Intel spars with Nvidia and AMD
© Intel.
Intel Arc is the name for Intel’s adventure into the high-end graphics card market in an effort to compete with Nvidia and AMD. The first Arc products will be released in the first quarter of 2022 and will be based on a GPU codenamed Alchemist (previously “DG2”). Alchemist-based Arc cards will support modern GPU functions such as real-time ray tracing and artificial intelligence-based 4K super sampling. Intel also revealed the names of the generations to come: Battlemage, Celestial and Druid.
The Arc represents Intel’s first earnest attempt at the gaming GPU market, but with decades of experience in writing and updating graphics drivers, the company is not starting from scratch. It already produces integrated GPUs such as the Iris Xe in 11th generation Core laptops that run games in 1080p or 720p. This new tool will provide another option for gamers who are desperately seeking a source of reasonably powerful GPUs. Given the ongoing shortage that’s slated to last into 2022, gamers might be more likely to give Intel cards a chance.
⇨ Ars Technica, Andrew Cunningham, “Intel’s Arc GPUs will compete with GeForce and Radeon in early 2022.”
2021-08-16
