Intel has announced that the company will be entering the discrete graphics space, making dedicated GPUs for both desktops and laptops starting in 2022. 

Being branded as Intel Arc, the company plans on directly competing with the likes of Nvidia and AMD in the ever-expanding PC gaming realm. We say gaming and not video editing, 3D rendering nor crypto-mining because based off the initial announcement, Intel is making it clear that this new GPU brand is being positioned to go head-to-head as a viable video game option under the venerable Intel brand name.

The first set of Arc based GPUs are set to arrive in Q1 2022 and are dubbed under the codename Alchemist. While it's currently unclear if Intel is initially aiming to position these GPUs against the most high-end market competitors or rather compete for space in the middle and lower tiers - either way, the company looks to hit the market bringing along some decently luxury features. 

First up is support for real-time ray tracing, which has been all the rage the last year or two as the next big thing in making video game graphics look a lot more like real life. However, the most interesting reveal is an Intel software feature (also branded under the name Arc), which will be an AI-powered supersampling method - similar to the Deep Learning Super Sampling feature (DLSS) first announced by Nvidia and the FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) that AMD announced as a competitor shortly after. To be brief, these types of AI-powered supersampling methods allow lower resolution video games to be upscaled to a higher resolution and see an increase in frame rate without losing performance. 

We're going to have to wait a little while longer to see how Intel's answer to Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR is, but in the meanwhile, check out the short clip released to its Twitter that shows off some games running on the GPU. While there aren't any massive AAA games shown, Intel does give us a taste of games like Days Gone, Metro Exodus, PUBG: Battlegrounds, and of course the endlessly-meme'd Crysis Remastered Trilogy. 

Check out Intel's promotional video for its new Arc GPU below. 

To read more about what Nvida's DLSS is, click here to check out our recap. If you're interested in learning about AMD's answer to it, FSR, click here instead.