As we get closer to CES 2022, we are hearing more and more rumors regarding Intel's ARC Alchemist gaming graphics card lineup based on the Xe-HPG DG2 GPUs.

Intel's ARC Alchemist High-End Graphics Lineup Rumored For March Launch, Will Include DG2-512 16GB & DG2-384 12 GB Variants

As per the latest rumors from Expreview forums (via ITHome), it is reported that Intel had initially planned to launch its ARC Alchemist graphics lineup in January 2022 but that was postponed to the very end of Q1 and may possibly even slip to Q2 but that remains to be seen as Intel might have changed its plans and moved the launch ahead. The first ARC Alchemist DG2 GPUs have already been shipped to major AIB partners for debugging so we can expect a range of custom cards to be available at launch along with the reference models.

As for the lineup itself, it is said that aside from the entry-level ARC A380 which features the DG2-128 GPU (SOC 2), Intel will have two ARC Alchemist graphics cards based on the DG2-512 SKU (SOC 1). As for the configurations for each Intel ARC Alchemist GPU, they are mentioned below in full detail:

Intel Xe-HPG 512 EU GPUs Powered ARC Alchemist Gaming Graphics Lineup

The top Alchemist 512 EU (32 Xe Cores) variant is said to feature at least three configurations. The full die features 4096 cores, a 256-bit bus interface, and up to 16 GB GDDR6 memory featuring a 16 Gbps clock though 18 Gbps cannot be ruled out as per the rumor. Following are all the ARC 512 EU variants that we can expect based on the DG2-SOC1:

512 EU (4096 ALUs) / 16 GB @ Up To 18 Gbps / 256-bit / 225W (Desktops) & 120-150W (Laptops)384 EU (3072 ALUs) / 12 GB @ Up To 16 Gbps / 192-bit / 150-200W (Desktops) & 80-120W (Laptops)256 EU (2048 ALUs) / 8 GB @ Up To 16 Gbps / 128-bit / 60-80W (Laptops)

Intel ARC A780 Graphics card leaked renders. (Image Credits: Moore's Law is Dead)

The Xe-HPG Alchemist 512 EU chip is suggested to feature clocks of around 2.2 - 2.5 GHz though we don't know if these are the average clocks or the maximum boost clocks. Let's assume that it's the max clock speed and in that case, the card would deliver up to 18.5 TFLOPs FP32 compute which is 40% more than the RX 6700 XT but 9% lower than the NVIDIA RTX 3070.

In terms of performance positioning, the top 512 EU variant is said to compete against the RTX 3070 / RTX 3070 Ti, the 384 EU variant is said to compete against the RTX 3060 / RTX 3060 Ti on desktops. On the laptop side, the 512 EU might be just as fast as the RTX 3080, 384 EU variant around RTX 3070 level and the 256 EU will end up against the RTX 3060.

Also, it is stated that Intel's initial TDP target was 225-250W but that's been upped to around 275W now. We can expect a 300W variant with dual 8-pin connectors too if Intel wants to push its clocks even further. In either case, we can expect the final model to rock an 8+6 pin connector config, The reference model is also going to look very much like the drone marketing shot Intel put out during the ARC branding reveal.

As for the launch, the SOC1 variants are planned for launch in Mid-February & while AIBs are waiting on final dies to test with their custom PCB designs, desktop variants may be launching first, followed by laptop and then workstation in late 2022.

Intel ARC ACM-G10 vs NVIDIA GA104 & AMD Navi 22 GPUs