Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing

Intel teases the design of its Arc Alchemist GPU in the coolest way possible

By

Following the recent release of Intel Arc, a new brand dedicated to high-performance gaming hardware, software, and services, Intel made another announcement. The company teased the upcoming release of its first discrete gaming graphics card in an unexpectedly unique way.

If Intel’s goal was to draw attention to its line of graphics cards that had until recently been code-named Intel Arc Alchemist, it’s safe to say it succeeded. The company sent 1,000 of its own drones out into the night sky and recorded a dazzling light show that was then compiled into a one-minute video on Twitter.

Recommended Videos

We’ve painted pixels in the sky with 1,000 Intel drones. Now, that’s a visual experience. What will you create next? https://t.co/FYeygLy6Oh #IntelArc #inteldrones #inteldronelightshows #dronelightshows pic.twitter.com/c0Q4ycNYVS

— Intel Graphics (@IntelGraphics) August 17, 2021

“We’ve painted pixels in the sky with 1,000 Intel drones. Now, that’s a visual experience. What will you create next?” said the message attached to the video.

Aside from a number of fun visual effects created by the drones, the video carried an important teaser — the image of a dual-fan graphics card. We can only assume that this might be the future design of Intel’s Alchemist, but it is possible that the brand just tried to create an easily recognizable image. Whether Intel’s drone creation is a correct depiction of Alchemist or not, it seems the company is not going to put too much stock into cooling. Based on current information, two fans seem adequate for most, if not all, configurations of this GPU.

Intel hasn’t confirmed any specs of its future gaming GPUs yet, although the company has indicated that it aims to rival Nvidia’s and AMD’s best graphics cards. Leaks indicate that the cards will have a maximum of 512 execution units (EUs) combined with 16GB of GDDR6 memory. Twitter user @GPUsAreMagic stated that the 512 EUs found in Arc Alchemist are divided into four groups, each including 128 EUs. However, we don’t know this for a fact, as this assumption is based on a render of the die that was included in one of Intel’s video announcements.

LEDs forming a graphics card.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Alchemist is going to be the first product released by the Intel Arc team. Anton Kaplanyan, a recently poached ex-Nvidia DLSS engineer who now works for Intel, recently revealed more about the card’s capabilities.

“In case you were curious, Intel Arc GPUs will come with full DX12U support, including mesh shading and high-performance ray tracing. Bonus, high-quality neural supersampling deserves a separate announcement,” said Anton in response to the launch of Intel Arc.

Intel’s “high-quality neural supersampling” sounds a lot like Nvidia’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR. It’s certainly a feature that future Intel GPU owners will be happy to have, but it’s uncertain how much use it will find in gaming. As game developers already have to try to optimize their games for both DLSS and FSR, it’s likely that Intel’s tech will not be supported on too many platforms — at least not until the cards hold a larger share of the market.

Intel Arc’s plans in regards to the gaming graphics card sector seem to stretch far into the future. The company has already announced that Alchemist, which was previously named DG2, will have several successors — Battlemage, Celestial, and Druid. Intel Arc Alchemist is set to release in the first quarter  of 2022, so if all goes well, we should start seeing more information about its design and performance in the coming months.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Monica J. White
Monica J. White
Computing Writer
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
How Intel could win the GPU war this year
Intel Arc A580 graphics card on a pink background.

Intel faced an uphill climb with Arc Alchemist, and it looks like it might have another fight ahead with its next-gen Battlemage GPUs. The competition is always fierce, and AMD and Nvidia have big plans for the year ahead.

Despite the clouds that loom on the horizon, Intel might still surprise us with Battlemage -- in a good way. Here's where Intel Arc Battlemage is currently at, and why it might have a shot at being one of the best GPUs of the year.
Déjà vu
Prior to the release of Intel Arc Alchemist, one of the main complaints was that the general public was kept in the dark a lot of the time. The release date was pushed back more than once, and the information about the GPUs was fairly scarce compared to the constant hype we've all grown used to with Nvidia and AMD leaks.

Read more
Apparently, ants can eat your GPU now
Nvidia GPU core.

Every few months, a post pops up on one of the various subreddits I follow with a desperate user showing off horrific photos of ants crawling around inside their gaming PC. That's exactly what happened to u/Thejus_Parol, who posted on r/pcmasterrace with some true nightmare fuel (spotted by Tom's Hardware).

In this case, pesky fire ants made their way through the dense componentry of the graphics card, ending up at the GPU itself. As is usually the case with these stories, the ants started eating the thermal paste on the GPU core and the thermal pads on the VRAM, causing temperatures to spike. This is usually the first indication of a problem. As the user says, "I noticed that my max GPU temps were rising a bit. When I checked if the fans were spinning correctly, I saw ants marching on my GPU and on top of my case."

Read more
Intel may be throwing away an important opportunity
The backs of the Arc A770 and Arc A750 graphics cards.

However small Intel's presence might be when it comes to discrete graphics cards, it's still chipping away at Arc Battlemage -- but every time we hear of it, the news is strictly bad. This time, a new leak tells us that Intel may not even attempt to release Arc Battlemage for laptops, and even if it does, its partners may still not want to produce the acrds.

The grim update comes from Moore's Law Is Dead, who talked about Arc Battlemage in his latest video. According to the YouTuber's anonymous sources, Intel's next-gen discrete GPUs aren't coming to laptops. References to any mobile GPUs have reportedly been erased from an internal Intel document, indicating that the cards may have been scrapped, as opposed to never having been planned.

Read more