Intel is preparing for the imminent release of their first-generation Arc discrete graphics cards, codenamed "Alchemist," and they look like they're going to bring the pain to some tough competition.
According to WCCFTech, the top-end Alchemist cards are going directly against the NVIDIA RTX 3070 and the AMD RX 6700 XT, both of which are two of the best high-performance cards of the generation.
Aside from that, however, the Intel cards also have their preliminary pricing brackets.
Rumors say that the entire product stack will be targeting the $100 to $500 price range, which could be extremely disruptive if the cards remain within, or close, to MSRP.
The information comes from a leaked slide that appeared on the Baidou Forums, which is a Chinese language site.
VideoCardz reports that the cards are specifically designed to compete with NVIDIA and AMD's upper mid-range stack, which is why they can only go up against the 3070 and the 6700 XT.
The specific chips will be targeting the NVIDIA GA104 (the one in the RTX 3060 Ti, 3070, 3070 Ti, and the 3080 mobile) and AMD Navi 22 (RX 6700, 6700 XT, 6700M, and 6800M) GPUs, although there are only two Intel Alchemist chips planned.
This already goes against previous rumors that there will be three different SKUs.
Intel formally introduced their Arc line of graphics products back in August, much to the delight of GPU-starved PC gamers who can't get anything new from NVIDIA and AMD these days.
Intel Arc GPU SKUs Revealed
The specific Intel Arc Alchemist chips will be as follows:
SOC1 DG1 will be competing directly against the RTX 3070 and RTX 3060 Ti, RX 6700 XT, and RX 6600 XT within the 175W to 225W TDP bracket. Projected MSRP could be around $300-$500 depending on market conditions.
SOC2 is going to be the low-end (entry-level) part, which could mean it will go up against the GTX 16-series in the 75W TDP bracket. This is where the low $100-$145 MSRP will fall.
Intel Arc: Looking Good on Paper?
Based on this leaked information, Intel Arc has the potential to be very disruptive in the market.
Just look at the MSRPs of the NVIDIA and AMD cards that Intel is targeting: the 3070's MSRP is $499, while the 6700 XT is at $479.
If the SOC1 will go for anything below that while offering the same performance, it would mean success for Team Blue. That is, of course, if the prices don't get affected by scalper nonsense.
Next up, the entry-level pricing of the SOC2 already makes it the price-performance winner against the 1650 Super (whose MSRP is $160). But this is a lowball, all things considered.
For all we know, the SOC2 could have the performance of the GTX 1660 Ti for the price of a 1650 Super. But it still remains to be seen.
Plus, Intel has already confirmed that their Arc GPUs will be overclocking-ready on day one, which is just another thing to be excited about.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by RJ Pierce
