Nvidia's GeForce 30 series may be the most popular graphics card, but Intel has announced that its own discrete GPUs will soon be available for desktop PCs.

Intel has announced desktop graphics cards based on the Iris Xe graphics architecture, which is found in notebook PCs powered by Intel Tiger Lake chips. However, these dedicated graphics cards offer more power than their mobile counterparts. [Iris Xe graphics cards with 80 execution units and 4GB of video memory do not challenge the mighty Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 or AMD Big Navi. Nor can they be purchased separately from Intel graphics cards. [Rather, Intel will provide Iris Xe graphics cards to PC makers, who will use discrete GPUs to build computers for the "high-volume, value desktop market. So don't expect this new GPU to deliver the beast of a machine that will be on our Best Gaming PC list.

However, with support for technologies such as adaptive sync, HDR, and artificial intelligence features, the Iris Xe graphics card may be more powerful than it looks. They can be found in budget desktops and compact PCs and are expected to perform well as dedicated telecommuting PCs.

And that's a good thing; laptops with Xe graphics are not cheap, and getting a PC with the latest Nvidia or AMD graphics is an expensive exercise in frustration and waiting.

So if you're looking for an affordable PC for yourself, your partner, or your kids, Intel has you covered. Or if you are looking for an affordable PC that will serve as a media center, useful when it is ridiculously hard to find where to buy a PS5 or where to buy an Xbox Series X, then a PC with Xe graphics may be the machine for you

A discrete graphics card is a good choice.

Even if a PC with a discrete Xe graphics card is not on your radar, Intel's entry into desktop graphics is significant. It would introduce a third player into the PC graphics arena.

Intel is already working on a gaming-specific GPU called Xe-HPG. And if the chipmaker decides to get into gaming graphics development ASAP, it could be a good news for PC gamers, who could be facing off against Nvidia and AMD with more powerful yet affordable GPUs.