Info Intel ARC Alchemist owners thread. Now 75 games tested, retested, and counting. Includes productivity experiences. Feel free to add your results.

[cebri1]

Intel® Arc™ & Iris® Xe Graphics - Windows*

This download installs Intel® Graphics Driver 31.0.101.5074 for Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics and Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics.

www.intel.com

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Intel fine wine

The way the software stack is maturing, things are looking really promising.

 

[cebri1]

Intel fine wine

The way the software stack is maturing, things are looking really promising.

If I'm not mistaken, Intel claimed their 2x perf/watt upgrade from Xe-LP to Xe-LPG (great naming Intel) before all the driver improvements. I wonder if they'll reach something closer to 2.5x overall. Those MTL chips could power great handheld devices.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Those MTL chips could power great handheld devices.

We might see those soon from Lenovo and ASUS if that's the case.

 

[TESKATLIPOKA]

We might see those soon from Lenovo and ASUS if that's the case.

Will we?
They just released handhelds based on Phoenix. I don't think this handheld market is that big for them to release Intel edition right away. Maybe If It performed better than Phoenix, but we don't know that yet.
I wouldn't be surprised, If they waited for Strix Point for the next gen instead.

BTW, I think more than 8C in a handheld is totally useless with that limited TDP, so both Strix Point or MTL are not very good options. Maybe, If 2P+8E+2LE also had the GT2 IGP, but It's limited to GT1.
That Lunar lake with 4P+4E could be an interesting option, If It had 192-256EU IGP, but based on leaks It's limited to 8 Xe(128EU).

 

[Hans Gruber]

Intel fine wine

The way the software stack is maturing, things are looking really promising.

Here is one major concern I have about ARC. The lack of OCing that actually shows up in benchmarks. I know the ARC panel has OCing features but most do not work. I know people think they are Ocing their GPU but benchmarks show nothing is happening. With new drivers that can/will change. The ability to undervolt/overvolt, increase the GPU clock speed. Most importantly, the ability to OC the GDDR6 memory. If Intel enables support for MSI afterburner or has the equivalent on their ARC panel. That could mean a10-20% performance increase.

I have looked at GPU's in the A750 category. The 6650xt, 6600xt and various Super Nvidia models. The fast GDDR6 memory makes a bigger difference than OCing the GPU core in most cases. That is factory fast OC'd GDDR6.

For me to jump back on board with ARC. I need to see $150-160 for an A750. At that price point, I would not complain about anything and be patient with driver improvement moving forward. I know the Intel ARC A750 LE is $180 right now.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Will we?
They just released handhelds based on Phoenix. I don't think this handheld market is that big for them to release Intel edition right away. Maybe If It performed better than Phoenix, but we don't know that yet.
I wouldn't be surprised, If they waited for Strix Point for the next gen instead.

BTW, I think more than 8C in a handheld is totally useless with that limited TDP, so both Strix Point or MTL are not very good options. Maybe, If 2P+8E+2LE also had the GT2 IGP, but It's limited to GT1.
That Lunar lake with 4P+4E could be an interesting option, If It had 192-256EU IGP, but based on leaks It's limited to 8 Xe(128EU).

There appears to be some prototypes being made.

https://hothardware.com/news/emdoor-meteor-lake-handheld

Intel does major biz with Asus and Lenovo so it would not surprise me in the least if they have prototypes too.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

@Hans Gruber

Have seen the A750 used for $150 but not NIB yet.

I don't care about overclocking. Besides, they have a lot more wood to chop, overclocking should be, and likely is, far down in the pile.

 

[Hans Gruber]

@Hans Gruber

Have seen the A750 used for $150 but not NIB yet.

I don't care about overclocking. Besides, they have a lot more wood to chop, overclocking should be, and likely is, far down in the pile.

I will not be long before I jump back onboard. I want the Intel LE card this time around. Just waiting for the flash sale.

 

[igor_kavinski]

https://hothardware.com/news/emdoor-meteor-lake-handheld

It may stay a prototype if it can't deliver at least 4 hours of battery life.

 

[H433x0n]

Here is one major concern I have about ARC. The lack of OCing that actually shows up in benchmarks. I know the ARC panel has OCing features but most do not work. I know people think they are Ocing their GPU but benchmarks show nothing is happening. With new drivers that can/will change. The ability to undervolt/overvolt, increase the GPU clock speed. Most importantly, the ability to OC the GDDR6 memory. If Intel enables support for MSI afterburner or has the equivalent on their ARC panel. That could mean a10-20% performance increase.

I have looked at GPU's in the A750 category. The 6650xt, 6600xt and various Super Nvidia models. The fast GDDR6 memory makes a bigger difference than OCing the GPU core in most cases. That is factory fast OC'd GDDR6.

For me to jump back on board with ARC. I need to see $150-160 for an A750. At that price point, I would not complain about anything and be patient with driver improvement moving forward. I know the Intel ARC A750 LE is $180 right now.

I’m fairly certain that OCing does change core clocks it just doesn’t improve performance much (if at all). It will improve performance in synthetic benchmarks but that’s about it.

I interpret this as an underlying bottleneck either in drivers or hardware. It makes sense too since as it stands it already has an abundance of compute (relative to 6600XT & 3060) that it can’t use effectively.. by adding even more compute (by increasing clocks) you’re not really moving the needle much.

 

[igor_kavinski]

https://www.reddit.com/r/overclocking/comments/13lz8oe

Top 100 Port Royal scores for A770: https://www.3dmark.com/search?_ga=2...ck=&maxGpuMemClock=&minCpuClock=&maxCpuClock=

Air cooled (?) score: https://www.3dmark.com/pr/2057469

LN2 cooled score: https://www.3dmark.com/pr/2458906

It's mentioned in the Reddit post that the temperature gets buggy once the temp gets too low so the 2nd score is definitely using LN2.

I think the silicon needs a re-spin and Intel was too cheap to do it and just went ahead with developing Battlemage, similar to what AMD did with RDNA3.

 

[Hans Gruber]

I’m fairly certain that OCing does change core clocks it just doesn’t improve performance much (if at all). It will improve performance in synthetic benchmarks but that’s about it.

I interpret this as an underlying bottleneck either in drivers or hardware. It makes sense too since as it stands it already has an abundance of compute (relative to 6600XT & 3060) that it can’t use effectively.. by adding even more compute (by increasing clocks) you’re not really moving the needle much.

Intel Arc Panel is the all inclusive panel for all things ARC. They have a lot of tabs/features that are not yet functional but they are in the panel. The OCing feature in the Arc Panel is only for the GPU clocks. There is no option for memory Ocing.

If you look at the 6600xt vs 6650xt. The difference seems to be largely in the GDDR6 memory speeds (6650xt has faster GDDR6 memory speeds) out of the box. Another good example would be the 1660 Super. The 1660S has the same GDDR6 as the 30 series 3070 and maybe 3080 memory. Ocing the core clock on a 1660S does nothing but OCing the GDDR6 is magic. I am talking 10-20% improvements on performance simply by OCing the memory in MSI afterburner.

By opening up ARC Ocing in MSI Afterburner, that would probably add 15-20% performance increases by simply bumping the GPU clock a bit and the GDDR6 memory. As it stands now ARC is not supported in MSI Afterburner. They have (whatever that means) experimental testing for ARC cards.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Arc OC Tool - SkatterBencher

Arc OC Tool is an overclocking software created by Shamino and enables overclocking of 1st generation Intel Arc graphics cards.

skatterbencher.com

https://intel.github.io/drivers.gpu.control-library/Control/api.html#ctloverclockvramfrequencyoffsetset

There is a function in the Intel gpu control library to change the VRAM frequency. However, I think the memory controller on ARC cards simply ignores calls to this function.

 

[Hans Gruber]

Arc OC Tool - SkatterBencher

Arc OC Tool is an overclocking software created by Shamino and enables overclocking of 1st generation Intel Arc graphics cards.

skatterbencher.com

https://intel.github.io/drivers.gpu.control-library/Control/api.html#ctloverclockvramfrequencyoffsetset

There is a function in the Intel gpu control library to change the VRAM frequency. However, I think the memory controller on ARC cards simply ignores calls to this function.

The best way to sum up the Arc Panel. It's like the new guy at work. The Arc Control panel is loaded with options, features and data. It's always busy and never sitting by idle doing nothing. At the end of the day, it accomplishes absolutely nothing.

I hate to sound like Captain Obvious here. Either duplicate MSI Afterburner (in Arc Panel) or provide support so that Arc users can use Afterburner with Arc cards.

I know 1st generation cards are difficult to work out the drivers and bugs. There is still a lot of work still to be done.

 

[Aapje]

I think the silicon needs a re-spin and Intel was too cheap to do it and just went ahead with developing Battlemage, similar to what AMD did with RDNA3.

It seems way more likely that they thought that they could fix it in their drivers and had already paid for the scarce production capacity that they couldn't just reschedule due to the mining boom.

So they produced a lot of chips before they figured out that the silicon has severe issues.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I think the memory overclocking point is silly. The A750 has over twice the memory bandwidth of the 6600. That's more than enough for it's performance tier.

When my A750 is on the struggle bus it's always drivers. Overclocking the memory will not fix that. We are constantly seeing games get double and even triple digit performance increases as the ARC team focuses on those titles. That's where the meat and potatoes is, driver improvements. Complaining about anything hardware related is wasted energy; that horse already got out of the barn.

ETA likes the A580 at $160, but I'd like to see it dropped to sub $150 to clearly separate the performance tier from its big bro and the 6600 series.

 

[gdansk]

For the record that ETA Prime channel is pretty much useless. He's positive on everything. For example he said that the 2CU 7520U is a competent gaming device which is laughable.

 

[MrTeal]

I think the memory overclocking point is silly. The A750 has over twice the memory bandwidth of the 6600. That's more than enough for it's performance tier.

When my A750 is on the struggle bus it's always drivers. Overclocking the memory will not fix that. We are constantly seeing games get double and even triple digit performance increases as the ARC team focuses on those titles. That's where the meat and potatoes is, driver improvements. Complaining about anything hardware related is wasted energy; that horse already got out of the barn.

ETA likes the A580 at $160, but I'd like to see it dropped to sub $150 to clearly separate the performance tier from its big bro and the 6600 series.

Yeah, the cheapest A580 I can find on pcpartpicker is $170, and the Intel A750 is $180 on Amazon. Even at $160 for the A580, you're probably better off spending the extra $20 for the bigger card to get the extra 17% shaders. Sub $150 would be a lot more appealing.

Wonder how well ArcAlchemist will age as Battlemage comes out. A750 is already as cheap as the proposed 6GB 3050 and is quite a bit faster than regular 8GB 3050. If it keeps getting driver updates going ahead so games aren't unplayable messes that'll end up being a great value card. Hopefully driver fixes that are made for BM also help Arc.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

He's positive on everything.

Everyone knows this.

I think it's a nice change from most tech tubers trashing everything for clicks because the drama sells.

He does cover pain points on products, it is just that he is such an upbeat glass is half full kind of guy that it doesn't come through properly. And he isn't wrong, the 7520U is a competent gaming device as long as you stick to really old emulators and games.

 

[Hulk]

I hope Intel continues with their GPU plans. While there are still driver issues I have to give them credit for landing cards in the lower middle of the current GPU stack in terms of performance. The 770 seems to be MIA in the market these days but the 750 at $180 seems like quite a deal. I don't game but my productivity in applications that can utilize it, like Topaz Video AI, Topaz Photo AI, DXO PureRaw, Handbrake, and Ultimate Vocal Remover has gone through the roof. I used to dread having to use those apps but now it's a pleasure to see the 750 chew through them!

One would hope that with the current ARC cards as the template they can fine tune the hardware and software for the next round of cards. I think landing cards in the middle to upper-middle of the performance stack of GPU's would be quite a success for the next gen ... if the prices are right.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Intel stopped making the A770 LE. But there was at least one 16GB model for $250 during the black Friday weekend. It included the game bundle, so a solid deal.

But the A750 is definitely the sweet spot for bang for buck gaming when it's under $200.

 

[MrTeal]

I hope Intel continues with their GPU plans. While there are still driver issues I have to give them credit for landing cards in the lower middle of the current GPU stack in terms of performance. The 770 seems to be MIA in the market these days but the 750 at $180 seems like quite a deal. I don't game but my productivity in applications that can utilize it, like Topaz Video AI, Topaz Photo AI, DXO PureRaw, Handbrake, and Ultimate Vocal Remover has gone through the roof. I used to dread having to use those apps but now it's a pleasure to see the 750 chew through them!

One would hope that with the current ARC cards as the template they can fine tune the hardware and software for the next round of cards. I think landing cards in the middle to upper-middle of the performance stack of GPU's would be quite a success for the next gen ... if the prices are right.

To be fair, I don't think they intended to land their 406mm² N6 die to land in the lower middle of the current GPU stack. Navi 33 being faster than it and half the size on the same node is a pretty big L. If they can take a big step forward with BM that would be a big boost to the market though.

 

[Hulk]

To be fair, I don't think they intended to land their 406mm² N6 die to land in the lower middle of the current GPU stack. Navi 33 being faster than it and half the size on the same node is a pretty big L. If they can take a big step forward with BM that would be a big boost to the market though.

Hey, I'm just impressed that I correctly placed the 770/750 performance in the "lower middle" portion of the GPU performance spectrum! I was thinking I'd get a lot of push back on that.

Yes, it would have been nice if they landed more in the middle to upper middle of the stack, 6750-ish performance would have been nice. But if there are glaring hardware and software issues they have recognized in this round they will surely use that info to streamline the process moving forward.

We have no idea how this process went? What I mean is we know the driver development was much harder than they thought as Raja pointed out in that interview a while back. Moving from a relatively low compute iGPU driver-wise to a "real" discrete GPU is not simply a factor of scaling.

But was it like "Holy cr@p! This is never gonna work!" Or was it more like "Well, this isn't what we were expecting but it's not bad." I have a feeling it was more like the former and the programmers were pushed to the max (and still are) to make it work. Either way they learned a lot I would bet. I just hope they didn't learn that they need to retreat from the discrete GPU market!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Updated with The Division tested on the ASRock Challenger A380.