Intel Arc Desktop gets a new launch schedule

Igor Wallossek with new information on the Arc desktop launch timeline.

According to the report, Intel has now modified the launch schedule for Arc desktop cards to take place between August 5th to September 29th . It is said that Intel is no longer planning a large-scale launch, which has been teased by leaked roadmaps by Moore’s Law is Dead . On a contrary, Intel will be rolling out its Arc desktop models gradually in a more silent fashion.

[…] Intel is said to have now internally decided on a narrower time frame. If they’re going to stick to the current timeframe, the range that’s being colocated to me now is between Aug. 05, 2022 and Sept. 29, 2022 . This means that there is enough time to launch the three announced larger models one slice at a time. It is interesting that the internal documents no longer report about a large-scale, joint launch event, but it could rather be a kind of “silent” launch, which could be carried out gradually in the retail sector and via only a few media.

— Igor Wallossek, Igor’sLAB

Intel is now expected to ship test samples to a few, select reviewers, possibly in an effort to avoid as much negative feedback as possible. Igor expects that objective reviews will only become available once these cards become available in stores.

In a Q&A session with PCGamer , Intel representatives claimed that Arc graphics cards will only be formally announced once they are ready to ship to customers. The company has no plans to announce availability weeks in advance. It is unclear if current launch timeline refers to global availability or rather select countires.

Just recently, Raja Koduri confirmed that the company is committed to their roadmap and ramping up of Alchemist series is one of the things that will improve this quarter.  And indeed, by shipping all cards by September 29th, Intel will fulfil its promise to launch all desktop Arc GPUs in the third quarter.

Source: Igor’sLAB