Taiwanese tech maker Advantech has converted Intel's Arc A370M mobile GPU into a desktop graphics card named the EAI-3100. The new card utilizes the same Arc A370M mobile GPU based on the Xe-LP architecture chip as found in laptops but adds more robust cooling to enable desktop-level performance. Specifically, the EAI-3100 implements a large aluminium heatsink spanning the entire PCB, paired with a 40 mm fan active cooling fan. This allows the card to operate at up to 60 Watt TGP (total graphics power), a noticeable increase over the A370M's 35-50 Watt mobile power range. Despite the improved cooling, Advantech has not factory overclocked the EAI-3100, leaving its graphics clock speed unchanged at 1,550 MHz. The card also retains the same PCIe 4.0 x8 interface as the mobile A370M. An 8-pin PCIe power connector has been added, giving headroom for user overclocking attempts.

In terms of gaming performance, the A370M and, by extension, the EAI-3100 deliver playable frame rates at 1080p resolution with medium image quality settings. The card is comparable to NVIDIA's mobile RTX 3050 GPU. As Intel continues optimizing Arc drivers, more gains are expected. The EAI-3100's dual-slot, 6.61-inch design allows compatibility with most desktop PC cases. Between its small size and the A370M's solid 1080p capabilities, this transformed card represents an interesting budget option for gamers seeking a discounted route to Arc's architecture. Despite the diminutive size, this custom cooling solution keeps the A370M at appropriate temperatures for sustained operation, possibly delivering more than the laptop form factor SKU. For video output, the card features two HDMI 2.0b and two DP 1.4a ports.

After GUNNIR showed the same product back in January, ADLINK is now offering both Intel Arc A-series GPUs in MXM form factor. The MXM (Mobile PCI Express Module) is a standardized form factor that is used mostly in laptops and some small form factor PCs. Product pages confirm that ADLINK offers both the Intel Arc A370M and the Intel Arc A350M in MXM form factor.

According to specifications The ADLINK MXM-AXe, as the product is called, is MXM 3.1 Type A based on Intel Arc GPU, packing 8 Xe-cores, 128 Execution Units, 4 GB of GDDR6 memory, and TDP of 35-50 W, which is pretty much standard for the Arc A370M GPU. The company also offers the same product with A350M GPU with TDP of 25-35 W. With decent power efficiency, full AV1 hardware encoding, and support for up to four 4K displays, such a GPU would be perfect for small form factor machines, and could be even a decent upgrade for some laptops.

Lenovo has recently announced the Xiaoxin Pro 27 All-In-One computer for the Chinese market featuring a 27-inch 2560x1440 screen paired with a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU and Arc A-series graphics. The computer is also available in a 23.8 inch configuration with both displays operating at 100 Hz and featuring low blue light technology. Lenovo has provided some gaming performance figures for the machine with League of Legends reaching 152 FPS at 2K and CSGO reaching 110 FPS while World of Tanks achieves 142 FPS at 1080p. The Xiaoxin Pro 27 also features USB Type-C connectivity, dual 5 W speakers from JBL, and a 2.5K integrated webcam.

Intel's Arc Alchemist graphics cards launched in laptop/mobile space, and everyone is wondering just how well the first generation of discrete graphics performs in actual, GPU-accelerated workloads. Tellusim Technologies, a software company located in San Diego, has managed to get ahold of a laptop featuring an Intel Arc A370M mobile graphics card and benchmark it against other competing solutions. Instead of using Vulkan API, the team decided to use D3D12 API for tests, as the Vulkan usually produces lower results on the new 12th generation graphics. With the 30.0.101.1736 driver version, this GPU was mainly tested in the standard GPU working environment like triangles and batches. Meshlet size is set to 69/169, and the job is as big as 262K Meshlets. The total amount of geometry is 20 million vertices and 40 million triangles per frame.

Using the tests such as Single DIP (drawing 81 instances with u32 indices without going to Meshlet level), Mesh Indexing (Mesh Shader emulation), MDI/ICB (Multi-Draw Indirect or Indirect Command Buffer), Mesh Shader (Mesh Shaders rendering mode) and Compute Shader (Compute Shader rasterization), the Arc GPU produced some exciting numbers, measured in millions or billions of triangles. Below, you can see the results of these tests.

A part of the process of building a graphics card is designing compatibility to execute the latest graphics APIs like DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan. Today, we have confirmation that Intel's Arc Alchemist discrete graphics cards will be compatible with Vulkan's latest iteration - version 1.3. In January, Khronos, the team behind Vulkan API, released their regular two-year update to the standard. Graphics card vendors like NVIDIA and AMD announced support immediately with their drivers. Today, the Khronos website officially lists Intel Arc Alchemist mobile graphics cards as compatible with Vulkan 1.3 with Intel Arc A770M, A730M, A550M, A370M, and A350M GPUs.

At the time of writing, there is no official announcement for the desktop cards yet. However, given that the mobile SKUs are supporting the latest standard, it is extremely likely that the desktop variants will also carry the same level of support.

Intel in March 2022 kicked off its ambitious campaign to grab a slice of the consumer graphics market, with its Arc "Alchemist" line of discrete GPUs, based on the Xe-HPG graphics architecture. The announcement mentioned an immediate availability of at least the entry-level Arc 3-series GPU models in notebooks generally available. These GPU models include the Arc A350M and Arc A370M. People on social media are beginning to ask Intel why these notebooks are nowhere in sight, and the company responded.

In response to one such query by a user, Intel Support stated that laptops with Arc will be available "by the end of the second quarter of 2022." This would put general availability in June 2022, two months from now. Interestingly, this hasn't stopped laptop manufacturers from raking in pre-orders, with the likes of the Acer Swift X and Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro up for "grabs." You can "purchase" the Swift X, but shipping dates are stated to be as late as May 23 (now pushed to June 13).

A few days ago, Intel announced its first official discrete graphics card efforts, designed for laptops. Called the Arc Alchemist lineup, Intel has designed these SKUs to provide entry-level to high-end options covering a wide range of use cases. Today, AMD has responded with a rather exciting Tweet made by the company's @Radeon Twitter account. The company compared Intel's Arc Alchemist A370M GPU with AMD's Radeon RX 6500M mobile SKUs in the post. These GPUs are made on TSMC's N6 node, feature 4 GB GDDR6 64-bit memory, 1024 FP32 cores, and have the same configurable TDP range of 35-50 Watts.

Below, you can see AMD's benchmarks of the following select games: Hitman 3, Total War Saga: Troy, F1 2021, Strange Brigade (High), and Final Fantasy XIV. The Radeon RX 6500M GPU manages to win in all of these games, thus explaining AMD's "FTW" hashtag on Twitter. Remember that these are vendor-supplied benchmarks runs, so we have to wait for some media results to surface.