Intel releases Arc GPU specs as launch draws ever closer
Intel releases Arc GPU specs as launch draws ever closer
Expand / Intel's GPU Performance Tiers. The gap between 3 and 5 is much bigger than the gap between 5 and 7.
Intel
Intel's slow and steady stream of news about its upcoming Arc GPUs continued last week when the company released final specs for its four desktop graphics cards. As with the laptop GPUs the company announced earlier this year, desktop Arc cards are split between entry-level Arc 3, mid-range Arc 5, and high-end Arc 7 tiers. range.
The only Arc GPU that has been extensively vetted by independent testers is the entry-level A380, which is also the only one to officially launch in the US (this $140 ASRock Challenger model broke of stock listed on Newegg, not including more expensive cards imported from China). It's by far the weakest GPU in the line, with just eight Xe cores and ray tracing units from Intel and 6GB of GDDR6 memory on a 96-bit memory bus. Reviews generally show the A380's business hits with older, budget-focused GPUs like Nvidia's GTX 1650 or AMD's RX 6400, depending on the game.
Enlarge / Arc 5 and Arc 7 cards are all based on the same die, with more GPU cores disabled for low-end builds.
Intel
The other three GPUs are all much more similar. The A580, A750, and A770 have 24, 28, and 32 Xe cores respectively, which increase in clock speed as you go higher. But they all share a 256-bit memory bus and 8GB of GDDR6 RAM (with a 16GB option available for the A770). Intel introduced its own "Limited Edition" versions of the A770 and A750; they share the same basic board and fan design and 225W board power, but the A770 has built-in LEDs, unlike the A750. Intel presumably leaves the low-end A580 and A380 boards to its board partners, rather than making its own versions.
Intel's tests show the A750 GPU competes with the Nvidia RTX 3060 in DirectX12 and Vulkan games; Going just from the specs on paper, this suggests that the A770 will land somewhere between an RTX 3060 and 3070, while the A580 will perform worse than a 3060 but better than a 3050.
This is a fairly narrow performance range, with a big gap between low-end and mid-range cards and no offerings for high-end gaming PCs, but it makes sense being given that the Alchemist family is supposed to be based on a pair of GPU dies, one maximum eight-core Xe (the A380) and the other 32-core Xe (the 28- and 24-core versions being "bundled" versions which shut down faulty or underperforming cores so that the array itself can still be used). Current GPU lines from Nvidia and AMD typically use at least three or four different GPU dies.
Expand / Intel's GPU Performance Tiers. The gap between 3 and 5 is much bigger than the gap between 5 and 7.
Intel
Intel's slow and steady stream of news about its upcoming Arc GPUs continued last week when the company released final specs for its four desktop graphics cards. As with the laptop GPUs the company announced earlier this year, desktop Arc cards are split between entry-level Arc 3, mid-range Arc 5, and high-end Arc 7 tiers. range.
The only Arc GPU that has been extensively vetted by independent testers is the entry-level A380, which is also the only one to officially launch in the US (this $140 ASRock Challenger model broke of stock listed on Newegg, not including more expensive cards imported from China). It's by far the weakest GPU in the line, with just eight Xe cores and ray tracing units from Intel and 6GB of GDDR6 memory on a 96-bit memory bus. Reviews generally show the A380's business hits with older, budget-focused GPUs like Nvidia's GTX 1650 or AMD's RX 6400, depending on the game.
Enlarge / Arc 5 and Arc 7 cards are all based on the same die, with more GPU cores disabled for low-end builds.
Intel
The other three GPUs are all much more similar. The A580, A750, and A770 have 24, 28, and 32 Xe cores respectively, which increase in clock speed as you go higher. But they all share a 256-bit memory bus and 8GB of GDDR6 RAM (with a 16GB option available for the A770). Intel introduced its own "Limited Edition" versions of the A770 and A750; they share the same basic board and fan design and 225W board power, but the A770 has built-in LEDs, unlike the A750. Intel presumably leaves the low-end A580 and A380 boards to its board partners, rather than making its own versions.
Intel's tests show the A750 GPU competes with the Nvidia RTX 3060 in DirectX12 and Vulkan games; Going just from the specs on paper, this suggests that the A770 will land somewhere between an RTX 3060 and 3070, while the A580 will perform worse than a 3060 but better than a 3050.
This is a fairly narrow performance range, with a big gap between low-end and mid-range cards and no offerings for high-end gaming PCs, but it makes sense being given that the Alchemist family is supposed to be based on a pair of GPU dies, one maximum eight-core Xe (the A380) and the other 32-core Xe (the 28- and 24-core versions being "bundled" versions which shut down faulty or underperforming cores so that the array itself can still be used). Current GPU lines from Nvidia and AMD typically use at least three or four different GPU dies.
Expand / Intel's GPU Performance Tiers. The gap between 3 and 5 is much bigger than the gap between 5 and 7.
Intel
Enlarge / Arc 5 and Arc 7 cards are all based on the same die, with more GPU cores disabled for low-end builds.
Intel
