Intel Enters Dedicated GPU Market With Intel Arc: Will Be Available From Q1 2022

Though Intel makes both CPU and GPU, it is always widely recognized for making CPU. The company has now announced a sub-brand, dedicated to the graphics card -- Intel Arc. Under this initiation, the company will launch the first generation of dedicated graphics cards based on Xe HPG microarchitecture.

The first set of graphics cards under the Xe HPG microarchitecture are developed under the codename Alchemist, which was previously known as DG2. The company has now confirmed that the next generation of graphics cards from the Arc line-up will be known as Battlemage, Celestial, and Druid.

Based On Scalable Architecture

Intel started shipping select models of the 11th Gen Intel CPUs with the Iris Xe graphics. Intel Arc is also based on the same architecture that utilizes the Xe-HPG microarchitecture, which uses Intel's Xe-LP, HP, and HPC microarchitectures.

On top of that, the first generation of Intel Arc will offer features like y-tracing and artificial intelligence-driven supersampling. And it also offers full support for DirectX 12 Ultimate. The graphics card will also be available on laptops and desktops from OEMs starting from 2022. As of now, the company has not shared any information on either TDP or the peak graphical capability of the Intel Arc.

According to AI accelerated video to the footage shared by the company, it can upscale a 480p footage to 4K resolution. This means the graphics card use AI techniques to smartly increase the resolution and quality. The company has shared several in-game footages of PUBG, Forza Horizon 4, Crysis Remaster, Metro Exodus, and a few footages of AI supersampling.

New Contemporary In High-Performance GPU Segment

Currently, the dedicated GPU market is dominated by AMD and NVIDIA. Though Intel has been in the GPU gaming, albeit, limited to integrated GPU, the company is finally stepping up its game by launching a dedicated GPU lineup under the Intel Arc branding.

This means the Intel Arc is expected to be paired with the 12th Gen Intel CPU on laptops and desktops. These devices are expected to have higher power efficiency and are expected to offer better battery life on laptops when compared to the devices that come with third-party graphics cards.