Intel Is Offering CPUs to Winners of Arc GPU Scavenger Hunt

Back in 2021, Intel ran a marketing campaign for its upcoming Arc graphics cards. It involved a scavenger hunt, and the prize was that you’d get an Arc GPU before they officially launched. Intel offered 300 of the GPUs, and winners were eventually selected. Of the 300 winners, 100 would receive the grand prize, and 200 would get the first-place prize. The company had stated the grand prize was worth $900, and the first prize was valued at $700. Now in late 2022, Intel is seemingly not able to cough up the GPUs. Instead, it’s offering winners an Alder Lake CPU instead. This gives us some visibility into Intel’s launch timeline, as well as expected prices for Arc GPUs.

News of Intel’s tardiness comes from Videocardz, which posted an email Intel sent to a prize winner. Apparently, the grand prize was an Arc A770, and the first prize was an A750. Intel has shown off its A750 quite a bit recently, but the 16GB A770 has never seen the light of day. In the email Intel offers winners a choice: take an Alder Lake CPU now, or keep waiting for an Arc GPU. The grand prize winners were able to take home a Core i7-12700K. The first prize winners were offered a Core i5-12600K. Looking on Amazon, the 12700K is priced at $384, marked down from about $500. The 12600k is priced at $342, but currently just $278.

If we translate that, we can surmise the A750 will cost around $300, and the A770 will be around $400. Those prices are exactly in alignment with the leaked prices from a few weeks ago. Both GPUs were listed as existing in the $300 to $399 price tier. So far Intel has only shown the A750 competing favorably against the RTX 3060. While that used to be an impossible-to-find GPU, it’s