Intel is going to come back in a big way in the sector of dedicated graphics cards for general consumption, we have already seen it this morning in the news that our colleague Juan Ranchal has shared with us, and that is that the chip giant that bring millions of graphics cards to market each year, excellent news, especially considering the reality in which we currently find ourselves.
However, the announcement of this return of Intel to the sector has not been received with the same enthusiasm by everyone. Some believe that this poses a danger to AMD, and that could end up generating a new duopoly in which only NVIDIA and Intel would play, and where AMD would end up being the big loser, since it would be relegated to a third position that could even be symbolic.
I understand that more than one will have raised their hands to their heads, but the truth is that those fears are not so far-fetched. Think, for example, of what happened at the time with Matrox 3D accelerators, how 3DFX led the industry decades ago, and how it fell to NVIDIA and the now defunct ATi. In the end, no great is totally immune to a fall when the pressure begins to become unbearable.
All in all, I think that in the end the arrival of Intel is going to be good for everyone, and that it will not mean the departure of either of the two greats that exist today. There will simply be a smooth transition that will shape a new market, with AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel vying for market share leadership.
Intel, AMD and NVIDIA: When three are not a crowd
If I am honest, in many moments I have missed the concurrence of manufacturers, and of 3D graphic solutions, that we had in the nineties. There was a lot of competition, a lot of options to choose from, and a lot of graphics accelerators with prices that fit almost any pocket. Let them tell me, that at the time I could only get hold of a modest S3 Virge 3D.
Over time, we have “sailed” until we ran aground in a port where we only have two options, GeForce series and Radeon series. The arrival of Intel will give us a third option, the Arc Alchemist series, and this will end up being very beneficial both for the market in general and for the technological world, and also for users, because:
- There will be a greater supply of graphics cards, and this may encourage NVIDIA and AMD to increase production of their GeForce and Radeon series, otherwise they would be “giving away” market share to Intel. More supply equals more units available, and this could be the nail in the coffin of scalping and speculation.
- We will be able to access a wider range of graphics cards, with different benefits and prices. This should contribute to a price war between NVIDIA, AMD, and Intel which, in the end, will be fantastic for the consumer, since they will be able to buy the graphics card they want at a more competitive price, no matter who their favorite company is.
- Technological advances will be more marked, and also those of performance. As we have said, the arrival of a new player in the graphics sector, Intel, in this case, will make the competition more intense, and this will have positive consequences at a technological and performance level. I’m not speaking for no reason, we’ve already seen that the Intel Arc Alchemist will come with dedicated ray tracing accelerating hardware, and with XeSS intelligent upscaling technology.
Introducing the new Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards It will take place between the first and second quarter of this year., and if the latest information that I have been able to see is true, we will see a great variety of models and versions with which Intel will cover from the low end to the high end, although without reaching the level of the most powerful that NVIDIA and AMD currently have on the market.
We do not have concrete information about the sale prices, but I remember that Intel itself said they would be “very competitive”. If this is true, and if Intel arrives before the crisis in the graphics card sector is resolved, the giant would find a golden opportunity to quickly place a large number of units.
