Intel has announced that the company will be launching high-performance consumer graphics products under Intel Arc branding. The lineup will include hardware as well as the software side of the high-end graphics cards and services.
The company has also revealed that its first GPU under the Arc branding, which is codenamed Alchemist, will be available in the market in the first quarter of 2022 and will be compatible with desktops and laptops.
Intel has also revealed the codenames of its next-generation hardware products — Battlemage, Celestial, and Druid. With the new high-end gaming products, the company is set to compete against the likes of NVIDIA and AMD.
The trailer released by Intel for the Alchemist-based Arc cards reveals support for modern GPU features like real-time ray tracing and “AI Accelerated Super Sampling” set to compete against NVIDIA’s DLSS and AMD’s FidelityFX.
The Alchemist cards are based on the Xe-HPG microarchitecture, a blend of Xe LP, HP, and HPC microarchitectures. Intel says Xe-HPG will “deliver scalability and compute efficiency with advanced graphics features.”
As of now, nothing is known about the performance, pricing, and availability of any of the Intel Arc cards but if the current GPU shortage in the market continues, then Intel could be looking at a good debut as more desperate gamers will be inclined to get their hands on the new graphics processor.
