Intel ARC Alchemist cards based on DG2-512 GPU now expected in May at soonest

Igor Wallossek has the latest information on the premium Arc Alchemist graphics cards, now supposedly launching between May and June.

Officially, Intel has thus far only confirmed that desktop Arc graphics cards are now to be expected in the second quarter, but has not provided any date specifically.

The reason for the delay is not stated, but it is commonly believed that Intel is still fine-tuning its graphics drivers. Intel certainly does not want to stain its highly anticipated entry into the discrete desktop GPU market with unoptimized drivers. The company is also working on its super-resolution XeSS technology that will be used by Arc GPUs, however no updates except for some new game demos were given since Intel first confirmed to be working on this tech.

Several different sources have told me of another Intel card postponement, at least as far as SKU 1 to 3, the three performance models, are concerned. There are currently consistent rumors that the first models will be released between May 2, 2022 and June 1, 2022.

— Igor Wallosek, Igor’sLAB

Igor claims that SKU 1 to 3 are delayed till week 18 to week 22 of this year. Those SKU names refer to the high-end models based on DG2-512 GPU also known as SOC1. At this moment it is unclear how many SKUs will be released, but we expect at least two models: A780 and A580, both names are yet to be confirmed by Intel.

Intel DG2 Product Family Positioning

The currently rumored lineup of desktop Arc Alchemist GPUs features five SKUs, the same number as mobile variants. There is still some confusion around SOC2 GPU such as its maximum memory bus width (96 vs 64-bit) and the exact EU (Execution Unit) configurations of all SOC1 models (desktop 512/448/384 vs mobile 512/384/256).

Source: Igor’sLAB