Intel launches ARC and reveals full Alchemist GPU lineup for laptops

The time has finally come for discrete Intel GPUs to enter the market. Today, Intel revealed the full details for its Arc laptop GPU lineup. We’ve been waiting on this information for quite a while now. In fact, towards the end of February, we covered some early information regarding these GPUs. And now, we can take an even closer look at what Team Blue has cooked up.

These GPUs come in three tiers of performance, consisting of the Arc 3, Arc 5, and Arc 7. As you’ve likely noted, these are the same naming conventions used for Intel’s processors. Starting things off with the low-end, the Arc 3 A350M GPUs use a cut-down version of the ACM-G11 design. The A350M features six Xe cores, six Ray Tracing units, a clock of 1,150MHz, and 4GB of GDDR6 memory. The A370M features the full version of ACM-G11, up to eight Xe cores, eight Ray Tracing units, a clock of 1,550MHz, and 4GB of GDDR6 memory.

As for the Arc 5 and Arc 7 models, these all derive from ACM-G10. The Arc 5 A550M is a noticeable jump up from the Arc 3 GPUs, featuring 16 Xe cores, 16 Ray Tracing units, a base clock of 900MHz, and 8GB of GDDR6 memory. It is worth noting that the base clock is lower on this GPU in comparison to the Arc 3 cards, but the extra hardware more than makes up for it. The most powerful model announced in the mobile lineup is the A770M. This model has 32 Xe cores, 32 Ray Tracing units, a base clock of 1,650MHz, and 16GB of GDDR6 memory. The Arc 3 models will launch first, with the more powerful Arc 5 and Arc 7 models launching early summer.

(Image credit: Intel).

Basic gaming, check

Each of these cards features new graphical technologies developed by Intel. The most prominent feature is XeSS, an image upscaling solution that competes with Nvidia’s AI-enhanced DLSS and AMD’s Fidelity FX Super Resolution. Intel also showed off some comparisons in a small range of titles using an Arc 3 GPU versus an Iris X iGPU.

It’s an odd comparison at first glance, considering gamers don’t typically gravitate towards integrated graphics. Still, we can at least see that Intel’s entry-level Arc laptop GPUs exceed the 1080p 60fps standard in popular games. If the price is right, many may be fine with using all-Intel laptops. Of course, these figures are more for show. We’ll have to see what these GPUs are really capable of, especially versus the competition.

(Image credit: Intel).

The first laptop that’ll feature an Arc 3 GPU is the Samsung GalaxyBook 2 Pro, which also has a 12th generation Intel CPU. We don’t know too much else about this laptop at the moment, but it should release sometime in early April. Intel also announced the driver interface, named Arc Control. Users will be able to download drivers for their GPUs via the utility, alongside a handful of other features. It isn’t dissimilar to Nvidia’s own GeForce Experience software.

Intel’s first Arc series GPUs are finally here

It feels like it’s been a long wait since Intel first announced Arc, and that’s because it has been. After several delays, it’s nice to finally see that the release of these cards is on the horizon. It’ll also be interesting to see how the performance holds up against Intel’s competitors. And if that wasn’t enough, Intel also teased us with a look at a desktop variant of an Arc Alchemist graphics card. We didn’t see too much of the card, but it does hopefully hint at a reveal soon.