If you want to own Intel’s first desktop graphics card in over 20 years, you’ll soon have a chance. One PC maker is preparing to sell the GPU in a prebuilt desktop available from Best Buy.
Best Buy posted the product listing for the PC on its website, which was spotted by VideoCardz. The $749 prebuilt system comes from LA-based CyberPowerPC, and will contain an Intel Iris Xe "dedicated graphics" card with 4GB of video memory, according to the specs.
The Best Buy listing also features images of the prebuilt PC, which appear to show the Intel graphics card slotted inside the system’s motherboard. The entry-level PC also runs a six-core Intel i5-11400F processor, 8GB of RAM, while offering only 500GB of SSD storage.
The listing currently says the product is sold out, but CyberPowerPC told us the system is still in development. “The PC has not shipped out yet, it's still in production,” the company said in a Twitter message. “It will come out soon so make sure to keep an eye out for it!”
The system may be the first retail PC to use the Iris Xe desktop card, also known as DG1, which Intel originally launched in January. However, the product wasn’t released as a standalone component, but as an add-in card PC makers could bundle with their prebuilt systems.
Since then, we haven't heard much about the DG1. Nevertheless, the card marks Intel’s first entry into discrete desktop graphics since 1998’s i740. The company plans to make a bigger splash later this year with the second-generation DG2 card, which is being designed specifically for PC gaming.
The DG1 Intel Iris Xe, on the other hand, has been targeting PCs for “mainstream users and small- and medium-size businesses.” Intel says the card can power up to three 4K HDR displays simultaneously and run popular PC games in high definition. But benchmarks posted online suggest the DG1 offers underwhelming performance compared to the latest graphics cards from Nvidia and AMD. According to Intel, the DG1 card only works on certain motherboards installed with a special BIOS, too.