Entering the world of GPUs is currently not an easy task. Firstly because there are competitors who already dominate the market and whose experience has grown over the years, while others have surprised from their very first steps. And the second, of course, because the panorama of the production chain has not improved much. However, in Intel had already made it known that they were ready to take up the challenge with Bowhis first adventure in the dedicated graphics to stand up to Nvidia and AMD. Today, they finally detailed the specs of the laptop variants.
The first thing you need to know is that Intel Arc, similar to the nomenclature of processors, will be divided into three numbered series: Intel Arc 3, Intel Arc 5 and IntelArc 7. The first of these, the most basic of all and intended for ultra light and thin laptops, will be available today —for OEM partners— with A350M and A370M chips, targeting video game 1080p and up to 90 FPS (frames per second). The more capable GPUs, however, will see the light of day until the summer of this year. These are all the versions of the first generation with their respective characteristics:
Intel Arc 3 (A350M) | Intel Arc 3 (A370M) | Intel Arc (A550M) | Intel Arc 7 (A730M) | Intel Arc 7 (A770M) | |
Xe Cores | 6 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 |
Ray Tracing Units | 6 | 8 | 16 | 24 | 32 |
MHz | 1150 | 1550 | 900 | 1100 | 1650 |
Memory (GDDR6) | 4GB | 4GB | 8 GB | 12 GB | 16 GB |
memory bus width | 64 bit | 64 bit | 128 bit | 192 bit | 256 bit |
Consumption | 25-35W | 35-50W | 60-80W | 80-120W | 120-150W |
Intel Arc Keys
Intel Arc supports its proposal in various sections. First of all, the Xe cores of the Xe High Performance Graphics microarchitecture, which was designed for gamers and content creators. The Californian company promises high performance and energy efficiency. The second point, of course, is essential when it comes to laptops.
Intel Arc Cores also stand out by integrating Xe Matrix Extensionsa technology that, compared to a traditional GPU, increases the computing capacity by up to 16 times to perform artificial intelligence processes.
On the other hand we have the engine Xe Multimedia Enginewhich accelerates video codecs and offers AV1, the hardware-accelerated encoding and decoding format. “AV1 is up to 50% more efficient than today’s most common codec, H.264, and 30% more efficient than H.265.2,” Intel says.
For its part, XE Display Engine is intended to support “High-Resolution, High-Refresh-Rate HDR”. One of its main innovations is that it has DisplayPort 2.0 10G support (up to 4K at 120hz without compression). Thanks to this engine, Intel Arc laptops will be able to connect to two 8K monitors at 60Hz, or four 4K monitors at 120Hz.
Resisting Nvidia’s DLSS
Intel Arc will be DirectX 12 Ultimate Compatibility from Microsoft, which in turn opens the doors to Laser trace (ray tracing), variable rate shading, mesh shading, and sampler feedback. Be careful because the firm’s GPUs come with Xe Super Sampling, a complex upscaling technique whose performance will surely be compared to Nvidia’s DLSS. Intel claims it’s capable of running a game at 4K resolution while maintaining the performance (FPS) we’d get with native 1080p.
Obviously, for Xe Super Sampling to be used properly, developers must embrace it. In this sense, they mention the following:
“Intel is committed to delivering drivers ready for Day 0 and works with game studios around the world to ensure next-generation titles are optimized for Intel Arc GPUs and technologies like XeSS; expected to launch this summer with support enabled. in over 20 games, and Intel plans to open up the SDK and XeSS tools for anyone to implement, ensuring industry-wide adoption across a wide range of software and hardware .”
Another pillar will be deep link, which ensures full compatibility of Intel Arc with Intel’s own integrated graphics processors. The aim is to take advantage of both chips to increase performance in gaming, content creation and streaming.
on paper, the first generation of Intel Arc promisesbut the best will be to wait to see its first performance tests both in games and in software for professionals.