#news

Intel has revealed its ARC A series GPUs for laptops, starting with the base model ARC A3. For the first desktop video cards, however, we will have to wait for the summer.


Intel unveiled only its least powerful ARC-series GPUs: the A350M, which has six Xe-cores and six ray-traced drives, and the A370M with eight Xe-cores and eight ray-tracing drives. Given the range from 25W to 50W of power, they are designed for ultraportable devices that intend to offer more graphic power than integrated graphics, and therefore not for dedicated gaming machines. Anyone looking for a true gaming laptop will have to wait for the ARC 5 and ARC 7 GPUs, which will offer significantly more graphics cores, ray-tracing units, memory, and power. These new GPUs are expected to arrive as the desktop counterpart in early summer.

Technical Specifications

There are two Alchemist SoCs: ACM-G10 (32 Xe-Cores) and ACM-G11 (8 Xe-Cores). The A550M, A730M and A770M are all based on the G10 variant, which offers up to 32 Xe-Cores (or 4096 FP32 cores). Instead, the A370M and A350M are based on the G11 variant, which was previously referred to as DG2-128EU.

Intel Arc A770M is the flagship model equipped with 32 Xe-Cores, 16 GB of GDDR6 memory through a 256-bit bus interface. It has a default clock of 1.65 GHz and a TDP between 120W and 150W. The Arc A730M has 24 Xe-Cores (384 FP32 cores) and 12 GB of GDDR6 memory through a 192-bit interface and a TDP reduced to 80-120W.

The Arc A550M uses half of the ACM-G10 Xe-Cores (2048 FP3 cores). This model is equipped with 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and a 128-bit memory bus. This mid-range SKU has a TDP between 60 and 80W.

Intel's entry-level A370M and A350M are both based on the same processor with up to 8 Xe-Cores (but the A350M has 2 disabled cores). Intel has confirmed that this SoC has a 96-bit memory bus. Both models, however, have a 64-bit interface and 4 GB of memory. The A370M has 1.55 GHz clock and TDP in the range of 35 to 50W, while the A370M reaches 1.15 GHz with TDP from 25 to 35W.

Deep link & XeSS

Another key part of all Arc GPUs will be Deep Link technology, which leverages the full hardware stack of Intel processors and graphics cards to optimize power-sharing (based on whether the CPU or GPU needs more processing power for a given task). Deep Link will also allow the computer to do things like take advantage of both the integrated and discrete GPUs simultaneously for faster media encoding or machine learning-based image processing. Nvidia's latest 3080 Ti and 3070 Ti laptop GPUs also feature a similar feature.

Intel XeSS is similar to NVIDIA's DLSS (deep learning super sampling) and AMD's FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) in that it uses technology (hardware-dependent AI for NVIDIA, hardware-independent post-processing algorithm for AMD) to upscale games to a higher resolution with sharper detail. In the Intel technology demonstration video, XeSS upscales an upcoming game called Dolmen from 1080P up to 4K, with greater clarity in detail from the version applied by XeSS.

Performance

In terms of performance, the frame-rates expected for the A370M have been published in a number of games. Intel has cited frame-rates of 60fps or higher than 1080p with average settings in games like Hitman 3, Doom Eternal, Destiny 2, Wolfenstein Youngblood, and The Witcher 3. In esports games like Fortnite, Rocket League, and Valorant, the A370 is capable of delivering 90 to 115fps along with a Core i7-12700H. These results seem to place the A370 in the performance beam of the GTX 1050 for desktop.

Desktop graphics cards

Not too many details about the desktop Arc cards were offered during the presentation, although presumably, more details will come before the summer. The video shows that the Arc dedicated card has a dual-fan design, with a single HDMI port and three DisplayPort ports.

Intel unveiled the new Arc VGA as a “limited edition”. However, it's unclear if this means the company will have a limited stock of cards when they launch this summer or if it's a nod to its GPUs produced directly without the help of partners (like Nvidia's Founder's Editions).

A new player has entered the game...

Watch the full presentation here:

The first laptop available for pre-order with Intel Arc 3 graphics is the new 15-inch Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro. However, other laptops are coming from every OEM, including Lenovo, HP, Dell, Acer, ASUS, and MSI. The cheapest model will start at $899.