Intel has presented its first Arc graphics card for desktop computers. This is the Intel Arc A380, a modest proposal that joins a growing family. Although it has not been designed for gaming, it promises to do a good job with popular titles, preferably with quality settings at a medium level, so it is not a recommended option for the most demanding users.
What is certain is that the semiconductor giant, which plans to compete with Nvidia and AMD, is delivering as promised. When the launch of Intel Arc was announced, they said that the first dedicated graphics cards would arrive in 2022. So it took the first step in March this year with its first dedicated graphics solution for notebooks, and now it’s the turn of desktops.
Intel Arc A380, “faster than the Radeon RX 6400”
According to VideoCardz, the Intel Arc A380 features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory, has a 96-bit bus, and connects to the computer via PCI Express 4.0. This model, which as mentioned above is of the most modest kind, has 8 Xe cores, 8 ray tracing units, and 4 MB of L2 cache. The clock frequency is 2,000 MHz and it has a base TDP of 75 W.
This new graphics card features DirectX 12 Ultimate support and hardware ray tracing. As we can see in the image above, Intel promises that we will be able to play at 1080p and 60 FPS a good number of titles, including ‘PUBG’, ‘Fortnite’, ‘League of Legends’ and ‘Dota 2’. In addition, the company claims that it will perform 25% better than the Radeon RX 6400, but we should keep in mind that that is one of AMD’s more modest gaming alternatives.
On the other hand, this Intel proposal, like the others in its family, benefits from Xe Matrix Extensions (XMX) technology. The essence of this is to enhance the tasks of editing and video transmission, so it can be a feature that streamers and content creators can take advantage of. It also features Deep Link technology, which improves the work between the processor and the graphics card.
Pricing and availability
The new Intel Arc A380 will be available starting this month in China and later in other parts of the world. It will be available first to assemblers and then to computer manufacturers. The only price known so far is the recommended price for the Asian country, which is 1030 yuan.
According to Tom’s Hardware, Gunnir is the first brand to sell it. Its proposal has a black, gray, and blue casing. In terms of connections, it has three DisplayPort ports and an HDMI 2.0 port. For now, we have to wait for the arrival of this graphics card to the European market, through different manufacturers. But that’s not all, throughout the year we should also have news of the top series, the Arc 5 and Arc 7.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.