Intel's project Endgame, a network-based solution that aimed to bring the processing power of cloud based Intel ARC GPUs to local systems, seems to be on an indefinite hold. Announced by Intel through Twitter, the news means that the timeline for users looking to increase their available GPU grunt through the cloud has become even more blurry than it already was. Hat-tip to Bionic_Squash.
Our Project Endgame efforts are on hold. We don't have any updates to share at this time.July 19, 2023
Project Endgame was meant to be available in Beta form by the end of 2022, but that time has come and gone and Intel's accelerated computing dreams seem to have faded away. Unfortunately, the tweet from Intel didn't provide any updates on the how or the why of Project Endgame's apparent hold.
Project Endgame was announced by Intel back in 2022, at a time when Raja Koduri still served as Intel’s Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intel Graphics group (Raja himself having been poached by Intel from a similar position at AMD). At the time, Raja showcased the potential of the service by piloting a low-power laptop running Epic Games’ impressive "Matrix Awakens" demo.
With that particular demo's performance demands, however, frame-rates on the low-power local computer were low and choppy; a situation rapidly corrected by activating Endgame and its "continuous compute" option, which enabled Raja's laptop to leverage a network-connected ARC GPU to accelerate the workload.
While Intel didn't confirm the scenarios where Endgame would be a feasible way to access more performance, it's believed that the company wanted to extend it from general computing to even Edge Computing and IoT - allowing even low-power, remote installations to process graphics and compute workloads (including gaming, generative AI, video encoding, and similar) so long as their network had the necessary bandwidth.
Endgame could be a truly invisible performance boost option; unlike services like GeForce Now, which generate a cloud-based OS instance where all the processing happens, Endgame would allow users to bring ARC's performance to their own installations. The project's cryptic delay is unfortunate, but considering its potential, it's likely that Intel will eventually push forward with the project - whether it remains an Endgame or not.