Today Intel launched its first discrete desktop graphics card based on the Intel Xe High Performance Graphics (Xe HPG) microarchitecture. The launch starts by introducing the Intel Arc A380 graphics card, which Intel says addresses the needs of "mainstream gamers and content creators." It must be mentioned that this product will roll out in China first (this month) with availability rolling out globally during the summer. Intel's MSRP in China is 1,030 yuan including VAT (~$150). Since China adds VAT at 13% we might infer a US listing price of $134.
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Arc A380 Specifications | |
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GPU config |
Xe HPG architecture, 8 Xe Cores, 8 RT units, 128 XMX Engines |
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GPU base clock |
2.0 GHz |
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Memory |
6GB GDDR6 at 16 Gbps |
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Memory bus |
96-bit |
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Memory bandwidth |
192 GB/s |
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Support |
Ray Tracing, VRS, DX12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.3, Adaptive Sync, up to 4x displays, H.264 and H.265 and AV1 hardware encode/decode, VP9 Bitstream & Decoding, Intel Deep Link technologies |
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Ports |
eDP 1.4, DP 2.0 up to UHBR 10, HDMI 2.1, HDMI 2.0b |
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TDP |
75W |
Intel provides some interesting performance comparisons, which could help sell these cards. In the small print of the press release you can see that it did some comparative benchmarking in 11 popular games. Intel took a Windows 11 system with an Intel Core i5-12600K, MSI Pro Z690-A WIFI, 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 @ 3200MHz, MP600 Pro XT 4TB SSD and switched between its new Arc A380 desktop graphics card, and AMD's Radeon RX 6400. The RX 6400 retails for approximately 15% more than the Arc A380 in China.
At 1080p and medium settings, the following performance advantages for Intel's A380 were observed: Naraka Bladepoint (27%), JX Remake (27%), F1 2021 (26%), Rust (24%), Total Saga: Troy (22%), The Witcher 3 (22%), Arcadegeddon (21%), Metro Exodus (18%), NiZhan (16%), Wolfenstein: Youngblood (15%), Destiny 2 (14%).
Taking together all these results, and the Chinese retail prices, Intel surmises that its A380 "delivers up to 25% better performance per yuan."
With the kind of performance touted, and better pricing, it would be hard to ignore Intel's performance advantages and fully featured support for modern gaming and media technologies. However, it is still an upstart in this arena, and we all know the importance of solid, optimized, and regularly updated drivers to deliver on hardware promises.
To prepare for the Arc A380 launch, the Intel Graphics Driver 30.0.101.1736 has been released. This driver is good for anyone using 12th Gen Intel Core processor iGPUs, Arc graphics, and is specifically flagged as the "Launch driver for Intel Arc A380 Graphics (Codename Alchemist)." So, if you are lucky enough to snag one of these cards soon, you should head over and download and install this.
As well as supporting the new graphics cards Intel has implemented "Game On driver support," for Redout 2, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard on Arc GPUs.
A few hours ago we reported on a Gunnir branded Arc A380 graphics card surfacing in China. However, there will be several more familiar partners launching their take on the A380 design. Intel says we will see cards from familiar partners such as Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte, as well as PC OEMs like Acer and HP.
The Arc A380 is expected to be joined by the A310 in the lower-echelon A300 series but enthusiasts and more demanding gamers will be looking with greater interest at the Arc A500 and A700 series graphics cards with significantly beefier GPUs and more, faster memory.
