With news of the Nvidia RTX 40 and AMD RX 6000 series updates, we can’t forget that Intel is putting the finishing touches on its ARC Alchemist GPU lineup. According to Igors Labs (via Toms Hardware), the series is expected to launch in May-June. In early summer (May-June), Intel reportedly plans to unveil its ambitious attempt at AAA gaming graphics cards for desktop PCs, the Alchemist Arc series based on the Xe-HPG graphics architecture.
Its Arc Alchemist graphics cards also appear to be coming at a time when Nvidia is looking to increase Ampere shipments and AMD is gearing up to refresh AMD’s RDNA 2 lineup, so Team Blue will have a harder time gaining spirit share. It remains to be seen whether Intel will finally release the first Intel Arc Alchemist GPUs that will help further reduce the cost of graphics cards.
Currently, we expect Intel to release at least five of its first discrete GPU lineup of GPUs in 2022, starting with high-end models and then more traditional SKUs, but it looks like the lineup will include high-end options first and then moves into the mainstream segment. According to Igors Lab, the first models of Intel graphics cards will be released by early May or June this year, which is a bit out of place compared to many release date speculations.
Also, there are some rumors and speculation regarding Intel Discrete GPUs, and we’ll look into those too. Two ostensibly trusted sources claim that Intel will announce graphics cards again at a gaming conference before the GPUs officially hit the market. According to quotes from allegedly reliable sources, GPUs may have very limited availability in the first quarter of 2022, and a full launch may take place only in the second quarter
If the ARC-Alchimist series and ARC-Alchimist series drivers can play modern 1080p/1440p games at around 60fps, they will sell these cards for slightly less. We’re still hoping for some decent budget/low-end options from Intel, but the announcement of ray tracing in these new graphics cards seriously hurts our hopes for an accurate price forecast. Right now, that’s almost unpredictable; not only is this the first Intel Arc GPU to be released, so there’s no price, but the graphics card industry is in disarray. The first graphics card in the series will be released under the codename Alchemist, but Intel already expects product codenames including Battlemage, Celestial, and Druid to follow at a later date, suggesting Intel has a long-term (maybe even multiple) commitment to the GPU brand.
