The eagerly anticipated launch of Intel’s Arc Alchemist graphics cards have many waiting for their full list of specs. A few weeks ago, a handful of leaked photos make the rounds and hinted at what we could expect from Intel’s new offering. However, we now have some information regarding the specs of the Arc Alchemist A300, A500, and A700 Series graphics cards.
This information comes via a preliminary review of the A380 card from SiSoftware. The review also revealed the specifications for the full DG2 lineup. Their overall findings for the A380 weren’t exactly the most optimistic. The A380 is an entry-level card, so its performance wasn’t necessarily going to shock anyone regardless. Though, admittedly, it did perform worse in a few areas when compared to Nvidia and AMD’s own current entry-level offerings. To be fair, though, the review was focused more on things outside of gaming. So, in terms of strictly gaming performance, there’s still a bit we don’t necessarily know.
Looking into the Intel ARC Alchemist specs
Let’s kick things off with the specs of the A380 card. This card will come with 128 cores, 1,024 threads, 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, and 192 GB/s of bandwidth. The specs put this card right next to Nvidia’s GTX 1660 Ti. The only glaringly immediate difference is that the A380 has a TDP of 75W, whereas the 1660 Ti has 120W. It’s not incredible by any means, but, again, this is a low-end graphics card. It’s likely to be geared towards PC builds that don’t really need an excess amount of performance.
In comparison, the A500 Series specs are a noticeable jump up. These cards will come with 384 cores and 3,072 threads, 12 GB of GDDR6 memory, and 384 GB/s of bandwidth. This series is clearly aiming to be somewhere in the mid-range, though. The exact details on its performance will have to wait for future coverage. Similarly, the A700 specs were revealed and offer another jump in specs. With 512 cores, 4,096 threads, 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, and 512 GB/s of bandwidth, it’s clearly the high-end offering. But, right now, there are still plenty of questions that need answers. Particularly when it comes to gaming performance and how much these cards will stack up to Nvidia and AMD’s options.
We’ll need to wait a little longer to see more concrete coverage of Intel’s other Arc cards and their specs. However, the A380 is certainly an interesting card in itself. While it isn’t that impressive from a performance standpoint, it could be an enticing option for those who want a lower TDP, potentially making it a very good option for smaller and less powerful builds that don’t necessarily need to be gaming beasts. Further testing does need to be done for its gaming potential, though, so stay tuned for when that information drops in the next few months.
Published: Feb 23, 2022 02:30 pm