Had the AI revisit this, same deal just refactored basically:
PyTorch XPU Setup Guide for Intel Arc Graphics
What this enables: Use your Intel Arc Graphics (integrated or discrete) to accelerate PyTorch operations - train neural networks, run AI models, and perform tensor computations on your Intel GPU instead of just CPU.
Important note: This requires manual code changes to use the Intel GPU. Most existing AI applications won’t automatically benefit - they need to be specifically modified to support Intel XPU devices.
1. Prerequisites
Install Level Zero support and verify your Intel GPU is detected:
# Install Level Zero (choose your distro)
# Arch Linux:
sudo pacman -S level-zero-loader level-zero-headers
# Ubuntu/Debian:
sudo apt install level-zero level-zero-dev
# Verify Intel GPU detection
ls /dev/dri/ # Should show renderD128 or similar device files
2. Installation
Complete clean installation to avoid version conflicts (works in fish shell):
# Clean uninstall of existing packages
pip uninstall -y torch torchvision torchaudio intel-cmplr-lib-rt intel-cmplr-lib-ur intel-cmplr-lic-rt intel-sycl-rt pytorch-triton-xpu tcmlib umf intel-pti
# Fresh install with all Intel runtime dependencies
pip install torch==2.7.1+xpu torchvision==0.22.1+xpu torchaudio==2.7.1+xpu intel-cmplr-lib-rt intel-cmplr-lib-ur intel-cmplr-lic-rt intel-sycl-rt pytorch-triton-xpu tcmlib umf intel-pti --index-url https://download.pytorch.org/whl/xpu --extra-index-url https://pypi.org/simple
3. Confirmation
Verify PyTorch can detect and use your Intel GPU:
import torch
# Check XPU availability and device info
print(f"PyTorch version: {torch.__version__}")
print(f"XPU available: {torch.xpu.is_available()}")
print(f"Device count: {torch.xpu.device_count()}")
print(f"Device name: {torch.xpu.get_device_name(0)}")
# Test actual GPU computation
x = torch.randn(1000, 1000, device='xpu')
y = torch.randn(1000, 1000, device='xpu')
result = torch.mm(x, y) # Matrix multiplication on Intel GPU
print(f"✅ GPU computation successful on: {result.device}")
Expected output:
PyTorch version: 2.7.1+xpu
XPU available: True
Device count: 1
Device name: Intel(R) Arc(TM) Graphics
✅ GPU computation successful on: xpu:0
If you see this output, PyTorch can successfully use your Intel Arc Graphics for GPU acceleration.
Remember: You’ll need to explicitly specify device='xpu' in your PyTorch code to actually use the Intel GPU - it won’t happen automatically.