The cat is finally out of the bag. Intel has announced its long-awaited new Arc series of graphic cards that had drawn lots of speculation in the computer graphics realm. Besides gamers, developers from both the video games and online casino scene had been waiting with bated breath to see what Intel would bring to the table this time.
Although much is yet to be released about the Arc series, the little we’ve seen so far points to the fact that Nvidia and AMD may soon face some stiff competition. The Arc graphic cards are discrete GPUs that are said to be more powerful than the previous graphic card released by Intel, the Intel Iris Xe. They are a testament to the constant growth that Intel is showcasing when it comes to GPUs.
If you’ve been dying to find out exactly how this new set of graphic cards from Intel measures up to ones produced by industry giants Nvidia and AMD, many of your questions will be answered in today’s post. So, what features does the Arc GPU series boast? Here’s a quick highlight:
A Sharper Focus on Performance
The Arc 3 class GPUs offer 2 GPUs that target laptops. These are Arc 350M and Arc 370M. There’s a whole load of features that make these two models perfect for your laptop. For example, the A350M and the A370M have significant power ranges that suit you well, with a minimum range of 25W and a maximum of 50W. These two also have 4GB RAM that will best suit a thin and light laptop that is especially good for gaming, among other relatively power-heavy tasks. After all, this is exactly what Intel had in mind when it came up with these specific models.
Since these models are laptop GPUs, you shouldn’t expect to find them individually. Instead, you’ll need to find a laptop already fitted with them. During the announcement by Intel, it was pointed out that one of the first laptops to have this GPU will be the Samsung Galaxy Book2.
With the above-stated features, the A370M and A350M are the least powerful GPUs in the Arc series. What’s even more exciting about this is that these are exceptionally impressive features for the bottommost tier of a GPU range. There is the promise of even better in the Arc series with Arc 5 and 7. Now here’s where things get interesting with a view to the match-up between Intel, Nvidia and AMD. Let’s take it a notch higher, shall we?
Squaring Up with AMD and Nvidia
The Arc 5 and 7, while having not been released yet, are the most anticipated ones in the Arc GPU series. This is because they are so much more powerful than their lower-tier counterparts. For instance, the A730M has 24 Xe cores, and A770M has 32 Xe cores, with both commanding a power consumption of up to 150W. People love a brawl, and it is brewing with the set of features these two have.
So, how exactly does Intel measure up to Nvidia and AMD in the Arc series? There are quite some glaring similarities when you peek at the features of Intel’s A770M chip and compare it with Nvidia’s RTX 3080T. It’s practically looking at the same chip, with very few distinguishing factors. With a similar 16GB Memory and a shared 128-bit memory bus, these are just some of the features that the two share. We can comfortably derive that the two are on the same level performance-wise.
However, Intel says that the Arc series was meant to compete with the likes of Nvidia’s RTX 3050 and AMD’s RX 6500M. The RX 6500M has a 4GB memory and a 128-bit memory bus, which is similar to Nvidia’s RTX 3050. Based on those parameters alone, and if that is the direct competition line, I would be a little worried if I was Nvidia and AMD. These guys really do mean business as features like the memory is already four times more than the targeted competition.
Early Indications are Good
Based on the information we have so far, Intel has indeed done a commendable job with the Arc GPU. It suits many different PC users in so many ways. For example, if you are a gamer who’s always tied to your laptop, there are a lot of features you’ll love. This GPU supports 1080p of gaming up to 90 fps on chart-topping titles like GTA5, Fortnite, Doom Eternal and Hitman 3, among many others.
You’ll also love a lot about its interesting mobile graphics tier with features like variable-rate shading and ray tracing to enhance your mobile viewing. Intel has undoubtedly laid the foundations for a good clash in the graphics business. So, take a front-row seat, and let’s watch it all unfold before our eyes.
