The Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards lineup has been on the minds of many for quite some time now. Since it was officially revealed back in August 2021, more than a few gamers been hopeful that these Alchemist cards can shake-up the troubled GPU market. But, it seems that PC gamers may need to wait for a little while longer. The Intel Arc Alchemist lineup has reportedly been internally delayed by a couple of months, which will result in it missing the original Q1 2022 launch window.
This information comes from Moore’s Law is Dead, who is in contact with multiple insiders that seem to know what’s going on at Intel. One of the sources stated that “Arc has effectively been pushed out to Q2 across the board.” The consensus drawn from across the sources is that Alchemist is now going to launch sometime between April and June.
Alchemist needs to brew a little longer
At first glance, it may seem like bad news. Delays for highly-anticipated products tend to be rather annoying in most cases after all. But in actuality, the delay could be a good thing for Intel in terms of how the launch for the Arc Alchemist lineup gets perceived. The delay could give Intel the needed time to prepare more stock for the initial launch of the graphics cards, which would hopefully reduce the chance of the cards selling out within minutes of the listings going live. Stock doesn’t seem to be the main factor in the delay though, according to Moore’s Law is Dead.
Drivers for the Alchemist cards seem to be the main factor causing the delay. The general thought here is that the drivers were not good enough for the prior Q1 release date. Meaning that the general performance of the cards would have been hampered as a result and negatively affected reviews and public perception. It seems that Intel has delayed the Arc launch in order to make sure that the accompanying drivers are up to a certain standard.
At the moment, the release of the Arc Alchemist lineup looks to be a little later than expected. According to Moore’s Law is Dead, it seems likely that low-end Alchemist cards will appear in Laptops by April. The full release of the graphics card lineup, including desktop, seems to be due between late April and early June. Unfortunately, those who have been waiting on Intel’s Arc Alchemist cards will be stuck waiting for a little while longer.
Alchemist’s delay is certainly going to be disappointing news to some, but it will hopefully translate into a smoother launch overall for Intel. Considering the current state of the market, the competition and increased graphics card availability will be welcome if Intel puts out a competitive lineup. In the meantime, you can check out some of the leaked images that reveal the specs of Intel’s Arc Alchemist graphics cards. These images highlight some interesting tidbits surrounding Intel’s Alchemist cards, so be sure to check those out.
There are also murmurs that AMD plans to respond with a refreshed Radeon RX 7000 lineup, which means this summer could be the first hot one for graphics cards in years.
