Intel has added new Alchemist Arc GPU PCI IDs within its recent Linux driver which might hint towards a potential refresh coming soon.
Intel Arc Alchemist Refresh GPUs Might Be On The Way As Linux Driver Lists New PCI IDs
Intel recently introduced the Arc A580 graphics card which was the last remaining desktop graphics card from the original lineup introduced a year ago. The lineup currently includes five products, the Arc A770, Arc A750, Arc A580, Arc A380, & the Arc A310. All of these GPUs utilize the Alchemist GPU architecture (ACM-G10 / ACM-G11 SKUs). But Intel has also secretly added a few more GPU PCI IDs within its Linux driver.
As discovered by Phoronix, Intel added a few more GPU PCI IDs to its Linux open-source i915 Direct Rendering Manager driver. These include:
- 0x56B0 - TBD
- 0x56BA - TBD
- 0x56BB - TBD
- 0x56BC - TBD
- 0x56BD - TBD
- 0x56A0 - Arc A770
- 0x56A1 - Arc A750
- 5x56A2 - Arc A580
- 0x56A5 - Arc A380
- 0x56A6- Arc A310
- 0x56B3 - Arc Pro A60
- 0x56B1- Arc Pro A50
- 0x56B1 - Arc Pro A40
- 0x5690 - Arc A770M
- 0x5691 - Arc A730M
- 0x5692 - Arc A550M
- 0x5696 - Arc A570M
- 0x5697 - Arc A530M
- 0x5693 - Arc A370M
- 0x5694 - Arc A350M
As you can tell, there are at least five new Intel Alchemist GPU PCI IDs added to the Linux driver, & it might hint at upcoming products that are yet to be announced. Rumors for an Alchemist Refresh family which was originally anticipated to launch within the second half of 2023 though Intel hasn't made any such announcements and Innovation 2023 was very dry on the GPU side of things. Intel's graphics division however plays things their own way and might do a secret event or just hold it off until CES 2024.
Intel's next-gen Battlemage GPUs are targeting a 2H 2024 release window so a slight refresh in the first half of 2024 on the existing Alchemist family could make sense. The Alchemist lineup has been fine-tuned and receives ongoing optimizations across various titles. The lineup is in a much better state than it was at launch and currently offers some great performance and value in the sub $300 and sub-$200 US market.
Speaking of optimizations, Phoronix also reports that Intel has enabled FCV optimizations for Gen 12.5+ graphics on Linux, offering boosted performance of up to +45% in titles such as F1 2022. The optimizations will be added to Alchemist & Meteor Lake CPUs which share the DG2 Gen 12.5+ GPU architecture.
Intel ARC Gaming GPU Lineup
| GPU Family | Intel Xe Next Next | Intel Xe Next | Intel Xe3P | Intel Xe3 | Intel Xe2 | Intel Xe+ | Intel Xe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dGPU Products | ARC E*** GPUs | ARC Druid GPUs | Arc Celestial GPUs? | ARC Battlemage GPUs | ARC Battlemage GPUs | N/A | ARC Alchemist GPUs |
| iGPU Products | TBA | TBA | Arc C-Series? | Arc B-Series | Arc 200-Series | Arc 100-Series | Arc Graphics |
| dGPU Segment | Mainstream / High-End Gaming (Discrete) | Mainstream / High-End Gaming (Discrete) | TBC | N/A | Mainstream (Discrete) | N/A | Mainstream (Discrete) |
| CPU iGPU | TBA | TBA | Xe3P-LPG (Nova Lake) | Xe3-LPG (Panther Lake) | Xe2-LPG (Lunar Lake) | Xe-LPG+ (Arrow Lake) | Xe-LPG (Meteor Lake) |
| Process Node | TBA | TBA | TSMC 2nm? | TSMC 3nm / Intel 3 | TSMC 5nm (3nm Lunar Lake Tile) | TSMC 6nm | TSMC 6nm |
| Max Xe Cores | TBA | TBA | TBA | 12 | 32? | 8 | 32 |
| Memory Subsystem | TBA | TBA | G7/LP5X/LP6? | LP5X | G6/LP5X | G6/LP5X | G6/LP5 |
| Launch | 2028? | 2027? | 2026 | 2025 | 2024 | 2024 | 2022 |
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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