Intel has no Arc GPUs for Arc Scavenger Hunt winners, CPUs instead

Intel kicked off its Xe HPG Scavenger Hunt in early 2021, and a rather large 18 months later we have no Arc graphics cards in the wild... meaning no Intel Arc graphics cards to give away to Arc Scavenger Hunt winners.

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The company is now offering an alternative prize because there are simply no Intel Arc GPUs, so instead of an Intel Arc A7-series graphics card (Intel was giving Grand Prize winners an Intel Arc A770, while the first place prize was an Intel Arc A750) winners can now opt for an Intel Core i7-12700K and Core i5-12600K processor.

Intel sent an email to its winners, explaining to a Xe HPG Scavenger Hunt Top 300 prize winner that they would be provided with an alternative to the original hardware prize, in addition to the standard merchandise and swag prizing. The company confirms that the winners only have a few days to decide -- up to August 19 -- if you want to switch over your Arc GPU to an Intel 12th Gen Core "Alder Lake" CPU.

• Read more: Intel teases Xe-HPG GPU Scavenger Hunt kicks off on March 26 at 9AM

But now, this is the clincher: if you opt back into the original GPU prizing, Intel warns that you will have to do so with the understanding that such prizing is tied to the launch timeline of Intel Arc A7-series GPUs. Because we don't know when that happens, and neither does Intel, you could be waiting a while.

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Intel does note that while they anticipate that the hardware should get to you ahead of Intel Arc A7-series GPU availability, Intel "cannot guarantee that to be the case, as Intel is very close the Intel Arc A7-series GPU launch". I guess Intel means to say in that email that they are "very close to the Intel Arc A7-series GPU launch". Mistakes everywhere, Intel.