Currently, if someone is in the market for a new graphics card, there are only two choices, Nvidia or AMD. Luckily,graphics card prices are continuing to fall, and there is enough choice from both companies. However, many have been waiting and waiting forIntelto finally unleash what it’s been promising for some time now. The mobile Arc products released not long ago, but the desktop variants have yet to hit the shelves. During this time, some benchmark tests have been conducted on the laptop GPUs, with interesting results.
According to 3DMark Time Spy, as noted by Tom’s Hardware, a test has been performed on a laptop that’s powered by theIntelA730 mobile GPU chip. The result seems to suggest that team blue’s hardware is on par with the mobile version of Nvidia’s RTX 3060. The report goes on to say that this signposts the notebook as being good for mid-range gaming. However, a more recent report from Videocardz suggests that the Arc GPU lands somewhere between the RTX 3050 and RTX 3060, with it being “barely faster” than the former.
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Given that theIntel Arc was originally touted as an RTX 3070 beater, even outperforming the 3070 Ti in leaked benchmark tests, this will seem like a bit of a downgrade to many. It does seem as though the A730M can run the likes ofMetro Exodus,Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, andF1 2020, with it runningMetroat 70 fps on 1080p resolution and 55 fps on 1440p. This signifies that it beats out one of Nvidia’s previous generation GPUs, but seems to fall short of the aforementioned RTX 3060. Videocardz actually refers to this as more of an entry-level product, which could be a disappointment.
On top of that,Intel seems to have delayed the Arc desktop GPU, with recent speculation saying that the hardware might only be coming out in Q4 of this year. This is quite a jump back from what was originally thought to be the launch window, and many will see this is a bad sign for team blue.
WithNvidia looking to launch the RTX 40-series soonand AMD hoping to unleash its RDNA 3 architecture this year, the race is on to dominate the market for the next graphics card generation. Unfortunately, it looks likeIntelis still stuck at the starting gate, and if these results are anything to go by, what’s being offered by the tech giant may not be what some had been hoping for.
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