Intel takes on Nvidia, AMD with new Arc series of discrete graphics
Premium- Intel's Arc GPUs are powered by a high-performance graphics microarchitecture that is designed for high-end gaming
Intel has launched its Arc series of Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) for laptops and desktop PCs. Laptops with Arc 3 GPU, aimed at enhanced gaming and content creation, are available for pre-order, while laptops with the Arc 5 and Arc 7 GPUs, aimed at advanced and high-performance gaming, respectively, will arrive later in the summer, Intel said. Arc-based desktops and workstations will be released later in the year.
According to Intel, the Arc GPUs are powered by a high-performance graphics (HPG) microarchitecture that is designed for high-end gaming. It uses Intel Deep Link technology to ensure they work seamlessly with Intel CPUs and also supports hardware-accelerated Ray Tracing, DirectX 12 Ultimate, and AI-based upscaling technology Xe Super Sampling.
Intel also claims the new GPU can handle video encoding workloads 60% faster than its Iris Xe Integrated GPUs.
“We have partnered with top OEMs to co-engineer an amazing lineup of laptops that feature new and improved gaming and content creation capabilities with Intel Arc graphics and 12th Gen Intel Core processors," Roger Chandler, vice president and general manager of Graphics and Gaming Team at Intel said in a blog post.
On paper, the Arc GPUs are at par with Nvidia's latest RTX 30 series of laptop GPUs. For instance, the Arc 3 offers up to 8 cores, 8 Ray Tracing (RT) units, 4GB GDDR6 RAM, clock speed of up to 1550MHz, and consumes up to 50W of graphics power. The Arc 5 has 16 cores, 16 RT units, 8GB GDDR6 RAM, clock speed of 900MHz, and uses up to 80W of graphics power. The top-of-the-line Arc 7 has up to 32 cores, 32 RT units, 16GB GDDR6 RAM, clock speed of up to 1650MHz and power consumption of up to 150W.
Intel had earlier said it was in talks for over 50 mobile and desktop customer designs for Arc GPUs with multiple OEMs such as HP, Asus, Dell, Gigabyte, Acer, Lenovo, Samsung, and MSI.
Unlike integrated GPUs that are built into the processor and share the system memory with the CPU, discrete GPUs remain separate and do not share the memory with the CPU, which allows them to deliver the higher performance required for gaming and graphic-intensive workloads.
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The Arc graphics marks Intel’s entry into the discrete graphics segment, a market that has been dominated by Nvidia and AMD until now. As of Q3 2021, Nvidia controls the lion’s share of the discrete GPU market with 83% of global shipments, while AMD accounted for the remaining 17%, as per Statista.
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