforts in the Calumet region and will add new resilient green infrastructure and additional green space to benefit local communities.

The seven grants announced today will: restore wetland habitat to benefit migratory birds and marsh-nesting birds such as least bittern and pied-billed grebe; install green stormwater infrastructure that reduces runoff and creates community greenspaces to enhance residents quality of life; and, continue to improve habitat in Chicago and Northwest Indiana through tree planting and invasive species control. Collectively, the funded projects will:

We value this important partnership to achieve the joint goals of improving the health of the regions watersheds and enhancing their value to the many diverse communities along our rivers, said David Farren, executive director of the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation. By leveraging our collective funds, we can accomplish more, and learn from each other, as well as our grantees, in the process.

"The Joyce Foundation is committed to supporting projects that reduce flooding and make our regions waterways healthier.Chi Cal projects are improving Chicagos rivers for today and for the next generation, said Elizabeth Cisar, Co-Director, Environment for The Joyce Foundation.

BNSF supports efforts to help improve quality of life for communities and so we appreciate being part of this public private partnership that enhances river quality and stormwater management, said Peter Skosey, Executive Director Public Affairs, BNSF Railway.

The U.S. Forest Service is proud to be part of the Chi-Cal Rivers Fund and is pleased to see these exciting projects get funded, said Carleen Yocum, Northeastern Area Midwest Field Representative for the U.S. Forest Service. We believe that nature based green infrastructure projects, such as tree planting in strategic locations, are an important part of the solution for managing our regions stormwater and flooding challenges.

Chi-Cal Rivers Fund 2020 grant recipients include:

To learn more about the Chi-Cal Rivers Fund and the seven projects announced today, please visitwww.nfwf.org/programs/chi-cal-rivers-fund.

About the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Chartered by Congress in 1984, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) protects and restores the nations fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Working with federal, corporate and individual partners, NFWF has funded more than 5,000 organizations and generated a total conservation impact of $6.1 billion. Learn more at http://www.nfwf.org.

About ArcelorMittalArcelorMittal is the world's leading steel and mining company, with a presence in 60 countries and primary steelmaking facilities in 18 countries. In 2019, ArcelorMittal had revenues of $70.6 billion and crude steel production of 89.8 million metric tons, while iron ore production reached 57.1 million metric tons. Our goal is to help build a better world with smarter steels. Steels made using innovative processes which use less energy, emit significantly less carbon and reduce costs. Steels that are cleaner, stronger and reusable. Steels for electric vehicles and renewable energy infrastructure that will support societies as they transform through this century. With steel at our core, our inventive people and an entrepreneurial culture at heart, we will support the world in making that change. This is what we believe it takes to be the steel company of the future. For more information about ArcelorMittal please visit corporate.arcelormittal.com.

About BNSF RailwayBNSF Railway is one of North Americas leading freight transportation companies. BNSF operates approximately 32,500 route miles of track in 28 states and also operates in three Canadian provinces. BNSF is one of the top transporters of consumer goods, grain and agricultural products, low-sulfur coal, and industrial goods such as petroleum, chemicals, housing materials, food and beverages. BNSFs shipments help feed, clothe, supply, and power American homes and businesses every day. BNSF and its employees have developed one of the most technologically advanced, and efficient railroads in the industry. We work continuously to improve the value of the safety, service, energy, and environmental benefits we provide to our customers and the communities we serve. You can learn more about BNSF at http://www.BNSF.com.

About Crown Family PhilanthropiesAfter more than 60 years of family grantmaking under the name Arie and Ida Crown Memorial, in 2009 Crown Family Philanthropies (CFP) was developed as a vehicle for a variety of family grantmaking. Crown Family Philanthropies environmental grantmaking supports efforts to value, preserve and restore natural ecosystems through innovative science-based approaches, emphasizing collaborative efforts which deliver measurable results.

About The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley FoundationEstablished in 1952, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation supports land conservation, artistic vitality, and regional collections for the people of the Chicago region and the Lowcountry of South Carolina. In the Chicago region, the Foundation focuses the majority of its land conservation support in five focus areas, including the Calumet Region and the Cook County Forest Preserves. See more about the Foundation atwww.gddf.org.

About The Joyce FoundationThe Joyce Foundation is a nonpartisan, private foundation that invests in the future of the Great Lakes region by supporting policies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation. We support policy research, development and advocacy in areas that have a significant impact on quality of life: Education & Economic Mobility, Environment, Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform, Democracy, and Culture. Based in Chicago, Joyce focuses its grant making in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. We also collaborate with funders and other partners to explore promising policy solutions in other states or at the federal level. For further information, please visit http://www.JoyceFdn.org, or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.

About the U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) leads the nations environmental science, research, education, and assessment efforts. The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the environment. Since 1970, EPA has been working for a cleaner, healthier environment for the American people. For more information, visitwww.epa.gov.

About the U.S. Fish and Wildlife ServiceThe mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is to work with others to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants, and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals, and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visitwww.fws.gov.

About the U.S. Forest ServiceEstablished in 1905, the Forest Services mission is to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nations forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, and maintains one of the largest forestry research organizations in the world. Public lands managed by the Forest Service provide 20 percent of the nations clean water supply and contribute more than $13 billion to the economy each year through visitor spending alone. The agency also supports sustainable management on about 500 million acres of private, state and tribal forests including forests in urban areas. For more information, visit http://www.fs.usda.gov.

About the Walder FoundationThe Walder Foundation was established by Joseph and Elizabeth Walder to address critical issues impacting our world. The Foundations five areas of focusscience innovation, environmental sustainability, the performing arts, migration and immigrant communities, and Jewish lifeare an extension of the Walders lifelong passions, interests, and their personal and professional experiences. Learn more at http://www.walderfoundation.org.

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Chi-Cal Rivers Fund Awards $1.6 Million to Improve Waterways, Habitats and Greenspace in the Chicago/Calumet Region - GlobeNewswire

Article By : Anton Shilov

With its Xe GPUs, Intel is now officially a maker of discrete graphics processors. Does it have what it takes to lead in the category?

Having released two Xe GPUs, Intel is now officially a maker of discrete graphics processors. There is a big difference between being a participant and being a leader and with its multifaceted graphics strategy that spans from laptops for casual gamers to high-end gaming desktops and from entry-level Android games to supercomputers, Intel certainly wants to become a leader. But does it have what it takes?

Historically, computer graphics hardware was used for two types of applications: gaming and professional visualization. Gaming hardware spanned from arcade machines to consoles to PCs. ProViz hardware was used for computer aided design (CAD), digital content creation (DCC), medical imaging, and various visual simulations. In the late 2000s, GPUs began getting adopted for various high-performance computing (HPC) applications.

Today, there are a number of new emerging applications that are not exactly traditional gaming, ProViz, or HPC. Artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning / machine learning (DL/ML) applications can take advantage of highly-parallel GPUs, yet they need support for data formats that are not supported by gaming or ProViz hardware. High-quality AR/VR simulations require a lot of graphics horsepower that is provided by top-of-the-range GPUs, yet they are not meant to use ProViz hardware. Cloud gaming as well as server-side game rendering applications are meant to enable games, yet using off-the-shelf graphics cards is not optimal for data centers. Finally, there are GPU-accelerated applications that take advantage of GPUs explicitly parallel nature, yet these do not belong to the HPC world as they are designed for consumers/prosumers.

When Intel hired GPU veteran Raja Koduri to establish its Core and Visual Computing Group at Intel to develop discrete graphics processors back in late 2017, it created more questions than answers given Intels history with its i740 graphics adapter in the late 1990s and then Larrabee gaming and HPC GPU in the late 2010s. To be a successful GPU supplier today, Intel needed to develop a family of graphics processors for traditional, HPC, and emerging applications, a task of a rather extreme complexity.

In the recent weeks and months Intel finally introduced its first discrete GPU in two decades, and disclosed some additional details about its graphics strategy. In this article we are going to examine Intels plans and will talk to experts about Intels potential prospects.

Its all about architecture

When Intel rejuvenated its discrete graphics efforts three years ago, the company made it clear that the move is a part of its strategic effort to better address artificial intelligence, graphics (gaming, simulations, ProViz, AR/VR, etc.), machine learning, and other performance-demanding workloads for the client, server, data center, and HPC segments. Intels previous attempt to build a multi-core processor codenamed Larrabee that could serve both graphics and HPC workloads largely failed because Intel tried to bring x86 to the worlds that, perhaps, never needed it.

With Koduri at the helm, Intel started developing its Xe, an explicitly parallel architecture that could adapt to different workloads and scale from TFLOPS to ExaFLOPS in terms of performance and features. Having spent decades at various GPU companies, Koduri understands like no other that no single architecture fits all, and why both AMD and Nvidia develop special versions of their graphics processors for data centers and supercomputers these days. Therefore, adaptability is one of the key features of Intels Xe GPU architecture.

So far, Intel has introduced its Xe-LP architecture for integrated and low-power discrete GPUs and in the coming year the company plans to bring three more Xe GPU architectures for various workloads to the market. Obviously, Intel intends to update its graphics families regularly.

To ensure that all the capabilities and instructions that its Xe GPUs (as well as AI accelerators, CPUs, and FPGAs) could be easily used by software developers, Intel introduced itsoneAPIapplication programming interface as well asLevel Zerodirect-to-metal interface (for AI, GPU, and FPGA products only). Meanwhile, software stack is out of the scope of this article.

Xe-LP: Lets start with something simple

While Intel has been absent from the market of standalone graphics processors for two decades, the company kept developing its integrated graphics processors aimed at inexpensive and/or low-power client PCs. That architecture sometimes called Gen has been good-enough for its tasks, but since Intel is now looking at a wider range of applications these days, it needed an all-new architecture.

The entry-level microarchitecture in Intels Xe stack is called Xe-LP and it will be used for integrated GPUs as well as inexpensive discrete GPUs.

On a high level, Intels Xe-LP is a DirectX feature level 12_1 design, just like the companys Gen 11 launched last year albeit with some extra features. Meanwhile, Xe-LP brought tangible performance benefits from the very start because of the new architecture and increased frequency potential (up to 1.70 GHz vs 1.1 GHz in case of the previous-generation) enabled by Intels new 10nm SuperFin process node.

The first product to use Intels Xe-LP iGPU is the companys 11thGeneration Core Tiger Lake processor for notebooks and compact desktops. The highest-end version of the Xe-LP iGPU features 96 execution units (EUs) capable of 1536 FP16 FLOPS/clock; a 48 texels/clock texture engine; a 24 pixels/clock raster engine; and a revamped memory subsystem with a new L1 data cache, a 16 MB L3 cache, end-to-end compression, and a new ringbus interconnect that enables a 2X higher bandwidth (versus previous generation).

The most important architectural change of the Xe-LP architecture when compared to Intels previous-generation architectures are all-new execution units (EUs) that now integrate an 8-wide FP/INT ALU and a 2-wide extended math ALU. The 8-wide FP/INT ALU is capable of 1 FP32/INT32 ops/clock, 2 FP16/INT16 ops/clock, and 4 INT8 ops/clock to better handle AI workloads that use various datatypes. Meanwhile, to save some die space, two EUs now share thread control.

Assuming that all FP/INT ALUs are busy and are operating at 1.35 GHz, Tiger Lakes high-end Xe-LP iGPU offers ~2.1 TFLOPS of FP32 compute performance for graphics, which is nearly two times higher when compared to Intels previous-generation Iris Plus G7 graphics (1.12 TFLOPS). Depending on CPU model, Intel scales its Xe-LP iGPU, so there are cheaper versions with a reduced number of EUs and other units as well as less impressive performance.

The new Xe-LP GPUs also come with Intels latest display and media engines. The latest media engine features a 12-bit end-to-end video pipeline for playing back videos in formats like BT.2020 along with hardware-accelerated decoding of the latest codecs, such as AV1. The media engine is important not only for integrated graphics as these GPUs are used mostly for productivity and media consumption, but also for various video streaming applications.

The display engine supports four pipelines as well as eDP, DisplayPort 1.2, HDMI 2.0, and Thunderbolt 4/USB4 Type-C outputs, which is good enough for todays integrated and entry-level GPUs.

Intel positions its Xe-LP integrated and discrete GPUs both for gamers and for creators. Therefore, the company makes a lot of efforts to optimize its drivers for best performance and quality as far as games are concerned. For example, Xe-LP drivers support hardware/software scheduling codesign for added flexibility in DirectX 11-based games. Also, the GPUs continue to support variable rate shading (VRS) so not to spend too much compute horsepower shading parts of a scene that are considered not important. VRS has to be implemented by game developers, so its gains vary from title to tile. Meanwhile, Intel is also adding game sharpening (GS) technique that boosts image clarity in games without increasing resolution, which saves bandwidth, but probably puts additional load on other parts of the GPU. GS is controllable by end-users.

According toJon Peddie Research,almost 70%of PCs rely on Intels integrated graphics. Therefore, Intels transition of integrated GPUs to its new Xe-LP architecture has one important effect: game developers that address gamers with built-in GPUs will have to adjust their software (engines, middleware, games) for Intels latest architecture. Furthermore, Intel can tailor its drivers to ensure competitive performance and lack of visual artefacts before it ships discrete Xe products aimed at demanding gamers later on.

Xe-LP was always the key first step to our strategy, said Bruce Fienberg, an Intel spokesman. This is the energy-efficient foundation on which we scale the architecture for the rest of the family and it will help us deliver our first discrete GPU in over two decades. Xe-LP addresses a large market with hundreds of millions new integrated graphics users every year, it will power the visual experience for most people worldwide.

It is noteworthy that Intels Xe-LP is the most power and area-optimize microarchitecture of all Xe microarchitectures. It will certainly be used for PCs and various detachable tablets, but it is not supposed be scaled to address things like MobileEye products, according to Intel.

Iris Xe Max DG1: The first Intel discrete GPU in decades

Intels first commercial discrete graphics processor in two decades is called the Iris Xe Max (previously it was known as the codenamed DG1). The GPU is based on the Xe-LP microarchitecture and has the same configuration as the highest-end Tiger Lake integrated GPU.

The graphics processor packs 96 EUs, a 48 texels/clock texture engine, a 24 pixels/clock raster engine, a 128-bit memory controller supporting up to 4 GB of LPDDR4X, and a PCIe 4.0 x4 interface to connect to a laptop CPU that does not have too many spare PCIe lanes. The Intel Iris Xe Maxis produced using Intels 10nm SuperFin process technology, the same node that is used for Intels Tiger Lake CPUs.

Since the Iris Xe Max DG1 GPU is a discrete part designed for notebooks, it is clocked at 1650 MHz and therefore provides up to 2.46 FP32 TFLOPS of performance. While it has the same configuration as Intels highest-end integrated GPU (albeit at a 22% higher frequency), its performance will likely be noticeably higher since it has a higher thermal design (TDP) envelope as well as its own 128-bit memory interface.

Unconstrained by Tiger Lakes TDP and with a total memory bandwidth of 68 GB/s, the Iris Xe Max provides great performance for full-HD gaming as well as additive AI workloads, according to Intel. Apparently, the chip giant wants its DG1 to address not only entry-level gaming (which is also addressed by its built-in GPUs), but also consumer-grade compute-intensive applications (such as Topaz Labss Gigapixel AI).

From games performance perspective, the main competitors for Intels Iris Xe Max GPU are AMDs Radeon RX 560 (a 2016 GPU), Nvidias GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (a 2017 GPU) or its lower-end MX350 counterpart, but not even Nvidias Turing based GeForce MX450. At a 1080p resolution, 2.46 FP32 TFLOPS is indeed enough for many games, but is not enough for many modern games and/or higher resolutions, which is why gamers tend to get more capable and expensive discrete GPUs. Also, 2.46 FP32 TFLOPS is not enough for real-time business visualizations as they must look extremely engaging. Obviously, DG1 was not designed for such applications in mind, but it means that developers of such software will not touch Intels GPUs for at least another year.

For developers, games and business visualizations represent two completely different paradigms, said Yaroslav Lyssenko, CEO ofLimestone Simulations. Games are developed for hardware that the audience has at hands. For business VR simulations you need the best hardware possible to make them look as real as possible.

While the Iris Xe Max is not going to be used for workloads that need much more graphics horsepower than it can provide, it will be used to accelerate a variety of content creation applications courtesy of Intels Deep Link and Additive Ai technologies. In a nutshell, Deep Link is a software and firmware stack that balances workload and TDP between Intels Tiger Lakes integrated GPU and Iris Xe Max discrete GPU, whereas Additive Ai enables compute resources of the iGPU and the dGPU to be used together within an application. Today, Deep Link and Additive Ai are supported by programs like HandBrake, Topaz Gigapixel AI, and XSplit, but Intel says that eventually its acceleration-technologies will be supported by Blender as well as various applications by CyberLink, and Magix.

While some PC makers might attempt to build laptops with a CPU featuring a low-end iGPU as well as Iris Xe Max dGPU in a bid to offer an all-Intel product for gamers, it is hard to expect that Intels Intels discrete graphics processor will cannibalize sales of the companys CPUs with higher-end iGPU configurations. Meanwhile, Intels Iris Xe Max does not provide radically higher performance and Intels advertising focus will remain on CPUs (to a large degree because it positions its DG1 as a co-processor). Nonetheless, Jon Peddie, the head of Jon Peddie Research, believes that the Iris Xe Max will find its place on the market.

DG1 will find a socket and OEMs will create a new SKU for it, said Peddie. Intels brand is so powerful OEMs wont be able to turn their back on it. Nvidias GeForce MX350 is old generation so [Nvidia has added its Turing-based MX450 to the lineup] in anticipation of Intels push. We need to see what the costs are for that possible 30% speed increase in watts and dollars. Also based on the photos of it, it doesnt look very small.

Intels SG1: An entry-level GPU goes to datacenters

In the PC space, Intel DG1s 2.46 TFLOPS of graphics horsepower is not a breakthrough and is only enough for 1080p gaming. But there are Android games designed for widespread entry-level and midrange smartphones that use both local and cloud resources to provide decent graphics quality and fine experience. Furthermore, there are white-label cloud gaming service providers that offer access to non-demanding games.

These are two rapidly growing markets and Intel believes that it can address them with itsServer GPUthat is based on the Xe-LP discrete GPU silicon with a 23 W TDP. In the 5G era, game streaming will become more pervasive than today, so it is strategically important for Intel to address this growing market.

I can envision a tiered offering by the streamers, said Jon Peddie. The company has two design wins in Chinese streaming giants Tencent and Unitus. Tencent is the first customer for the XG310. Tencents Deputy GM of Tencent Game Matrix, Allen Fang, said cloud gaming is a potentially high growth area in the 5G era, which is strategic for [Intel].

From technology standpoint, Android game streaming requires a lot more than just fast graphics processing and video transcoding capabilities. Servers running such workloads need to ensure low latency and consistent performance, which means a software stack consisting of special graphics drivers, tailored virtual machines, and some additional optimizations. Intel has designed this stack internally, which is a testament that the company is very serious about game streaming and server-side rendering applications.

Intel has developed reference design for a graphics card running four Server GPUs equipped with 8 GB of LPDDR4X memory per chip (32 GB of RAM in total) and it believes that such a card enables Android cloud gaming providers to easily scale their graphics performance without increasing the number of servers. One of the first companies to offer Intels quad-GPU solution will be H3C with its XG310 board.

Intel says that Server GPUcan handle up to 20 game instances, depending on the exact title, resolution, and other factors, obviously. Therefore, one quad-GPU XG310 card can handle up to 80 users, whereas two quad-GPU XG310 boards can support up to 160 game instances using only 184 W of power for graphics.

Initially, H3Cs quad-GPU XG310 board will be used by Tencent Games. The Chinese gaming giant needs cloud rendering in a bid to ensure that all of its games work and look fine on all smartphones, even the cheapest models. In fact, entry level and even midrange handsets sometimes come with SoCs that do not have sufficient graphics horsepower to handle games on their high-resolution displays.

When we develop a game, we usually have a so-called target device on which the game looks good and, which is even more importantly, works well, said Aleksei Shulga, a producer atCreative Mobile. Everything that is better gets certain bonuses, everything that is worse either gets a lower-quality picture, or its support is dropped based on the version of Android. Keeping in mind how many devices are in the wild, nobody can guarantee fine performance and experience on all of them. For example, there are smartphones from Chinese brands that with large high-resolution displays that are powered by low-end SoCs which cannot realistically enable sufficient performance of games on such displays.

In addition, the H3C XG310 will be used by Gamestream as well as Ubitus white-label cloud gaming services. Eventually, this or similar cards will likely be adopted by Intels traditional clients among video streaming services.

It remains to be seen whether Intels SG1 project will be a big business for the company, but at first glance it looks quite promising. But perhaps there is a more important aspect to consider here. The software ground work that Intel has done for its SG1 quad-GPU card for servers will have a great value for its upcoming Xe-HP GPUs for datacenters. Essentially, Intel has developed and commercialized a huge part of Xe-HPs required software stack several quarters ahead of its release.

Scale everything up: Xe-HP for datacenters

As noted above, Intels Xe architecture is all about across-the-board scalability both in terms of performance and in terms of features. Intels second variant of the Xe architecture is called the Xe-HP and is designed specifically for datacenters.

For datacenters, Intel had to redesign its GPU almost from the ground up, but still retain Xes general principles. The Xe-HP uses revamped EUs that support new math and new floating-point formats as well as instructions, the GPU also has IPC improvements (which might mean a new front end), it also has new internal fabrics to provide bandwidth necessary for the new EUs, and it takes advantage of frequency optimizations brought by Intels 10nm Enhanced SuperFin process technology. The new Xe-HP GPUs support FP64, bfloat16 format for AI/ML computing, the DP4A convolution instruction for deep learning as well as Intels new XMX instructions.

The Xe-HP was the first big leap from the Xe-LP, said Koduri. There were a lot of things just we had to do to hit the datacenter scale. Step one was to scale everything from the humble LP. EU counts needed to go from double digit quantities to quad digits. So, we did a scale of 100x, frequency needed a big boost anywhere from 1.5X to two 2X boost from the Xe-LP base. Memory bandwidth needed a 10X from integrated graphics levels. We had to scale our internal fabrics up to need these levels. We also needed to add support for several new math formats that are not typically prioritized for integrated graphics, that present floating point and AI formats in particular. [Also,] we needed to increase the IPC for several formats by 10X in many cases.

Intel does not announce specifications for its Xe-HP GPUs just yet, but confirms that these processors will feature quad digit quantities of EUs running at 1.5 2 times higher frequencies when compared to speeds offered by Xe-LP, which is pretty vague, bust still gives some basic idea about what to expect. The Iris Xe integrated GPU runs at up to 1350 MHz (whereas the Iris Iris Xe Max discrete GPU operates at up to 1650 MHz), so the Xe-HP GPUs will run at least 2.0 GHz, but might end up at something like 2.50 GHz and above.

This is quite high by todays datacenter GPU standards. Nvidias A100 runs at around 1.40 GHz, whereas peak frequency of AMDs Instinct MI100 is 1.50 GHz. Essentially, Intel promises that is Xe-HP GPUs will run at clocks common for multi-core CPUs, but not for contemporary datacenter GPUs, which demonstrates rather unprecedented capabilities of Intels 10nm SuperFin Enhanced technology when compared to TSMCs N7 and Samsung Foundrys 8N nodes. To provide enough memory bandwidth for their EUs, Xe-HP GPUs will use HBM-type memory connected using EMIB packaging.

Early Xe-HP silicon running with early drivers could achieve a whopping 40 TFLOPS FP32 throughput, according to Intel. To put the number into context, Nvidias A100 can hit19.5 FP32 TFLOPS, whereas AMDs Instinct MI100 is rated at23.1 FP32 TFLOPS.

Intel says that todays datacenter GPU market requires different parts with TDPs ranging from 75 W to 500 W. As a result, the company will offer at least three GPUs based on the Xe-HP microarchitecture with one Xe-HP tile, two Xe-HP tiles, and four Xe-HP tiles. Intel does not reveal much about further differentiation of these parts in terms of performance, but it is something that makes sense to expect.

The scale, everything was the hardest part and a GPU architecture team was up to the task, but that wasnt enough, said Koduri. We had to scale even more. The data center GPU market is growing fast, todays solutions sprint from 75 W all the way up to 500 W in various form-factors, we had one design team and we had to come up with the architecture that enabled us to offer a range of solutions to our customers. Our advanced packaging team jumped in here and helped us.

Given how popular video streaming services are today, Intel needed to ensure that its Xe-HP GPUs had top-notch media capabilities to land customers with heavy media streaming requirements (which already use Intels accelerators). According to Intel, a single tile of the He-XP architecture can transcode 10 high-quality 4K streams at 60 frames per second simultaneously, so some of its Xe-HP GPUs will have media performance currently expected from a rack, the company claims.

The big area of focus and differentiation for us was the media, said Koduri. We set a lofty target for the media, well above and beyond anything that is out there for extreme density and visual quality and far beyond what our customers thought anyone could do. We really wanted to bring a rack level media performance down to a package. More importantly, we wanted to do that at a quality level, close to the best offline coders that are out there. We also wanted to support all the existing media software like FFmpeg, The Streamer, Handbrake, CyberLink, and Adobe easy, and also enable their high quality and coding paths, which are typically only enabled for CPU. This meant we had to lean in heavily on programmability for media.

Intel received the first Xe-HP silicon from the fab around mid-2020 and has been playing with it for several months now. The company has hit multiple bring up-related milestones already and allowed select customers to access the Xe-HP remotely. Today, the company even provides Xe-HP hardware to select customers. Intel expects to make its Xe-HP GPUs available commercially sometimes in 2021.

These are all pretty lofty goals, and Im super happy to tell you that were able to see all of this scalability in action recently, said Koduri. We have had Xe-HP silicon back in labs for several weeks now, and it had a successful power on This is a GPU bring up that meant any of us will remember as the first of many.

Enthusiast gamers, rejoice: Xe-HPG with hardware ray-tracing

Intels Iris Xe Max discrete GPU is an entry-level product not made to compete against higher-end graphics cards from AMD and NVIDIA, but from the day Raja Koduri joined Intel, the gaming crowd expected the company to compete against the discrete GPU suppliers in the gaming space. Earlier this year the company disclosed that next year it is going to offer a yet another Xe architecture variant, the Xe-HPG, optimized specifically for mid-range and enthusiast-class gaming graphics cards.

We know at Intel that gamers are the hardest bunch to impress, said Koduri. They want products that have the best performance, best performance per watt, best erformance per dollar, and the latest and greatest features. All at the same time. We had to leverage the best aspects of the three designs we had in progress to build a gaming optimized GPU.

The Xe-HPG GPUs will continue to use energy-efficient blocks from the Xe-LP, but will add hardware-accelerated ray-tracing support, which will have an effect on architecture of EUs and/or sub-slices. The graphics processors will also leverage scalability (internal interconnects) designed for the Xe-HP as well as frequency optimizations from the Xe-HPC microarchitecture. Intels Xe-HPG GPUs will use GDDR6-based memory subsystems to cut costs associated with HBM-enabled Xe-HP parts.

By the time Intels Xe-HPG parts will be available, game developers and its own driver team will have enough time to optimize their software for the Xe architecture, hence the company expects its GPUs to offer high performance, fine image quality, stable drivers, and other things expected from gaming graphics cards today. From this point of view, it makes a great sense for Intel to launch inexpensive Xe-LP GPUs first.

Intel has already received the first Xe-HPG silicon back from its foundry partner and is currently testing it in its labs. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether it has started to sample it among game developers. This part is important as developers need to tailor their titles for Intels Xe-HPG to take advantage of its capabilities and ensure good performance and flawless operation. Good news is that Intel traditionally has a great relationship with the game development community as its CPUs powerover 70% of PCs used for gaming.

In addition to games, Intels Xe-HPG could be able to address professional and business applications, such as ProViz and AR/VR simulations that are getting more widespread due to pandemic. Intel makes no comments about ProViz and yet has to talk publicly about AR/VR support by its Xe-HPG hardware and software. Meanwhile, addressing ProViz market is important because it is a lucrative business, whereas AR/VR is a growing market. It should be noted that the aforementioned applications need high performance and quality drivers (with certifications by ProViz ISVs), so Intel would naturally like to keep any information about Xe-HPG and markets that it is going to address low profile for competitive reasons at the moment.

VR games are very demanding for performance, said Shulga. Remember that we need to render each scene twice at a constant 90 frames per second, thats 11.1 ms per frame.

VR interiors benefit greatly from raytracing, which requires GPU horsepower, said Lyssenko. For stable 90 FPS, we need the best hardware we can get. For numerous projects, [GeForce RTX] 2080 Ti is an absolute minimum.

Given how capable Intels Xe-HP architecture is in terms of FP32 performance, prospects of Xe-HPG also look rather good, especially considering that it is not tied to Intels own nodes.

Intel says that that the first Xe-HPG GPUs will hit the market in 2021 and will be made externally to take advantage of leading-edge process technologies and use external IP libraries optimized for foundries. Intel believes that such approach will be instrumental to make its Xe-HPG GPUs to be competitive against offerings from AMD and NVIDIA both in terms of costs and performance. Meanwhile, Intel may have an immediate success on the discrete GPU market due to its brand.

When they introduced the i740, a hundred AIB vendors signed up an put out a product, said Jon Peddie. Why? Because the Intel brand is so powerful and everybody wants a piece of it. It is still more powerful than that of Nvidia and AMD.

What remains to be seen is whether companies working exclusively with AMD and Nvidia on the graphics cards front yet supplying motherboards for Intel processors will also adopt Intels Xe-HPG GPUs. If they do, this might lead to major disruptions on the market of graphics adapters in general.

Xe-HPC Ponte Vecchio: the supercomputing pinnacle of the project

Intels Xe-HPC microarchitecture and the codenamed Ponte Vecchio GPU represents the culmination of Intels graphics, packaging, process nodes, and even memory technologies.

Intels Ponte Vecchio GPU is a multi-tile package consisting of a base tile (made using the companys 10nm SuperFin process), a compute tile (fabbed internally and externally), a Rambo cache tile (produced using Intels 10nm Enhanced SuperfFin node), and an externally-fabricated Xe-Link (CXL-based) tile to connect to other GPUs. Aimed at supercomputers, Intels Exascale GPU features an enormous complexity, which is why the company had to use four tiles and external manufacturing partners to build it.

Intel yet has to disclose more details about its Ponte Vecchio, but from what we know today this part will use the most advanced version of the Xe architecture with enhancements specific to supercomputers. Meanwhile, since Intel has to make Ponte Vecchios compute tile using its own next-generation (7nm) process technology and externally, it is evident that this part is too complex to be made even using Intels 10nm Enhanced SuperFin node.

Summary

Being a vertically integrated company, Intel is naturally inclined to work alone on everything from a thin client PC powered by the cloud all the way to multi-tile HPC or supercomputer chip that costs hundreds of millions to design and is extremely hard to build. Intels graphics strategy largely reflects its approach to manufacturing in general, so the company will work with partners to build everything it needs using process technologies that make the most sense.

Intels previous graphics and HPC strategy focused around the Larrabee project included multiple high-end processors for supercomputers that could be used by gamers assuming that they provided competitive performance. By 2009, Intel realized that its GPU design was not competitive enough and instead of fixing it, it changed the focus of the whole project to supercomputers. Even before it turned out that Intels 10nm node had major problems, the company had cancelled its 10nm codenamed Knights Hill CPU, an indicator that the semiconductor giant was not satisfied with its Xeon Phi processor in general.

With its Xe-centered graphics and HPC strategy everything looks different. Firstly, Intel no longer considers graphics as a second-class citizen, so it spans its Xe architecture from humble integrated GPUs to supercomputer-class designs using four separate Xe microarchitectures. Secondly, the company also does not ignore the market of inexpensive low-power GPUs for notebooks as well as higher-end graphics cards for gamers although in both cases it will have to compete against established players like AMD and Nvidia.

Thirdly, the company will use internal production facilities to make low-power iGPU and dGPUs as well as Xe-HP datacenter GPUs and will turn to foundries to build its Xe offerings for HPC and gaming, which shows how flexible Intel now wants to be. Adaptability in terms of microarchitectures and flexibility in terms of manufacturing are great departures from Intels failed one-size-fits-all Larrabee strategy from the past decade.

The blurry gray lines between what marketing says out of one side of their mouth and what engineering says out of the other is a tightrope all tech companies walk, said Peddie. I personally think Intel has no choice, the demands of cache size, bus size and bandwidth, memory type, and sundry special purpose engines (e.g., codecs, security, memory management, etc.) make it almost impossible to build a one-size-fits-all GPU.

Intels Xe product stack for graphics and compute seems complete and the companys intention to use contract makers of semiconductors to build these products demonstrates that Intel is serious about getting into the business. What remains to be seen is how competitive Intels Xe processors will be against those offered by AMD and NVIDIA when they enter the market. Intel has plenty of financial and engineering resources, but its rivals have been on this market for decades and have proven to be formidable competitors for a number of times.

Anton Shilov is a veteran technology writer who has covered many aspects of the electronics industry, including semiconductors, computers, displays, and consumer electronics.

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Intel Xe Graphics: Puts its GPU Stakes in the Ground - Eetasia.com

Home is where the heart is, and we have 12 ways to turn yours into a haven of positive health and wellbeing for 2021.

Whether you live alone or share your living space with family or friends, home is an important part of our identity, says Eleanor Ratcliffe, environmental psychologist and lecturer at the University of Surrey: 'Our homes have had to become workplace, school, and gym, and yet still be a place to relax and recover from all the everyday stresses and strains. A home design that reflects who you are your values, needs, and interests can make you feel good about yourself and more in control. This is especially relevant when life feels uncertain.'

The ideal work-from-home scenario is to find enough space to create your own home office, so you can close the door when the working day is over. If this isn't possible, you may need help to switch off. 'Use furniture or large plants to create broken-plan zones which allow you to separate work, relaxation and other activities such as cooking and eating,' says interiors and home-staging expert. Elaine Penhaul at Lemon and Lime Interiors. 'Zoning an open-plan room helps you utilise big spaces. You could use a large sofa or a tall, open bookcase as a divider.'

You can also deploy lighting to organise open-plan areas; create 'rooms' on different circuits so you can achieve the correct balance of task, ambient and accent lighting when natural daylight fades.

Health-boosting natural light which helps the body produce Vitamin D and fight off seasonal blues is in short supply during the dark days of winter, so 'harvest it and use it anywhere you can', advise lighting experts Kate Wilkins and Sam Neuman, founders of Home Lighting Ideas.

Arteriors

'If you need to spend long periods in a space that doesn't get a lot of light, you may wish to think about installing an additional window,' says David Knight, digital manager at Roof Windows 4 You. 'A roof window can be easily added to a variety of different spaces, from a bathroom to a loft conversion, to provide both light and ventilation.'

A sun tunnel is a good alternative for rooms without roof access. It uses a mirror system to direct sunlight inwards to a location of your choice, from 252 at Roof Windows 4 You.

Being comfortable in a room that's at the perfect temperature helps us to both focus and relax. However, this balance can be difficult to achieve if you share your living space with others. One solution is to investigate smart home heating systems, which can set different temperatures in individual rooms of the home. For instance, the Drayton Wiser thermostat, 219.99 for a Multi-zone Kit 1 (room thermostat, heat hub, app and two radiator thermostats), allows you to create up to 16 separate 'zones' each with their own individual temperature.

Also consider the flow of air through your rooms and air quality; if you choose a fan, air-conditioning unit or air purifier, make sure it comes with the Quiet Mark award find a list of recommended products here, quietmark.com.

Sharps

A natural home is a nurturing home. Make a vow to reduce the use of chemical-heavy detergent and cleaning materials and opt for natural alternatives kinder to your skin and general health. Theres a really good choice on the market now, including eco and vegan-friendly Ecozone cleaning sprays including a Multi-Surface Cleaner, Limescale Remover and Daily Shower Cleaner use natural plant extracts to lift away dirt and grime, from 3.49 at Ocado.

Always choose candles and wax melts made from soy wax rather than paraffin-based alternatives. The soy-based and vegan-friendly Self-Embrace candle by Kutch a Cheshire company launched in June 2020 creating candles to promote positivity and wellbeing has lavender oil for calm and rosemary and eucalyptus to clear your mind.

The ancient Chinese art of Feng Shui is enjoying a resurgence. Its all about maximising the positive energy that flows through your living space, and you can start by tidying up, says Rebecca Snowden, interior style advisor at furniture retailers Furniture And Choice: 'A neat home works wonders for our mental clarity and overall health. In Feng Shui, each space is connected to each other and allows positive energy to flow throughout the house. Closets or drawers overloaded with old items block the chi (energy) so discard any clutter.'

Dimensions/dominic blackmore

Try the 10-minute bin-bag challenge every morning. Set a timer, take a bin bag and go around your home, collecting items no longer required and dispose of them thoughtfully, suggests Gary Lyons, managing director at Plastic Box Shop. 'After a week, you'll find that you have much less clutter in your home, so you'll have a calmer, tidier mind, too.'

As part of their recent Happiness through Design campaign, The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), found that most of us (70 per cent) believe that the design of our homes has affected our mental wellbeing during the pandemic.

Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of respondents said that a better-designed home would increase their happiness; they'd be able to relax more (31 per cent) and sleep better (17 per cent). So take time to think about how the space in your home is configured and what improvements or alterations you could make such as an extension or loft conversion within your budget.

Carpetright

A good place to start is asking an architect for advice. Many now offer a free initial telephone consultation or increasingly, a package of tailored advice to help you visualise what could be done before you take the plunge and start knocking down walls.

'Were trained to be creative and practical problem solvers and will add value, not just financial, but also to your quality of life ensuring that your most sacred space works for you and your loved ones,' says Ben Channon, RIBA chartered architect, head of wellbeing at Assael Architecture and author of the book, Happy by Design: A Guide to Architecture and Mental Wellbeing. 'We will help you to make your home more usable and, put simply, a nicer place to live ultimately making you happier and healthier.' Find a RIBA-registered architect at architecture.com.

Houseplants look beautiful and can improve your health and wellbeing too. 'For centuries, the Chinese have used houseplants to create "living energy" in their homes and workplaces,' says Mike Burks, chairman of the Garden Centre Association (GCA). 'Scientific studies have proven that houseplants are good for you physically, emotionally and psychologically.'

Mike adds that plants can remove harmful chemicals from the air, such as those in paints and varnishes, new carpets and MDF, absorb noise and reduce dust, lower blood pressure, help concentration, improve memory, promote relaxation and make rooms look cared-for and welcoming.

Carpetright

The houseplants that Mike particularly recommends for boosting wellbeing include Spathiphyllum (Peace Lily), Nephrolepis (Boston Fern), Phlebodium Fern, Gerbera Daisy, Saint Paulia (African Violets), Ficus Benjamina (Weeping Fig), Sanserveria (Snake Plant), Chlorophytum (Spider Plant) and English Ivy.

If you really love plants, take it a step further. 'If you're looking to overhaul your home office for 2021, opt for a floral or palm leaf wallpaper to get that calming greenery hit on a larger scale,' recommends Calum Henderson, interior design manager at I Love Wallpaper.

Take a look around your home and identify areas you can devote to health and wellbeing. 'Along with work and rest, making space for self-care and enrichment goes a long way towards enhancing wellness in the home,' says Rebecca Snowden. 'Whether its a warm reading nook or a place for crafts and hobbies, it's a crucial space to have, and likely to become a quick favourite.'

Its important to personalise this space, says Nadia McCowan Hill, resident style advisor at online homes retailer Wayfair: 'Creating characterful and personalised vignettes throughout the home is set to be a huge trend for 2021, especially when related to small spaces. Play around with the classic "shelfie" or curated coffee table display for an area that is truly your own a fun, creative outlet and importantly a celebration of your style and identity in these uncertain times.'

For maximum relaxation, incorporate Feng Shui yin and yang into your dcor. 'Yin (feminine) and yang (masculine) is a belief that two contrasting forces cannot exist without each other,' says Rebecca. 'Apply this concept by mixing different shapes together. For example, contrast the sharp edges of wall hangings with the soft curves of a sofa or mirror in the living room. This will balance out the room and give it a more relaxing feel.'

Sharps

'Our homes and gardens have become our everything and we're increasingly looking to surround ourselves with natural, sustainable materials,' says Clare Thomas, marketing manager at Cotswolds-based artisan homeware company Indigenous.

She adds that rustic wood and stone are hugely popular: 'They connect us with nature and bring texture, along with a real sense of calm and wellbeing. There's also growing interest in rustic "worn-away" patterned tiles in natural shades, like fawn, pale blue and sage. This new look is very subtle and some porcelain finishes, like our handmade Tuscan tile, can be used outside as well as indoors.'

Materials such as sisal for flooring and wicker for furniture and decorative items such as lampshades and pendants are also enjoying a renaissance. Sisal is naturally moth and dust-mite resistant. With neutral tones and a subtle texture, it's ideal for creating a pleasing bridge between wooden and stone flooring. 'Its also a healthy solution for those who suffer from asthma, eczema and other allergies,' says Julian Downes, director at natural flooring company fibre. 'It is extremely hard-wearing and if looked after, will look beautiful for years.'

Fibre

Colour has the power to transform a room and create different moods, so its crucial to choose the right shades to help you feel comfortable and relaxed at home. 'Always keep in mind that, as a guide, warm colours such as red, orange and yellow are considered to be stimulating, while cool tones of blue and green tend to be more restful and soothing,' says Judy Smith, Crown Paints colour consultant.

In wintertime, Judy takes inspiration from the colours of nature: 'Trying to recreate the feeling of outdoors as an escape in our home starts with the colours and the materials we choose. A quieter, more organic colour story made of tones of green, clay and wood creates a lovely, calming, natural space that can help to boost our wellbeing.'

Crown Paints/Jon Day

Crown Paints/Jon Day

Natural textures also help us to connect with the outdoors. Sarah Jane Nielsen, founder of interior design firm Nielsen House, based in the Lake District, is keen on cork. 'I love the natural warmth of cork and bark tiles, which are produced sustainably, biodegradable and eco-friendly,' she says. 'You can also buy cork on a roll with adhesive backing. Its brilliant in a home workspace; you can pin up your notes, articles, photos and planners.'

Mixing fabric textures is vital to achieving a truly cosy feel, so layer tactile velvets, weaves, knits and cottons across soft furnishings to tie your look together, suggests Suzy McMahon, buying director at Sofology.

Sofology

Creating a sanctuary in your bathroom is easy. Fit a shelf or add a side table beside the bath at just the right height for your favourite essential oils, add an electric towel rail for warm fluffy towels and a soft bath mat to sink your toes into.

And then of course, theres the bath. 'The freestanding bath has remained a staple design piece for the British bathroom for many years,' says James Stevenson at Imperial Bathrooms. 'As the market continues to focus on promoting greater health and wellbeing at home, this style of tub remains the go-to for the right balance of luxury, comfort and practicality,'

Baths made from natural materials such as copper or tin are good conductors of heat and will keep bathwater warmer for longer than synthetic materials.

Pooky

Indigenous/Chris Terry

We've loved spending as much time as possible outside during the warmer months and now the weather is colder we dont want to let that connection with nature go.

'One way to maximise this is by incorporating bi-folding or sliding doors,' says Victoria Brocklesby, founder and CEO at Origin. 'The large expanse of glass will seamlessly link the inside of your home with the outside, offering a widescreen view of your garden and helping you feel connected to the great outdoors, come rain or shine.'

Origin/Andy Shennan

A living wall also known as a vertical garden is a beautiful and space-saving way to connect indoors and out, adds Sarah Jane Nielsen: 'There are lots of options here: you can build a frame and enjoy the growing, feeding and garden maintenance yourself many find it incredibly calming or you can opt for ready-built self-sufficient living wall systems that water themselves.' You could even plant herbs to snip off and add to warming stews and soups.

12 Days of Christmas Wellbeing: boost your mental wellbeing, take joy from the small things, and create a happy home this festive season.

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12 ways to make your home a haven of wellbeing in 2021 - HouseBeautiful.com

By Big G Creative ($24.99)

Who 3-6 players, ages 8 and up

What Pick who you think will perform the best on wacky challenges, vote with a squishy goat, and add up points for the person who actually did the best job.

What we thought Yes, I had to look up the meaning of G.O.A.T. the kids nowadays say it stands for Greatest of All Time. With that bit of knowledge out of the way, I had to crack my knuckles and get ready to prove that I was the G.O.A.T. at a variety of tasks, such as making a noise like a lightsaber, juggling the squishy goats the longest, and, yes, who could crack the most knuckles. About those squishy goats: the box comes with six of them in different colors, and my 10-year-old daughter squealed upon seeing them nestled inside. They're just fun. And did we say squishy? This game is good for players of all ages, and generated a lot of laughs and surprises and the utmost respect of my children, whose mother turned out to be the G.O.A.T. of disco moves.

Valerie Schremp Hahn

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Bored? We rate 11 new board games to help you while away the pandemic - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) announces the assignment of preliminary ratings to six classes of ONYP 2020-1NYP, a CMBS single-borrower securitization.

The collateral for the transaction is an $835.0 million non-recourse mortgage loan. The floating rate loan has an initial two-year term with three, one-year extension options, and requires monthly interest-only payments based on one-month LIBOR. The loan is secured by the borrowers fee simple interest in One New York Plaza, a 50-story, Class-A, office tower containing approximately 2.6 million sf located in Downtown Manhattan. The LEED Gold certified tower includes approximately 2.5 million sf of office space, 39,219 sf of retail space, 33,726 sf of storage space, and a subterranean parking garage containing 190 parking spaces.

As of November 2020, the property was 96.5% leased to 26 tenants. The five largest tenants include Morgan Stanley, an international banking and financial services firm; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP, an AM Law Top 100 firm; Macmillan Holdings, LLC, a British publishing company; FullBeauty Brands, LLC, an online and catalog retailer of plus-sized apparel; and Revlon Consumer Products Corporation, an American multinational beauty and personal care company. Together, these five tenants account for 88.8% of total base rent and 85.2% of the total sf.

KBRAs analysis of the transaction included a detailed evaluation of the properties cash flows using our U.S. CMBS Property Evaluation Methodology and the application of our U.S. CMBS Single Borrower & Large Loan Rating Methodology. In addition, KBRA also relied on its Global Structured Finance Counterparty Methodology for assessing counterparty risk in this transaction, to the extent deemed applicable.

The results of our analysis yielded a KBRA net cash flow (KNCF) of approximately $92.1 million. To value the property, we applied a capitalization rate of 6.75% to arrive at a KBRA value of approximately $1.4 billion. The resulting in-trust KBRA Loan to Value (KLTV) is 91.6%. In our analysis of the transaction, we also reviewed and considered third party engineering, environmental, and appraisal reports; the results of our site inspection of the property, and legal documentation review.

Click here to view the report. To access ratings and relevant documents, click here.

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Disclosures

Further information on key credit considerations, sensitivity analyses that consider what factors can affect these credit ratings and how they could lead to an upgrade or a downgrade, and ESG factors (where they are a key driver behind the change to the credit rating or rating outlook) can be found in the full rating report referenced above.

A description of all substantially material sources that were used to prepare the credit rating and information on the methodology(ies) (inclusive of any material models and sensitivity analyses of the relevant key rating assumptions, as applicable) used in determining the credit rating is available in the U.S. Information Disclosure Form located here.

Information on the meaning of each rating category can be located here.

Further disclosures relating to this rating action are available in the U.S. Information Disclosure Form referenced above. Additional information regarding KBRA policies, methodologies, rating scales and disclosures are available at http://www.kbra.com.

About KBRA

KBRA is a full-service credit rating agency registered as an NRSRO with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, KBRA is designated as a designated rating organization by the Ontario Securities Commission for issuers of asset-backed securities to file a short form prospectus or shelf prospectus. KBRA is also recognized by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners as a Credit Rating Provider and is a certified Credit Rating Agency (CRA) with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). Kroll Bond Rating Agency Europe is registered with ESMA as a CRA.

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HAGENS BERMAN, NATIONAL TRIAL ATTORNEYS, Notifies Interface (TILE) Investors of Upcoming Deadline in Securities Fraud Action, Encourages Investors...

Cleveland is eventually dropping theIndiansbranding but will continue to use the name until a new moniker and branding have been finalized, according to Team Owner and Chairman Paul Dolan.

The rebranding is not a surprise: in July the team announced it wouldreexamine the use of a racially inappropriate name and brandingduring a time of social justice. The use of the Indians name has been a controversial one for several years now, and when the team announced a reexamination, the assumption in baseball was that new branding would be the inevitable result.

This certainly has been the year of social justice in professional sports, including baseball. Earlier this summer theMinnesota Twinstook down a statue offormer team owner Calvin Griffith at Target Field due to his racist legacy, while theUniversity of CincinnatiremovedMarge Schotts name from the schools ballpark for the same reason. (Our story here.) Prior efforts includedthe renaming ofYawkey Wayback to its original name,Jersey Street,after the Boston Red Sox petitioned to change it as a way to distance the team from former owner Tom Yawkeys racist past.

The Indians had previously struggled with a problematic part of its team branding: Chief Wahoo.It took until 2018 for the team to downplay Chief Wahooon team uniforms, branding and marketing. However, the idea of dropping the logo completely had previously been met with some reluctance from Indianschairman and chief executivePaul Dolan, even asMajor League Baseball commissionerRob Manfredincreased pressure on the team to get rid of Chief Wahoo.

Its been the Cleveland Indians since 1915. Before that the team had been known by a variety of names since launching as an original American League team in 1901: Blues, Broncos, Naps, and our favorite: the Molly McGuires. The Indians name came as a result of a decision by local sportswriters recruited by the team owner: the rationale given at the time in the Cleveland Plain Dealer was that the team name was to honor former Cleveland Spiders player Louis Sockalexis, regarded as the first American Indian to play professional baseball.

RELATED STORIES: Cleveland to reexamine Indians name, branding;Rethinking ballpark branding in #BLM times;Examining tangled legacies at sports facilities in a #BLM world

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Cleveland to shed Indians name soon: report - Ballpark Digest