Intel Arc A770 price is a smart move to ensure the GPU isn't dead on arrival

Date:
Wed, 28 Sep 2022 10:08:14 +0000

Description:
Weve also got a release date and some proper performance expectations for
this reasonably-priced graphics card

FULL STORY ======================================================================

Sweet lord, its finally happening. Thats right, we have a confirmed release date for the Intel Arc A770, Team Blues current flagship graphics card in the much-beleaguered Arc GPU range .

Despite literal years of delays, unclear messaging, and analysts advising Intel to ditch the whole affair , CEO Pat Gelsinger stood up in front of the assembled masses at the latest Intel Innovation event and stated with something approaching joy that the discrete Arc cards are finally ready for a proper global launch, with the A770 card releasing on October 12. And in an even more shocking turn of events, it actually looks good?

Perhaps I shouldnt be all that surprised. Intel has, despite numerous setbacks, stuck to the message that it wont be abandoning Arc and has big plans to forge ahead in the GPU market, going toe to toe with big dog Nvidia and its competitor in the CPU space, AMD. Ive been critical of Intels faltering GPU efforts in the past, but only because it made me feel like a disappointed parent; I desperately wanted Arc to be good. (Image credit: Intel)

The Intel Arc A770 will be the most powerful card in the initial wave of Arc GPUs, some of which have already been sighted in laptops in Asia. Well also
be getting a new Intel NUC PC equipped with the A770M mobile GPU. Theres no news yet on the lower-spec A750 or any of the even cheap A300 or A500 cards, but we do have a very sensible price tag for the Arc A770: just $329.

Considering that the A770 is expected to (just about) outperform Nvidias $399 RTX 3060 Ti , its a seriously good price point that will no doubt appeal to gamers on a budget. It also has double the VRAM of that card, with 16GB of GDDR6. Intel has tempered expectations by saying that performance is only for DirectX 12 games, and older titles might struggle a bit initially while Intel gets its Arc driver optimization in gear. Moores Law: dead or alive?

It seems Gelsinger couldnt resist a little dig at Nvidia during his keynote presentation. When Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang recently declared that Moores Law is dead (no, not the YouTube channel), he effectively stated that GPU advancement is approaching a point of stagnation and that we can expect GPU prices to remain high for the foreseeable future.

Pat doesnt agree. We will continue to be the stewards of Moores Law, he claimed, doubling down by saying that gamers should be frustrated with complaints of high prices. It was an obvious reference to Nvidia, whose new uber-powerful RTX 4090 is going to have a fairly ridiculous price tag .

Since the Arc cards will ship with ray-tracing capabilities, AV1 encode, and Intels own counter to Nvidias DLSS upscaling tech (called XeSS), the $329
MSRP looks set to make the A770 the de facto superior option when compared to the RTX 3060 Ti - assuming that Intel can deliver on its current promises. (Image credit: Tomshardware.com)

Its still not easy to find an RTX 3060 Ti at MSRP, too, with many models currently selling for above $449 even as prices continue to fall . AMD doesnt currently have a viable counter to Intels new wallet-friendly GPU either,
with the $379 Radeon RX 6600 XT just not measuring up in direct comparisons. Intel has a serious chance here to slide into the budget gaming space and secure a corner of the discrete GPU market.

Of course, this is a first-generation release for Intel; we already know that both Nvidia and AMD are gearing up to release their next generations of GPUs, with Intel cheekily setting the A770s release date to match the RTX 4090. If we see an affordable RTX 4060 in the near future, Intel may not get to enjoy its budget dominance for long. Still, its fantastic to see Arc finally reach its release, and Im hopeful that the A770 will impress when we get our hands on one.



======================================================================
Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/intel-arc-a770-price-is-a-smart-move-to-ensure- the-gpu-isnt-dead-on-arrival/


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64)
* Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)