Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards have started rolling out with the rest of the line scheduled to release in just a few short weeks. The long-running chipset manufacturer has made its name by dominating the processor game, but now, in 2022, team blue finally throws its hat into the ring.
Intel Arc Alchemist release date
The first of the Intel Arc Alchemist line is now available with the Arc A380. This is the lowest-end model in the series and retails from $139.99. It’s entirely possible to find these video cards at launch price, with some manufacturers offering their own coolers at slightly higher prices. The ASRock Challenger Arc A380 for $139.99 at Newegg.
The higher-end, and arguably more in-demand models, however, are coming out sooner than you may think. Both the Arc A750 and the Arc A770 are scheduled for release on October 12. This is a little later than the press releases would have had you believe, with the review embargo now lifted on the highest-end Alchemist GPUs. As for availability, we can’t comment just yet.
At the time of writing, there has been no confirmed release date or window for the mid-range A580 GPU. Current discourse tells us that the graphics card line is set for a Q4 release date. This means that the higher-end models will be out on the market before people can get their hands on the more wallet-friendly performers.
Intel Arc A-series graphics launched inside productivity notebooks and gaming laptops on March 30. The first of the line to release, similar to desktop counterparts, was the A380M. To date, many machines are now on the market running the entry-level GPU, too, such as Asus Zenbook Flip, Lenovo – Yoga 7, and Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro just to name a few.
Intel has stated that both Arc 5 and Arc 7 graphics could be available in hardware from the end of the summer. At the time of writing, this has yet to bear fruit, but we’re hopeful that more machines could be running the mobile graphics with the launch of their desktop versions in the very near future.
Intel Arc Alchemist performance
The reviews are in and as expected the top-end Intel Arc Alchemist cards hold their own against the aging RTX 3050 and RTX 3060 GPUs. Taking a look at the benchmarks published in the Techspot review, the top-end Intel Arc A770 falls just short of topping the RTX 3060 Ti in titles such as Rainbow Six: Extraction and F1 2021.
Interestingly, the Arc A770 appears to outperform the RX 6600 in titles such as Watchdogs: Legion and Horizon: Zero Dawn, while appearing on par with AMD’s entry-level video card in games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Far Cry 6 in 1440p. This is corroborated by the PC Mag review which demonstrates that although the A770 pulls ahead in synthetic benchmarks, it falls behind in-game.
From this evidence, we can ascertain that both the Intel Arc A750 and A770 are competent cards for 1080p and 1440p gaming at their price points. However, if you’re looking for a true powerhouse model rivaling that of the Nvidia RTX 40 series, then you’ll have to wait for the future of Arc.
Intel Arc Alchemist specs
After much speculation, the review embargo for the more powerful Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards is upon us. Things appear respectable, with the top-end cards holding their own against the entry-level Ampere GPUs as speculated from what’s available in discourse.
As for the hardware itself, below, we’ve listed the specs for the Arc series at the moment. We’ll be updating you when we learn more about the mid-ranger A-series Arc 5 GPU, too. If you’re in for value over raw technical performance, then what these video cards have to offer could be good to bridge the gap between major party releases.
| Intel Arc A770 | Intel Arc A750 | Intel Arc A580 | Intel Arc A380 | ||
| Xe Cores | 32 | 32 | 28 | 8 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Graphics Clock | 2100MHz | 2100MHz | 2050MHz | 2000MHz | |
| TBP | 225W | 225W | 225W | 75W | |
| Memory Size | 16GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 | 6GB GDDR6 | |
| Memory Interface | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit | 96-bit | |
| Memory Bandwidth | 560GB/s | 512GB/s | 512GB/s | 186GB/s | |
| Price | $349 | $329 | $289 | $139 |
Intel Arc Alchemist price
As touched upon above, we’re now privy to the launch prices of the higher-end Intel Arc Alchemist lineup. While you can currently get your hands on the A380 from $139. The new confirmed prices for the A750 and A770 are $329 and $349 respectively. We’re currently unsure of what availability will be like for the newly releasing cards at this time.
The pricing estimate made by several sources indicates that the A580 could release around the $289 mark. This is based on the graphics card’s main goal taking on that of the RTX 3050. The latter card launched at $250, which would hedge team blue’s mid-ranger starting at a similar rate, as Intel cards are going for value over raw horsepower.
Intel’s A-series mobile graphics specs were confirmed around the launch in this image from Intel.
Mobile products
According to leaker @_rogame, Intel’s Arc A770M “works properly in 3DMark Time Spy”, and has delivered two scores – one from an Intel NUC12SNKi72 Mini-PC system also featuring an Alder Lake CPU. The other is from a Clevo Notebook X270PTA gaming laptop.
Both scored above 10K points; quicker than NVidia’s RTX 3060M.
Is there an Intel Arc A780?
Interestingly, there have also been rumors about Intel’s plans for an “RTX 3070 killer” in the shape of an Arc A780. The belief was it would feature 512 EUs, a clock of 2.3GHz, 16GB GDDR, at 18Gbps on a 256-bit bus.
However, a tweet from Ryan Shrout of Intel’s graphics marketing team flatly denied the product:
“Despite some rumors to the contrary, there is no Intel Arc A780 and there was never planned to be an A780. Let’s just settle that debate.”
Tom, of ‘Moore’s Law Is Dead’ YouTube channel, responded to this comment calling out Intel for not delivering real-world performance on a product that was reportedly in the works:
“Just admit you guys failed to make your GA104-sized die compete with the 3070 Ti or 3070 outside of 3DMark.”
What’s after Intel’s Arc A-series ‘Alchemist’ cards?
Intel has pegged itself to an alphabetically sequential future for its graphics products. So A-series is ‘Alchemist’. Next will come:
- B – codenamed ‘Battlemage’.
- C – codenamed ‘Celestial’
- D – codenamed ‘Druid’.
- E – codename TBD
Is Intel Arc better than Nvidia RTX?
From what we’ve seen from Intel Arc at the moment, it’s looking as though the A-series is focusing on entry-level performance. If the company’s internal benchmarks are any indication, then the top-performing A750 and A770 will match or exceed the RTX 3060. For the budget-focused gamer, the Arc line could be better than the cheapest-end of RTX cards.
Is Intel Arc canceled?
Rumors of Intel Arc desktop GPUs being canceled have circulated as recently as August. This speculation arose due to several partners ceasing production on variants of team blue’s GPUs as reported by Igor’s Lab. Intel Arc was delayed due to issues with driver support as well. However, at the time of writing, Intel Arc is not canceled, as at least two more graphics card models are due to hit the market.
