Intel’s First Generation of Arc Desktop GPUs Will Launch in Q2 2022

Intel has shared more information on its upcoming line of consumer graphics cards, the Arc series. Today, the well-known CPU maker confirmed that its Arc brand GPUs for laptops will begin shipping this quarter, while those looking to buy a desktop GPU will need to wait until Q2 of this year. 

You’ve all been patient, and the first wave of #IntelArc GPUs are launching soon for notebooks. Desktops and workstations will soon follow! https://t.co/rXgX9dGEL1 pic.twitter.com/F6ubSUzSHM

— Intel Graphics (@IntelGraphics) February 17, 2022

Originally announced last August, Intel’s Arc brand will serve as the company’s foothold into a market, taking on GPU giants AMD and Nvidia. But Intel is playing the long game here with the Arc brand as the company also confirmed during its initial announcement that its GPUs will span “multiple hardware generations,” under the codenames “Battlemage,” “Celestial,” and “Druid.” 

The Arc brand will also include its own supersampling tech, XeSS, which will compete with AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution and Nvidia’s DLSS. Despite the Arc series not being announced yet, Intel has already confirmed that several developers will support XeSS. And one of the first PC games confirmed to support the tech is the PC version of Death Stranding Director’s Cut. 

Another interesting tidbit in Intel’s blog post  is “Project Endgame,” a new cloud GPU service, allowing users to “access Intel Arc GPUs through a service for always-accessible, low-latency computing experience.” While not much is known about the Project Endgame, it could be Intel’s response to Nvidia GeForce Now’s RTX 3080 membership, which allows subscribers to play games on the cloud with an RTX 3080 PC gaming rig. Intel did not share any further details other than Project Endgame will be available later this year. 

This announcement comes amid an interesting time for the graphics card market. Unprecedented demand and an ongoing chip shortage continue to cause issues for those looking to buy the latest GPUs, something of which both AMD and Nvidia have struggled to keep up with demand. Nvidia, in particular, has been silent on its forthcoming flagship, the RTX 3090 Ti, which is rumored to have been delayed.

For more info, check out our best graphics cards for 2022, as well as every new graphics card announced at CES 2022.

Taylor is the Associate Tech Editor at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.