As reported by video card, (opens in new tab) Intel has changed the prize pool settings for the winners of last year’s Xe-HPG scavenger hunt. Instead of only offering the new Arc A770 and Arc A750 graphics cards as prizes, Intel is offering different graphics cards, including a Core i7-12700K for the Arc A770 Grand Prize winner and a Core i5-12600K for the Arc A750 First Prize winner. Added prize pool. Additionally, another Alder Lake CPU prize is worth the same as the original Arc GPU prize.
All winners have the option to keep their original GPU prizes at the cost of waiting for the launch of the Arc A7 series GPUs. However, each winner can instead switch his GPU prize to another his CPU prize and receive the prize immediately. The winner must make a decision by midnight on August 19th (PDT). Otherwise, the prize will be automatically switched to an alternate CPU prize and shipped immediately.
“The overall value of the replacement prize package, including hardware and non-hardware prices, will be equivalent to the original prize package,” reads one sentence in the letter. This means that the Arc A750 and Arc A770 can share the same MSRP as the Core i5-12600K and Core i7-12700K respectively. For reference, the Core i5-12600K retailed for $299 and the Core i7-12700K launched at $419. Given the benchmarks and leaks, the speculated Arc pricing doesn’t seem off the mark. Intel’s benchmarks showed the Arc A750’s performance to be in the same alley as his GeForce RTX 3060. Recall that Nvidia’s Ampere-powered product debuted at his $329.
We’ve already seen the Arc A770 in action, and its performance seems to be somewhere between the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and the GeForce RTX 3070. Unfortunately, we didn’t have enough benchmarks to make a judgment call. However, the GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 have suggested retail prices of $399 and $499 respectively, so if Intel releases around $400, the Arc A770 is right in the middle.
The prize pool change could represent a major timing issue with Intel and the worldwide launch of the Arc GPU scheduled for 2022. For example, the Xe HPG Scavenger Hunt is a GPU-specific scavenger hunt created to mark Intel’s entry into the discrete GPU market. Unfortunately, it makes the alternative prize option feel very out of place and seems to be an emergency strategy on Intel’s part.
Intel doesn’t seem confident in its ability to deliver desktop Arc Alchemist GPUs this summer. However, we cannot say that we were surprised. Intel has been plagued with constant issues surrounding Arc GPUs. Some of the most problematic issues are driver bugs and driver performance optimization issues.
Technically, Intel has already released the Arc A380 with units available in China. However, a global launch is still pending. Intel has postponed the release date numerous times, with dates moving from he Q4 2021 to he Q1 2022 and finally to a Q3 release.
However, Q4 has already started this year, so the previous Q3 release window is no longer in effect. At this rate, we don’t know when Intel will release Arc Alchemist. However, due to the constant bugs surrounding Arc and changes to the new scavenger hunt prize pool, we may be considering a 2023 release.
