Intel’s Arc Desktop graphics cards are eagerly awaited, and they could launch, if any clues are found on Intel’s website – but we already know that the initial launch will only be in China (more on that later).
So, what could be the aforementioned clue? On Twitter, a well-known hardware liqueur, momomo_us, noticed that a button for ‘Intel Arc A3 for Desktop’ was suddenly added to Intel’s web page for a separate Arc Alchemist GPU.
Https: //t.co/yYgs7Rhd0A pic.twitter.com/5PFjg0woG4May 27, 2022
This seems to have been a case of an Intel employee jumping the gun, though, as the reason Videocards (Opens in new tab) As it turns out, the link didn’t work when clicked, and long ago – after someone apparently pointed out the misprint of the button – it disappeared from Intel’s site.
Obviously, then, it was a mistake, but it raises an interesting point. Keep in mind that we expect Intel’s Arc desktop graphics cards to debut in Q2 – although only in China, as mentioned – and we assumed earlier that probably by the end of June (as everything seems to be sliding with Alchemist, roughly, In terms of delays – just look at the laptop GPUs, which literally came to the very end of Q1, their promised launch time).
The brief appearance of this button indicates that the initial arc desktop launch is closer than we thought, and the cards may even make their debut in early June.
Analysis: A happy indication, we hope – but Nvidia can still ruin the party
While you may not be able to buy those first Arc A3 (lower-end model) desktop graphics cards outside of Asia, this is generally good news because if they hit the Chinese market in early June, there could probably be a wider release. Other areas will also come soon.
Based on what Intel has officially said in the launch timeline of the detached Arc GPU, and based on what we have theorized, we thought the United States and Europe might be looking at launches in late August – so maybe in early August. Instead. Fingers crossed that this indication of Intel’s carelessness could mean we haven’t seen Alchemist desktop products in more than two months …
We should keep in mind, however, that the initial launch in China will be for OEM only, and this will be the case in other regions as well, so you will only be able to take an Arc GPU on pre-built PCs. Individual Alchemist graphics cards will have to wait a little longer to reach the shelves.
While this may indicate some good running things for Intel in terms of launch time, we’re obviously expanding a bit here – it doesn’t mean anything. Time will tell, but Intel now has another problem: as rumored Nvidia is hinting at releasing its RTX 4000 GPUs (Lovelace) in July, and that launch will come before the arrival of the Alchemist, even in our new theoretical timeline.
Although next-generation RTX 4000 graphics cards won’t actually go on sale until several months later – perhaps according to Grapevine in September – revealing (theoretically) how good they’re going to be could still pour a lot of cold water into Intel’s Arc Hype. And maybe, of course, it’s the idea to move Team Green Loveless Launch forward, something we’ve heard recently – large doses of spices need to be applied. All This, of course.
