Intel Arc A580 on sale in Japan, backorders begin in the US and Canada
Intel is indeed preparing to launch its A580 GPU in the near future. However, some retailers were so eager to get it into customers’ hands that the card has prematurely gone on sale.
ASRock A580 Challenger, Source: @momomo_us
The Arc A580 GPU is a model that was introduced last year, but Intel never brought it to the market due to delays in the Alchemist lineup and its limited competitiveness against AMD and NVIDIA’s latest entry-level models. However, for some unclear reason, Intel has now given approval to its board partners to launch this model.
Interestingly, the launch won’t involve many brands; only ASRock and Sparkle have expressed interest in releasing this graphics card. ASRock, in particular, was so eager to launch their version that they forgot to inform retailers about the sale embargo date. While there are no surprises in terms of specifications, Intel did not acknowledge the availability date of this model, so it is a premature sale.
What’s intriguing is that, despite no official announcement, the Arc A580 GPU is already supported by the latest GPU drivers, making it technically usable. The only issue is that it’s not yet widely available in stores. It appears that ASRock’s card went on sale prematurely, and a well-known hardware leaker managed to obtain a sample. Although the retailer responsible for the early sale is unclear, the leaker shared a screenshot of the card available at a Japanese retailer with a price of 38,880 JPY.
ASRock A580 Challenger, Source: @momomo_us
This specific listing is from a Japanese store called Biccamera, and we can easily verify the price of ASRock’s A750 Challenger in the same store. With a price of 55,440 JPY for the A750 Challenger, we can determine that the A580 was 30% cheaper.
Additionally, further investigation has revealed additional listings from Canadian and US retailers who have started offering the card ahead of schedule with backorder options. The card is currently listed at $209.96 USD or $274 CAD in these regions. The official ASRock store on Newegg US offers the A750 Challenger model at $219 while Newegg Canada has no such model listed, but the cheapest A750 is for $339.99 CAD. So technically, the A850 would still technically be cheaper, but as much cheaper as in Japan.
ASRock A580 Challenger, Source: Various
It’s been reported that A580 GPUs have already been sent to the press for review. While the exact launch date remains uncertain, Intel seems to have no secrets, as they have already disclosed the full specifications, and pricing can be easily deduced from the existing A750 offers and early listings.
Source: @momomo_us
