When Intel announced earlier in the year that it would be releasing some of its own GPU products, the metaphorical ears of the two major graphics card companies likely perked up at the inevitability of this new competitor. With Nvidia looking to launch some new RTX cards in the early parts of 2022, it's likely that "team green," as well as long-time rivals, AMD, is perhaps a little worried about the upcoming "Alchemist" product from Intel's Arc range and the tech giant recently unveiled a short trailer for its new hardware.
A few days ago, Intel uploaded a 30-second video to its YouTube channel, though it was originally shown off at The Game Awards 2021, giving a bite size idea of what the Alchemist graphics card will be capable of upon release. The trailer hopes to promote the soon-to-be-released GPU which will look to rival products from Nvidia and AMD, both of whom have been in the business a long time, though Intel is no stranger to developing computing technology, it being one of the biggest makers of CPUs.
Like many would expect from a trailer like this, it is a flashy mix of corporate slogans about what the Alchemist will be able to do, alongside some clips of current games, like Back 4 Blood, and Hitman 3. It also briefly mentions Intel's upscaling technology XeSS, or Xe Super Sampling, which is the company's take on Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR. Graphical upscaling, especially in modern AAA games, is something of an industry standard in this day and age, so it's understandable that the newcomers to the GPU market would be looking to make an impact in this region.
Intel intends to launch a number of products in its new Arc range, with roadmaps proposing that the company could release a new GPU each year over the next three or four years. Early estimates have the Alchemist, at least the desktop version, possibly being on par with the likes of the Nvidia RTX 3070, maybe even the 3070 Ti. This means that Intel is not just looking to release its own line of graphics cards, but that it may be gunning for the high-end market. It's been reported that the laptop equivalent of the Alchemist is likely to be available Q1 2022, with the desktop variant coming in Q2.
Of course, there is still the question of whether anyone will be able to get hold of any new graphics cards, from Intel or otherwise. With sources saying the Arc Alchemist may be easier to get hold of than Nvidia's products, it still remains to be seen what the market will look like over the coming months, especially as forecasts predict shortages could go on until 2023.