Intel hasn’t stated a lot about its upcoming Arc devoted GPUs since saying their branding and a handful of architectural details a number of months in the past, however current leaks have given us some indications of what we are able to count on with regards to efficiency and to the GPUs that Intel is planning for laptops later this yr.
Of the leaks, the one concerning the laptop computer Arc fashions is extra concrete. A slide initially leaked on Twitter outlines a complete of 5 totally different GPU fashions for laptops, starting from a few slow-but-better-than-integrated choices on the backside all the way in which to a possible high-end GeForce or Radeon competitor.
One of the best of the GPUs consists of 512 of Intel’s GPU execution items (EUs) hooked up to 16 GB of 16 Gbps video reminiscence utilizing a 256-bit interface; that broad a reminiscence interface and that a lot reminiscence suggests a high-end GPU that’s attempting to compete with GeForce 3070- and 3080-series and Radeon 6800- and 6900-series merchandise. The center two GPU choices—one 384 EU mannequin with 12 GB of RAM linked to a 192-bit interface and one 256 EU mannequin with 8 GB of RAM and a 128-bit interface—are harking back to the specs for Nvidia’s mainstream RTX 3060 and 3050 laptop computer GPUs. The 2 low-end fashions, which hook up with 4 GB of RAM with a 64-bit reminiscence interface, appear poised to compete with GPUs like Nvidia’s GeForce MX sequence or the beefed-up RDNA2 built-in GPUs in AMD’s upcoming Ryzen 6000 laptop processors.
The slides’ use of “really helpful” implies that laptop computer makers may have some room to tweak these choices, most probably by utilizing kind of (or sooner or slower) RAM. This may be par for the course for the sometimes-confusing cell GPU market, the place the “identical” mannequin GPU can carry out otherwise in numerous laptops relying on the precise {hardware} configurations, cooling techniques, and energy consumption settings that laptop computer makers select. It is also tough to attract conclusions on these GPUs’ efficiency utilizing simply these on-paper numbers.
That leads us to the opposite current Arc story: some SiSoftware benchmarks purporting to point out an Arc desktop GPU’s efficiency surfaced last week, pointing to a 512 EU mannequin that was roughly aggressive with an Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti (albeit with extra impressive-looking numbers for GPU computing duties than for gaming). Assuming Intel will get near RTX 3070-tier efficiency with that desktop half, it is not unreasonable to imagine 3060-ish and 3050-ish efficiency targets for the extra modest 384 and 256 EU merchandise. That stated, these numbers are (at finest) an unverified efficiency preview utilizing non-final {hardware} and drivers in a single benchmark, so we should not draw too many conclusions from these numbers in isolation.
Intel’s Arc GPUs have been initially supposed to start showing in the first quarter of 2022, although references to “Q1” have since been faraway from Intel’s web site. Some laptop computer bulletins from CES earlier in January talked about Arc GPUs, however with no specs or efficiency numbers included, and Intel hasn’t been forthcoming with specifics. The GPU scarcity continues to be unhealthy sufficient that even decidedly mediocre products are being purchased as quick because the GPU firms could make them, so chances are high that Intel’s GPUs will promote nicely even when they’re objectively not all that spectacular. They simply need to be launched first.
