After all, AMD and Nvidia have been dominating the market for years, so it is only safe to say that a new competitor in the market is definitely going to make some waves. Rest assured, you certainly are going to get something exciting from Intel and we are here to break things down.
Intel Arc Alchemist Architecture Explained
One simply cannot overlook the fact that whenever you are in the market looking at a new GPU, the architecture of the said GPU is just as important as anything else. Sure, many consumers might completely overlook this, and for all the right reasons, too, but the hardware enthusiasts and reviewers are going to get to the bottom of everything and figure out all the nitty and gritty before they decide what they want to choose and what they want to avoid. With that said, Intel’s Arc Alchemist cards are currently being built on TSMC’s N6 node, which is a revision of the N7 node that we have seen on the RX 6000 GPUs from AMD. The RX 6000 GPUs are a massive upgrade from anything AMD has done previously, and this gives us hope that the Intel Arc Alchemist will not be a letdown. However, there is more. We have heard the news that the basis of Xe HPG is an Xe Core which is going to deliver 16 vector units and 16 Xe Matrix Execution (XMX) units. In addition to that, there will also be an L1 cache. Intel is also combining four of these Xe Cores into a render slice and adding a shared L2 cache between them. Not just that, the new GPUs are said to also have dedicated RayTracing cores that should deliver better overall performance as far as raytracing implementation is concerned. However, until we see it in action, we do not know just how well the raytracing performance is going to be. The aforementioned slices are what will separate the various cards that will be in Intel’s Alchemist series. According to Intel, one can add up to eight slices to a graphics card, and this will total up to 32 Xe cores and 512 XMX and vector units. Sadly, we do not know how the future architectures are going to work, but Intel has mentioned that its Xe HPG is an architecture that is capable of scaling. This means that in the future, we could see smaller and more efficient processes alongside more render slices available on the cards. Obviously, it is also important to make a note of the fact that this could all change as we are moving forward, and Intel decided to announce a number of new offerings in the series. Still, based on the information that we do have, the Intel Arc Alchemist is looking promising and might as well deliver excellent performance overall without any complications. This is surely an exciting look at the whole aspect of GPUs because we can finally see Nvidia and AMD facing some competition. We are sure to find out more as we are going forward, and Intel is releasing more details about the GPUs as well.
Real-Time Ray Tracing And Intel XeSS
There is no denying that real-time raytracing and DLSS managed to become all the rage when Nvidia introduced the RTX 2000 series. Although the initial implementation was not as good as one would have wanted, it was Nvidia’s first run. The RTX 3000 series massively improved on raytracing as well as DLSS. However, AMD also joined the fold with their own version of both technologies, and well, Intel is not going to be out of the game, either. After all, if it wants to compete, it has to deliver the same set of features. The Intel Arc Alchemist is said to have both real-time raytracing and Intel’s version of DLSS called XeSS, which stands for Xe Super Sampling and should work a lot similar to Nvidia’s DLSS. Needless to say, the technology so far is looking interesting, to say the least. We will have to wait and see the actual performance numbers before passing a judgment. If Intel successfully manages to pull off both of these technologies, then Intel Arc Alchemist could go onto become perhaps one of the best competition for Nvidia and AMD; however, the road is not going to be easy as both the companies have decades of experience in GPUs and Intel is relatively new in the market for dedicated GPUs.
Intel Arc Alchemist Benchmarks And Performance
It is safe to say that if you are about to spend some money on a GPU, then the performance has to be on par with what the market is offering. After all, there is no point in getting something that simply is not good enough, and that is exactly what we are going to be focusing on. The benchmarks that we have had so far show that the GPU has managed to keep the scores in the average realm of 60 frames per second, with more demanding titles following as low as 30 frames per second, too. However, you should know that the performance numbers that we have our hands on are not final by any means This actually goes to show that the actual results might vary, and we might end up getting something that is entirely different in the first place. Whatever the case might be, with the Intel Arc Alchemist, things have started to look interesting, and there is a chance that the GPUs you might be getting end up actually really good, only time is going to tell that.
Intel Arc Alchemist: Price Range And Release Date
With the Intel Arc Alchemist, a lot of people have been waiting for the GPUs to come out, to be honest. It should not come as a surprise, but Intel officially launched the Arc Alchemist at CES 2023, but at that time, it was only launched for the mobile range. Intel has stated that over 50 laptop and desktop designs are “coming soon,” but we have not managed to see a lot of offerings. Rumors are also suggesting that the delayed release date is the consequence of internal delays such as issues with management. At the time of writing, Arc 3 graphics are available in laptops only, and Intel has stated that Arc 5 and Arc 7 GPUs are going to arrive some time in early summer, and we are hoping that this happens along with desktop variants. Intel has also not announced when the desktop versions are coming out but based on the leaks in the past, they might show up any moment now. We are also not sure about the pricing, but the rumors do suggest that the flagship card could cost somewhere between $600 to $700, which would make it competitive when you compare it with its Nvidia and AMD counterparts.
When Was The First Intel Arc Graphics Card Released?
For those wondering, Intel showcased the first batch of Arc GPUs back at CES earlier this year. However, at that time, Intel had just showcased the mobile versions. As of now, the desktop variants are nowhere in sight, but given the leaks and rumors, we might be seeing them soon. CES 2022 happened in January, and by March 2022, the market had a lot of laptops that sported Intel Arc 3 GPUs. Again, there has not been much development in terms of the news and leaks, but we might be seeing something impressive soon; let’s just hope that Intel releases something that manages to land on the expectations rather than falling flat.
Intel Arc Alchemist Specifications
Moving onto perhaps the one thing that almost everyone is interested in, and I am going to talk about the specs now. Sadly, we do not have the details for the desktop variants, but we do have our hands on the mobile variants of Intel Arc Alchemist, and you can look at those below. This is the table that gives us an idea about what the Arc Mobile GPUs are all about. However, I can already tell you that if you are looking for some proper spec sheet, you will have to wait for the release of the desktop variants, as well.
Update 1: Alchemist Lineup To Include A310, A380, A580, A750, A770, Pro A40, Pro A50
We have to understand that the Intel has revealed the mobile versions of the GPUs, and we have mentioned them above. However, the lineup is also said to include the A310, A380, A580, A750, A770, Pro A40, and Pro A50. As far as the specs are concerned, you can look at them below.
Arc A770: ACM-G10 GPU, Up To 16 GB Memory Arc A750: ACM-G10 GPU, Up To 12 GB Memory Arc A580: ACM-G10 GPU, Up To 8 GB Memory Arc A380: ACM-G11 GPU, Up To 6 GB Memory Arc A350: ACM-G11 GPU, Up To 4 GB Memory Arc A310: ACM-G11 GPU, Up To 4 GB Memory
The pro variants are seemingly missing because we do not have much information on them. Another important thing worth noting is that these are rumored specs, which means that the final version could offer something different entirely.
Update 2: The Release of Intel’s Arc Alchemist Desktop Graphics Cards Could Be Postponed
It is safe to say that the Intel Arc Alchemist is very hyped. However, have been hearing that the desktop variants might end up facing a delay. There could be several reasons behind that, with many people claiming that it is because of the issues with the management internally, while other sources are citing other issues. Whatever the case might be, at the time of writing, we are not sure about when the Intel desktop GPUs are going to hit the market. Therefore, it is better that you are not selling your current GPU for the sake of putting money in an Intel GPU. Sadly, at the time, we cannot give you any confirmed date as to when the GPUs are eventually going to come out. Related leaks & rumors:
Nvidia RTX 4070: price, specs, launch date Nvidia RTX 4080 price, specs, launch date, and news Nvidia RTX 4090: price, specs, date, and news Nvidia RTX 4000 series (everything you should know)
#2 – Is Intel ARC GPU good for gaming?
Honestly, at the time of writing, there is very little information available on the performance of Intel Arc GPUs.
#3 – How much will Intel arc cost?
There is no confirmed word on the pricing, but we are expecting the Intel Arc GPUs to cost in line with the competition.
#4 – Is it worth it to buy an Intel Arc Alchemist GPU over Nvidia?
At the time of writing, we cannot confirm whether Intel Arc GPUs are going to be good or not; we will have to wait and see just what Intel is up to.
#5 – Will Intel ARC have ray tracing?
Yes, Intel Arc GPUs will have hardware-accelerated raytracing thanks to dedicated cores.
#6 – Will Intel ARC GPU work with AMD CPU?
Yes, Intel Arc GPU should work just fine with whatever CPU you choose to pair it with.
Final Verdict:
I do understand that a lot of times, people have been looking for the right GPU, but considering how the market is more or less dominated by the likes of AMD and Intel, it is very difficult for a newcomer to make an entry. With the Intel Arc, we can expect some changes, but that is yet to be seen as we do not know what becomes of the series when it eventually comes out.
