Intel Arc A770/A750 GPUs complete 2 years of life

In 2017, Intel announced its return to the dedicated GPU market. However, gamers had to wait until 2020 for the launch of the Xe Max series of GPUs, the last step before the brand’s presentation Arc and a completely new series of GPUs.

On October 12, 2022, Intel launched its Arc A7 GPUs — A750 and A770 — marking the first time in more than two decades that Intel has released cards dedicated to gaming desktops. It was a long and frustrating wait. The company had promised Arc updates in the first quarter of 2022, but released the first update in the form of Arc A380 cards in June, followed months later by the A7 series.

Marketing and Launch

Before the launch of Arc, there was an intense investment in marketing. The hype was real, but there was almost no news from Intel for most of 2022, leaving enthusiasts in the dark. In winter 2022, several updates appeared, with influencer unboxings, technology talks and even an Arc-themed truck. It seemed like Intel itself wasn’t sure when the cards would be released. In September, the news that the plates would finally arrive in October was fulfilled.

The Arc A770 was launched with the ACM-G10 GPU, with 32 Xe-Cores, and in two versions: 8GB and 16GB of VRAM. The 16GB configuration was exclusive to the “Limited Edition”, which later became the standard specification for all custom A770s. The A750 was launched with 28 Xe-Cores and 8GB of VRAM, remaining unchanged. Later, Intel launched the A580 GPU with 24 Xe-Cores and 8GB of VRAM, completing the Alchemist line.

Reception by the market

The launch of Arc GPUs did not convince many partners to get involved in the project. Brands such as Chinese Gunnir, ASRock and Sparkle returned to the dedicated GPU market specifically for Intel. However, ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI have limited their releases to a few factory designs for low-cost pre-built PCs.

Arc Alchemist GPUs have been well received. The prices contributed to users trying out the graphics cards, with the A770 with 16GB VRAM being sold for R$2,699.99 at Kabum and an A750 for approximately R$1,500.00.

Currently, Intel Arc GPUs represent less than 1% of the market. Intel confirmed that the launch was delayed mainly due to driver issues. The hardware was ready, but the software was not. As of 2023, there have been many driver updates for Arc GPUs, showing significant performance increases, although this is partly due to initial low performance. Intel has made a lot of progress, releasing its Arc software and working with game developers to optimize Arc GPUs and, most importantly, support XeSS, a cross-vendor upscaling technology that competes with FSR and DLSS.