Intel Arc A750 and A770 Review Roundup: Brave Debut with Ups and Downs
The first reviews of Intel's new Arc A750 and A770 graphics cards are here. They all sound similar: Intel's attempt to compete with Nvidia and AMD is commendable. For certain applications, the price-performance ratio is good - but the GPUs seem not yet mature and too inconsistent for the masses.
Intel has taken what feels like an eternity to release its Alchemist Arc A750 and A770 graphics cards. The time has come on 12 October and the first reviews have been online since yesterday. Since we have not yet been able to test the new competition to AMD and Nvidia ourselves, I summarise in this article the findings of some other sites so far.
We don't have any information about availability at the moment - as soon as that changes, I'll add it here.
PC Games Hardware: "Solid, but not disruptive"
The colleagues from "PC Games Hardware" praise Intel for the considerable financial and personnel effort the company has put into the development of the Arc 7 Series. As pleasing as this is, from the consumer's point of view there are still construction sites. Especially in older systems without functions like Resizable BAR, Intel's new GPUs are not recommendable. In combination with current processors, however, the frame rates in newer games are good, and Arc delivers solid performance at a good price.
Whoever goes off the beaten track of such titles must have fun tinkering. According to PC Games Hardware, each customer must decide for themselves whether this "beta tester factor" nullifies the good price-performance ratio. In any case, it is recommended to either buy the Founders Edition of the A770 with 16 GB VRAM, or wait for a 16 GB variant of the A750 from board partners.
To the article from "PC Games Hardware" .
Linus Tech Tips: "Please buy one!"
The benchmark results from "Linus Tech Tips" are mixed: Intel's GPUs hold their own well against Nvidia's more expensive RTX 3060 in Vulkan and DirectX 12 games, even when paired with AMD processors. In DirectX 11 or 9, however, the performance collapses. In "Counter Strike: Global Offensive", the A750 and A770 are even beaten by the nine-year-old Nvidia GTX 780. This is apparently because Intel translates the game from DirectX 9 to DirectX 12 by means of a translation layer. In many games, the Arc cards are therefore outperformed not only by Nvidia's RTX 3060, but also by cheaper cards from AMD.
Linus' conclusion: Intel's new graphics cards have a very good or very poor price-performance ratio, depending on the application, and should be even cheaper when measured against the fluctuating performance. Nevertheless, Linus appeals to his audience to consider the Arc A750 and A770. The reasoning: Those who are interested in technology can navigate the teething troubles and help ensure that Nvidia and AMD finally have competition - and may have to lower their high prices again in the future.
The Verge: "Impressive, but in early stages"
The Verge's Tom Warren also sees Intel's GPU debut as an impressive achievement - at least for certain games: many recent games such as Microsoft Flight Simulator, Assassin's Creed: Valhalla or Cyberpunk 2077 (without ray tracing) run smoothly at 1080p. Intel's XeSS upscaling, which works similarly to Nvidia's DLSS, does work, according to Warren, but so far in too few games.
Generally, the Arc graphics cards still have many driver problems that Intel needs to fix, he said. This puts the GPUs at a clear disadvantage compared to the long-established manufacturers Nvidia and AMD at the moment. Nevertheless, the A750 and A770 are a promising market entry with great potential. Finally, "The Verge" recommends reading through as many different reviews as possible to find out what Intel's graphics cards are capable of for your own games.
Gamers Nexus: "A mess"
The driver problems are also addressed by Steve Burke of "Gamers Nexus". He sees it as a chicken-and-egg problem, because in order to fix the problems Intel needs enough users in the first place. The question is whether consumers really want to be beta testers. In certain cases, the screens even remained completely black due to missing drivers, according to Burke.
Those who opt for the Arc 770 get a GPU that delivers shockingly good performance for the price in specific games like "Strange Brigade", which runs on Vulkan, at 1080p - over 30% better than the more expensive Nvidia RTX 3060. In other examples, such as "Rainbow Six Siege", which runs under DirectX 11, the competition from AMD and Nvidia, on the other hand, wipes the floor with the Arc A770. All in all, the latter is simply not a finished product. Only those who are aware of this should consider a purchase. For average consumers, however, "Gamers Nexus" does not recommend Intel's graphics card.
More reviews
ComputerBase: "Intel is not there yet"
PC World: "A rollercoaster start to a new GPU era"
TechPowerUp: "Good value for money"
Tom's Hardware: "Intel brings back midrange graphics cards"
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