Tuesday, February 22nd 2022

Intel Arc Alchemist Graphics Card Lineup Detailed

SiSoftware put out the mother lode of information on Intel's upcoming Arc "Alchemist" gaming graphics card series, along with OpenCL compute performance of the entry-level Arc A380. The Arc series model numbering is "A" (Alchemist) followed by a number series. The A300 series makes up the entry-mainstream; the A500 series makes up the mid-performance segment; and the A700 series leads the pack with high-end SKUs. The "Alchemist" GPUs are built on the 7 nm silicon fabrication node at TSMC, the N7.

The A300 series is based on the smaller "Alchemist" series dies, with 128 EUs (execution units), which work out to 1,024 programmable shaders. The A500 series and A700 series appear to be carved out from the larger silicon. The A500 series has roughly 384 EU or 3,072 shaders. The top-dog A700 series has all 512 EU or 4,096 shaders enabled. Intel is tapping into industry-standard GDDR6 for dedicated graphics memory. The A300-series SKUs typically have 6 GB of 14 Gbps-rated memory across a 96-bit wide memory bus, for 192 GB/s of bandwidth. The A500 series parts have 12 GB of 16 Gbps-rated memory across a 192-bit bus, for 384 GB/s of bandwidth. The top A700 series maxes out the 256-bit memory bus with 16 GB of memory at 16 Gbps data-rate, for 512 GB/s bandwidth.
Several other interesting features were revealed. Firstly, "Alchemist" supports real-time ray tracing, and meets the full DirectX 12 Ultimate specification. At this point it's not known just how much fixed-function hardware is used to achieve this. The GPU has XMX (hardware for matrix-multiplication). A note on the SIMD components: Xe HPG, or "Alchemist," lacks double-precision floating-point (FP64) acceleration. It only supports FP16 and FP32 (which is all you need for gaming and consumer apps).

SiSoftware tested an entry-level Arc A380 graphics card (1,024 shaders) through its SANDRA GPGPU benchmark that uses native OpenCL code. Here, the A380 was found to be offering performance comparable to a GeForce GTX 1660 Ti "Turing," and hot on the heels of the RTX 3050 "Ampere" and RX 6500 XT RDNA2, in the Mandelbrot half-precision and floating-point tests.

Intel is looking to debut the Arc Alchemist series within the first half of 2022.
Source: SiSoft
Add your own comment

37 Comments on Intel Arc Alchemist Graphics Card Lineup Detailed

#1
Crackong
Vapourware is still vapourware
Posted on Reply
#2
Dristun
CrackongVapourware is still vapourware
Team red still mad ;)
Posted on Reply
#3
Turmania
DristunTeam red still mad ;)
They were born that way. Not their fault.
Posted on Reply
#4
Sybaris_Caesar
Cautiously optimistic. Not having random X in the name is a breath of fresh air.
Posted on Reply
#5
TheoneandonlyMrK
DristunTeam red still mad ;)
TurmaniaThey were born that way. Not their fault.
Who do you suppose I as a reader think is biased now.

Crack on G who just said vapour ware is vapourware, correctly.

Or you two making the us v them point so un-eloquently.

Bring it Intel , show the world, asap.
Posted on Reply
#6
NC37
As great as having a 3rd player is, these are only as good as their drivers and Intel has a lot to prove on that area.
Posted on Reply
#7
InVasMani
Equivalent exchange is coming...
Posted on Reply
#8
Verpal
I expect these to have at best beta driver, at worst consumer are paid alpha tester.

Which.... is actually fine, as long as priced appropriately.

Crap driver at launch might even translate to Intel ''FineWine'' technology, might not be a bad idea to keep it in system for longer time, as long as those intial driver issue aren't completely crippling. If I were Intel, stability >>> performance for these driver, you are new player in market, better play it conservatively.
Posted on Reply
#9
trsttte
What's the news here? Wasn't this same exact info already posted numerous times before!?
Posted on Reply
#10
MadMan007
TheoneandonlyMrKWho do you suppose I as a reader think is biased now.

Crack on G who just said vapour ware is vapourware, correctly.

Or you two making the us v them point so un-eloquently.

Bring it Intel , show the world, asap.
The benchmarks were run on actual hardware by a 3rd party according to the article. That's not vaporware whatsoever, so in this case the knee-jerk Intel hater is the one being stupid. Why in god's name any hardware enthusiast would not be excited for more competition, especially given the state of the graphics card market, is beyond me.
Posted on Reply
#11
docnorth
Let's hope increasing leaks mean we are going to see actual GPUs soon. Right now every single unit is welcome...
Posted on Reply
#12
TheoneandonlyMrK
MadMan007The benchmarks were run on actual hardware by a 3rd party according to the article. That's not vaporware whatsoever, so in this case the knee-jerk Intel hater is the one being stupid. Why in god's name any hardware enthusiast would not be excited for more competition, especially given the state of the graphics card market, is beyond me.
No I disagree, it's vapourware to consumers until they can buy it, like rtx 3090 ti or 6900 XtX vapourware.
Those two picked to defend ,as you are though you at least made a reasonable, eloquent argument.
Benches mean little until W1zard or a tpu user posts theirs IMHO.
Posted on Reply
#13
neatfeatguy
TheoneandonlyMrKNo I disagree, it's vapourware to consumers until they can buy it, like rtx 3090 ti or 6900 XtX vapourware.
Those two picked to defend ,as you are though you at least made a reasonable, eloquent argument.
Benches mean little until W1zard or a tpu user posts theirs IMHO.
You're comparing a lineup that's coming out soon to two cards that have been spoken about, but in the end, never released? That seems like a very naïve way to think about it. I'd say that you are welcome to this comparison only if Intel backs out and doesn't release any cards, then I would agree with your assessment and say it's spot on.

I want Intel to come through and show us what they can do and I don't know why so many people are for them failing. I'm hopeful that they'll find a way to be competitive with Nvidia and AMD, even if it's a generation or two down the road that they get to that point.

I don't know why people are so fast to bash Intel on this, it's almost as if they just want Intel to instantly fail because they're scared they might make waves or they just don't like them or for whatever other reason they may have. I'm excited to see what they bring, even if I'm not looking for a new GPU myself.
Posted on Reply
#14
TheoneandonlyMrK
neatfeatguyYou're comparing a lineup that's coming out soon to two cards that have been spoken about, but in the end, never released? That seems like a very naïve way to think about it. I'd say that you are welcome to this comparison only if Intel backs out and doesn't release any cards, then I would agree with your assessment and say it's spot on.

I want Intel to come through and show us what they can do and I don't know why so many people are for them failing. I'm hopeful that they'll find a way to be competitive with Nvidia and AMD, even if it's a generation or two down the road that they get to that point.

I don't know why people are so fast to bash Intel on this, it's almost as if they just want Intel to instantly fail because they're scared they might make waves or they just don't like them or for whatever other reason they may have. I'm excited to see what they bring, even if I'm not looking for a new GPU myself.
I have been enthused by arc since forever too.
That's the point.

I gave examples of vapour and my definition, no stock on shelves.

You can argue as you wish and defend what you want but this hype train still hasn't pulled into the station.

And a list of already gleaned info doesn't change that.

Naive, whatever , explain how.

They backed out of releasing Dg1 to public ,Dg2 is nowhere to be seen in public ,naive, nahh.
Posted on Reply
#15
HD64G
All those "news" are old and confirmed rumors for months now. Intel's leaks are just a free marketing tool to keep their late to the party and still upcoming GPU series relevant. Maybe with stable and working drivers alongside sensible pricing they will help the market come down to earth sooner than the crypto market collapse already is already doing.
Posted on Reply
#16
Chrispy_
That's some deceptive logarithmic charting there from SISoft.

In the all-important floating point metric for real-time 3D graphics, the A380 is barely half the speed of a 3050 and significantly slower than a 1660Ti. This is a 1650 competitor, based on that one, almost irrelevant metric.

Do SISoft have an actual A380 or are they just making up silly charts based on Raja's optimistic twitter feed?
Posted on Reply
#17
aQi
Hope to see some pictures soon and confirmation that these are basically PCI express GEN 5 ready along with 16pin connector.

Even though Intel had resizable bar option that worked poorly with amd and nvidia, perhaps ARC gpus can do better this time
Posted on Reply
#18
MentalAcetylide
I wonder if their top model, A700 series, would even come close to an RTX 3070 in gaming performance. Sounds like bottom of the barrel, but its better than nothing. You can't even find the newer workstation/professional cards anymore.
Posted on Reply
#20
mazzilla
Intel's drivers in the past have been, how can I be diplomatic, erm, oh yeah, rubbish. If these cards do have the *alleged* equivalance of Nvidia and AMD cards then they should be good, that is with the caveat of availablity at a more normal (whatever that is) price and drivers that dont suck. I am old enough to remember their last discreet GPU attempt, that thing was crap and the drivers made it worse and yes, I know it was back in the 1890s.
Posted on Reply
#21
eidairaman1
The Exiled Airman
TheoneandonlyMrKWho do you suppose I as a reader think is biased now.

Crack on G who just said vapour ware is vapourware, correctly.

Or you two making the us v them point so un-eloquently.

Bring it Intel , show the world, asap.
I call a paper launch
Posted on Reply
#22
DeathtoGnomes
TheoneandonlyMrKI gave examples of vapour and my definition, no stock on shelves.
Dont confuse vapour ware with a paper launch as @eidairaman1 says. Vapour ware means there was an actual product on the shelves at one time, paper launch means there never was.

I just hope Madmartigan ( Raj ) learn his lesson about driver performance from his time at AMD. Doubtful.
Posted on Reply
#23
WhitetailAni
Guys you can get an A380 now!!


It just happens to be an Airbus A380...
Posted on Reply
#24
droopyRO
^^Do you have any ideea how much power that thing consumes ? or the noise it makes while in load ? 1/10 Would not buy.
Posted on Reply
#25
mechtech
TheoneandonlyMrKWho do you suppose I as a reader think is biased now.

Crack on G who just said vapour ware is vapourware, correctly.

Or you two making the us v them point so un-eloquently.

Bring it Intel , show the world, asap.
As long as it comes with a blue PCB and/or blue cooler or no dice. ;)
Posted on Reply
Add your own comment
Dec 8th, 2024 15:53 CST change timezone

New Forum Posts

Popular Reviews

Controversial News Posts