Intel Confirms Arc Alchemist Desktop GPUs Will Arrive in Q2!

Intel was expected to have announced the launch of their dedicated desktop Arc Alchemist graphics cards at some point last month. So far, however, nothing of any particular substance has materialised. Not even much in terms of engineering samples out in the wild! – Following a report via The Verge, however, there is some promising news on the horizon as Intel has said that, all going well, their first Arc Alchemist desktop GPUs will hit the market at some point in Q2 this year!

Intel Arc Alchemist Graphics Cards

Although Q2 clearly isn’t indicative of a firm release date, on the positive side, it does seem at least to give us some loose confirmation that, between April and June of this year, the first of Intel’s Arc Alchemist desktop graphics cards should be hitting the market. The exact time frame of this, however, will undoubtedly be primarily driven by the debut of their laptop models which Intel has said, on many occasions, will be arriving first.

What Can We Expect?

Intel entering the dedicated desktop graphics card market is certainly a very exciting event. If only for the fact that AMD and Nvidia are finally set to get some new (and long overdue) competition. The overall indications for their initial Arc Alchemist graphics cards shouldn’t, however, lead to any hyperbole or over-expectation. By and large, just three models are expected from the series, and their top-spec design is currently rumoured to only perform roughly on par with the Nvidia 3070.

Now, don’t get us wrong, the Nvidia 3070 is an excellent graphics card and if Intel’s first big swing hits that mark, we’ll be very impressed. As with pretty much anything GPU related over the last 18-months, however, the success of Arc Alchemist will primarily be driven by three key points; how well it comparatively performs against what’s (not) on the market, how much they will cost, and perhaps most of all, if they’ll actually be available in decent enough quantities to buy.

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!