Intel has announced its imminent entry into the graphics card market with the upcoming release of the Intel Arc Alchemist series of graphics cards. According to Intel, the Arc Alchemist series will offer high-end gaming performance, advanced ray tracing capabilities, and support for the latest industry standards.

Release Dates

Intel has not yet provided a specific release date for the Arc Alchemist series, but it has provided a general timeline. According to Intel, the Arc Alchemist series is expected to launch in Q1 2022. This means that consumers can expect to see the graphics cards hit the market sometime between January and March of next year.

Specs

Intel has not provided a detailed breakdown of the specs for the Arc Alchemist series, but it has confirmed a few key details. Specifically, Intel has announced that the series will be based on the company’s Xe-HPG architecture. This architecture is designed to deliver high-performance gaming capabilities, including support for advanced ray tracing and variable rate shading.

Intel has also confirmed that the Arc Alchemist series will support DirectX 12 Ultimate, which is the latest version of Microsoft’s graphics API. This will enable the graphics cards to take advantage of the latest gaming features, such as mesh shaders and sampler feedback.

In terms of memory, Intel has not provided any specific details, but it has promised that the Arc Alchemist series will support GDDR6 memory. This is the same memory type used in many current high-end graphics cards.

Prices

Intel has not provided any details regarding the prices of the Arc Alchemist series. However, it is expected that the graphics cards will be priced competitively with similar products from AMD and NVIDIA. This means that consumers can expect to pay anywhere from several hundred to over a thousand dollars for the most high-end version of the card.

Conclusion

Overall, the Intel Arc Alchemist series looks promising for gamers looking for high-end graphics cards that can deliver advanced features and performance. With support for the latest industry standards and a focus on gaming, the Arc Alchemist series could be a formidable competitor to established players in the market like AMD and NVIDIA. While we’ll have to wait until Q1 2022 to see how the cards perform in real-world scenarios, the initial specs and promises from Intel suggest that the wait may be worth it.