Intel Xe DG1 - Team Blue (re)enters the GPU market

K.O.Kiki

Anandtech
PCGamesN


GN sneakily made a benchmark video - poor performance right now.

Serephucus

Have Intel ever made there intentions clear regarding their GPU division? Obviously Intel challenging NVIDIA and AMD is great, but do we know if they're DC-focused, or will they be going after the (high-end) consumer market as well?

Rob2D

I remember the leaks seemed to suggest they wouldn't be going after the high end.

wotzgoingon

I remember Nvidia mentioning the future of high performance computing is GPU's. That springs to mind when I see Intel start working on dedicated GPU's. CPU's are great at some things while GPU's are great at others.

Homelander

What am I missing with this DG1. Performance in Destiny 2 looks to be not any better than current gen AMD mobile integrated graphics. Which is fine for a new generation of Intel integrated graphics, it makes sense in the context of showing off new laptops.

But...are they really re-entering the discrete GPU market? Is this supposed to be some sort of promising demo? It does not make any sense based on the demos we have seen, drivers would need to improve about 300% for it to even be a viable $80 card by the time it is released.

In the case of mobile only it's fine, kinda similar to Vega 8 in the Ryzen mobile apus, but like....I don't get the huge deal being made about it, by the time it's released AMD will likely have much faster apu's again. But nice that Intel is catching up, maybe?

Other than Intel improving their mobile integrated graphics, I am not sure what we are supposed to take away from this about desktop space. Even if this card saw 200% performance increase with newer drivers and was $80, it would still just be a GT1030.

K.O.Kiki

I wouldn't use the above video to mean anything other than "it's working".

ED E

I think it was LTT that suggested it could potentially work as an "SLI" card with the iGPU in future. Buy a €300 desktop. Decide you want to play MOBAs, add this card for cheap and pool the iGPU and it to hit middle of the road light gaming on a budget.




In any case Intel have done well in two markets: CPUs/Chipsets and SSDs. The latter they don't really make as the NAND isnt theirs. Optane isnt popular even in the DC space (why bother when you have commodity NVME drives). Their networking forays with networking after buying TI's division are a disaster. Graphics have always been hit or miss. Their onboard networking is fine. Mobile they've nothing of note. Intel RAID is used by nobody.

My non scientific opinion is they're awful at portfolio diversification and should stick to dealing with their 10/7nm issues for now. AMD is coming for their lunch (the DC market).

K.O.Kiki

* Intel NUC 12 Enthusiast spotted with 8/12/16Gb DG2 graphics.

* DG2 @ 2.2GHz spotted on Geekbench.

* Launch date rumoured for January 2022 at CES.

L1011

Last Intel discrete card was probably the i740? Would be a very strange return

We've had a few false dawns in the integrated apparently catching up over the years - the first GMAs were meant to be a huge step up as were the 3000s and neither actually was.

Cuddlesworth

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117734242#Comment_117734242

Hop onto the steam survey and check out the first 30 cards by percentage. They are all low to mid(by old standards). 1660/1650, 1050, 750, 580/570. And right now, that sub 200 quid market is empty. While I doubt they saw it, its the perfect time to release something within that 1080p gaming bracket.

K.O.Kiki

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-officially-launches-arc-a380-desktop-graphics-card-in-china-costs-153-usd

Will be interesting to see where performance & drivers end up being.

Overheal

I hear it's ****, unfortunately

But it's Intel, so they'll still sell a million.

The technology promises (Jan 2022 Intel CES):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmm6O25BOSg

The reality:

https://youtu.be/7fPzMd39cFw?t=224

Analysis: Intel is in a strange market position where it probably knows it would be stupid to launch this card in the West which is undergoing a glut of used and new GPUs on the high end from AMD and Nvidia. Also, their performance numbers are underwhelming at first glance. May require system tuning to get the most from the card (eg. going into BIOS to enable the resizable BAR) and, some of their performance (I am guessing) probably leans on their AI deep learning approach learning more.

Lumen

Isn't this more likely a long term strategy to capture more value from consoles, rather than anything to do with PC gaming?

Like, use PC gaming as a testbed with a view to future generations of Xbox.

K.O.Kiki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119225418#Comment_119225418

I'd wager it's more like Intel seeing the money in GPU compute/servers.

The gaming GPUs are just the dregs left for the masses.

K.O.Kiki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45n5pnEyw9o

Slightly positive about the A770.

K.O.Kiki

https://twitter.com/PGelsinger/status/1571947958597459968

Team Blue about to enter the fray.

Jon Doe

Intel's problems in the graphics department have always been the drivers... especially if you were on the side of developing graphics code. Let's hope that side of Intel has improved in the meantime...

K.O.Kiki

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-announces-arc-a770-gpu-at-329-launches-october-12th

So a sub-€400 card at their highest, more interesting than expected.

TheDoc

While I need to wait for independent benchmarks(which I think are due shortly) I have to say I'm probably going to early adopt this. The smaller form factor is a huge plus, I'm sick of these huge cards and ARC looks so slick. Early indications of performance on par with a 3070(which I was looking to get anyway), a good price point and what appears to be an incredible video codec (to help streaming) I think this looks good for me.

Issues appear to be non DX12 games but most of my consistent games are Dx12 anyway so everything so far looking good.

Can't get over the size though, looks great. Hopefully a good supply hits EU

Mr Crispy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119679965#Comment_119679965

I haven't really been following this release. Will their be AIB cards or just Intel OEM?

Cuddlesworth

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119680112#Comment_119680112

AIB cards, same arrangement as AMD/Nvidia.

If you could get your hands on them, I'd imagine a lot are going into "gaming" pre-builds from Dell.

K.O.Kiki

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/09/the-rest-of-intel-arcs-a700-series-gpu-prices-a750-lands-oct-12-below-300/

So final prices of the mid-range cards:

• A770 Limited Edition: 32 Xe-cores/32 Ray-Tracing Units, 2100 MHz GPU, 16Gb GDDR6 17.5Gbps - $349
• A770: 32 Xe-cores/32 RTUs, 2100 MHz GPU, 8Gb GDDR6 17.5Gbps - $329
• A750: 28 Xe-cores/28 RTUs, 2050 MHz GPU, 8GB GDDR6 16Gbps - $289

All 3 Intel cards are 10.5" dual-slot, dual-fan, 225W TBP.

Intel say the 750 is comparable to RTX 3060.

Homelander

This is the most excited I've been about new cards in years.

K.O.Kiki

https://twitter.com/PredatorGaming/status/1575787543219650560

ACER confirmed as an AIB.

Aodhan5000

So that would put the the A750 somewhere between the Rx 6600 and Rx 6600XT. Not the easiest market to compete in at the moment. It would want to be more on the RX 6600xt side of things with reasonable drivers to be viable at that price point I would say.

We'll hope and pray. Excited nonetheless. I really do feel like there's a lot of people rooting for Intel right now so hopefully they can make some sort of a showing and tip away at lower end stuff for a few generations. Not holding my breath though

Homelander

Interesting how that Acer model has 2x8-pin when the default is 8+6.

Aodhan5000

Interesting. And was it just me that heard promising news of overclocking on Arc? :)

Cuddlesworth

Choo Choo goes the hype train. Anywho, if the A310 has quicksync with AV1 support, I can see myself picking up one for my plex server.

TheDoc

Review embargo lifted, all the main youtube folks have their benchmarks out. Have only had a chance to do a quick glance but looks promising?

Gamernexus dont seem happy so will need to watch that in full. I'm currently on a RX 5700 so this looked in theory a nice jump for not breaking the bank.

Need these work calls to finish so I can watch the videos in full

*Got to go through some of the final thoughts of a few videos, and they are calling it a Dead on arrival card. RIP. Maybe I need to turn my attention to a RX direct upgrade.

Icyseanfitz

The few reviews I looked at (Paul's hardware, jays2cents) looked very promising for a first attempt, the a770 was mostly better than a 3060 and on par with it in ray tracing, the 6600xt seems better at standard rasterisation but not at ray tracing. Xess also seemed to work quite well. Just wish they priced it even lower to make it a real bargain. Really Interested in the bigger a9xx cards and how they are priced. Great to see some competition.

Aodhan5000

I don't believe there are A9xx cards.

Could've been worse. It's in a weird niche were it's architecture seems to scale better than others going from 1080p to 1440p but it doesn't have the horsepower for a res like that I would say

Icyseanfitz

Tbh I'd nearly buy a a750 just to support intel getting into the GPU market what with nvidias outright greed and AMDs tendency to follow suit.

TheDoc

It's a pity because I was really impressed with the looks and what appeared to be a smaller form factor, I'm sick of the size of current cards just too big and clumsy

K.O.Kiki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de51aJ33dMk

They really need to throw engineers at their drivers.

TheDoc

TBH the driver stuff I wouldn't mind, other places weren't as scathing as GamerNexus saying they had a fine experience and sure if your into Overlocking things arnt great here, but I never bother.

Just disappointed with the performance. It on paper sounded like something that could have tidied me over a year or two.

Homelander

I don't really get why you'd be overly disappointed? They have delivered what they promised more or less, which is impressive for a first time outing.

The Arc 770 premium card was listed yesterday for €430 on some sites, same price as the 3060, same or better performance, more vram, and the basic Arc 770 should be cheaper again, making it a very attractive deal, and the Arc 750 should be great value too.

I get why for some people it's a step into the unknown with regards driver support and so on, but it's not as if the cards have underperformed or under-delivered really.

TheDoc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119734161#Comment_119734161

Some of the benchmarks I saw weren't overly impressive imo. I didn't see it being the same or better to the 3060, seemed to have a lot lower dips and the general consensus is to avoid?

This isn't some indie company, its a pretty massive company and I guess I just expected better, especially when their goal was to make waves in the mid-range market.

I actually would be delighted if folks start to pick them up and report back some good stuff in terms of the games I play, but I had enough of a nightmare with my AMD card buying on launch, and driver issues there lasted 6 months. God knows how long this will drag on for

Simi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119736130#Comment_119736130

Yeah the reviews were pretty generous from my perspective. The price to performance needed to be much better to tempt people. Unless they're heavily discounted post launch I just don't see why anyone who knows anything about graphics cards would buy one.

I mean It's hard enough to convince people to buy AMD cards, who's driver support has improved immensely in recent years. Maybe Battlemage will be better?

K.O.Kiki

https://game.intel.com/story/intel-arc-graphics-unleashing/

Arc A750 now down to US$250.

Icyseanfitz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120188727#Comment_120188727

Still seems to be at 300ish euro here, wonder will it drop, that with the driver improvements are making me want one tbh

K.O.Kiki

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-floods-european-market-with-arc-a750-gpus-french-retailer-has-1233-in-stock

A750 stock & price improving for Europe.

K.O.Kiki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00T15aL1pkA

PCWorld driver check-in, month 4.

A770 16Gb lags behind at 1080p but mostly beats Nvidia RTX 3060 12Gb at 1440p. AMD RX 6600 XT mostly ahead.

K.O.Kiki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFLDxMwPcrw

PCWorld driver check-in, month 6 (final)

Now we wait to see how Battlemage improves & how much it costs.

K.O.Kiki

Someone found that by plugging the cable into the motherboard and using ASPM passthrough, the idle wattage is down to 1W.

https://www.reddit.com/r/IntelArc/comments/161w1z0/managed_to_bring_idle_power_draw_down_to_1w_on/

Arc A580 released. Price should be sub-200.

Performance slightly below A750; Card is good enough for 60fps at 1080p / 1440p in most modern titles.

23% ahead of Nvidia RTX 3050 / about even with AMD RX 6600. Better than both in ray-tracing!

Icyseanfitz

has there been any news or rumors about a more mid range (4070 or above) card from them? the a770 seems like a pretty good card now

K.O.Kiki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121227076#Comment_121227076

Battlemage (B7xx / BCM-G10) is rumoured to feature 64 Xe-units (double that of A770), 225W TDP, 256-bit bus on a 4nm die.

Icyseanfitz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121228835#Comment_121228835

So possibly 2 x a770, what's an a770 roughly equivalent to these days? A 3060ti?

K.O.Kiki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121229403#Comment_121229403

2x A770 would indeed be around RTX 4070 Ti level, though also with a wider bus so potentially better at 4K.

Icyseanfitz

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121229487#Comment_121229487

God imagine if they pull that off and price it sensibly 😍

K.O.Kiki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3WSqLEciEw

GN also re-reviewing Arc.

Now to wait for Battlemage.

K.O.Kiki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y09iNxx5nFE

tl;dw:

218/250 games tested ran at 1440p without issues

233 considered playable

(on Arc A770 16GB)