Intel ARC and the Latest Drivers: Does this bode Well for ARC's future?

[Author_25]

Is Intel Arc finally showing signs of promise with the latest drivers, with there improved DirectX 9 support, and overall performance improvements, and future updates looking to get rid of or allow the overlay to be disabled?

Intel ARC did not have a promising start but with constant driver releases with there improvements, have well, not made the ARC A770 the card to buy over similarly priced cards, 3060 Ti or the 6700XT, but for a first try, in modern Desktop GPUs, it was not a bad start from Intel.
Ray Tracing performance, though far from Nvidia beating, was better than AMD's first attempt, and performance is not terrible, when the card works as intended, and for most gamers if the card had performed well from the start would have been a contender for the cash of your average gamer.

With ARC BattleMage, coming next year and the continuous improvement in Intel ARC drivers could the this be the card that makes gamers think I would buy that, especially if the price is right, and does ARC have a future?

 

[random_matt]

Intel have lost so much money. I honestly fear they will throw in the towel. People keep saying, myself included, that Nvidia/AMD are taking the ****. However, A770 is not selling is it? It seems people would just pay up or just keep sitting it out.

 

[Author_25]

Intel have lost so much money. I honestly fear they will throw in the towel. People keep saying, myself included, that Nvidia/AMD are taking the ****. However, A770 is not selling is it? It seems people would just pay up or just keep sitting it out.

True, people are not buying but in part that was due to the poor drivers making the experience of ARC very poor, as well as the wait and see attitude many took, and were justified after the initial reviews but several months down the line the A770 has improved greatly due the updates and should get better.

If, and a big if, ARC Battlemage can stand up to a 4070 (not Ti), with some leaks indicating it can hold its own against a 4080, and at a better price then Intel may yet recover, but that also depends on the hardware and driver, and signs are that Battlemage may be the card that gives Intel its breakthrough into the discrete GPU market.

A leaked Intel Roadmap shows that Battlemage is due early to mid 2024, so Intel may not throw the towel in just yet, and may give the full ARC lineup a try before making a decision.

 

[Calin Banc]

Intel have lost so much money. I honestly fear they will throw in the towel. People keep saying, myself included, that Nvidia/AMD are taking the ****. However, A770 is not selling is it? It seems people would just pay up or just keep sitting it out.

Is not like they're pricing the thing any better than AMD or nVIDIA price their cards.

 

[random_matt]

Is not like they're pricing the thing any better than AMD or nVIDIA price their cards.

A price cut is rumoured with this apparent massive driver update. Who knows, if this comes to fruition then maybe I'll get another.

 

[Author_25]

A price cut would make the A770/A750 more appealing, combined with the driver improvements and getting rid of the overlay, but it would have to be a large cut to make people choose it over the 3060 or 6650XT/6700XT.

 

[Shroud]

Too expensive given the uncertainties. I would be more than happy to give it a shot at around £200, .......... £350 = no thanks,.

 

[Author_25]

An A770 at £250 to £280 would be competitive, with the 6650XT at £320, and a 3060 at, £320 to £350, but it all depends on the driver updates.

 

[sparkymark75]

How long before they need to offer parity with nVidia at half the price for people to look at it....but still buy nVidia anyway?

 

[Gerard]

How long before they need to offer parity with nVidia at half the price for people to look at it....but still buy nVidia anyway?

That seems to be how things go, people want competition with nvidia, so they can buy nvidia gpus at a lower price. That just seems to be the way of things.

 

[Aretak]

How long before they need to offer parity with nVidia at half the price for people to look at it....but still buy nVidia anyway?

Give it a couple of years and they'll be sitting with AMD on the naughty step for giving Nvidia absolutely no choice but to pre-scalp their cards. Most of the people cheerleading for Intel and talking up Arc simply want it to save them money on a GeForce card in the long run. Same song and dance.

I do enjoy hearing from people who actually bought one though. Hell, I'd like to own one myself just to tinker with, but not at the current pricing. Especially the current UK pricing.

 

[PIPPI]

I'm interested, but like others have said it's about £100 too expensive to take the risk and potential headache

 

[HRL]

True, people are not buying but in part that was due to the poor drivers making the experience of ARC very poor, as well as the wait and see attitude many took, and were justified after the initial reviews but several months down the line the A770 has improved greatly due the updates and should get better.

If, and a big if, ARC Battlemage can stand up to a 4070 (not Ti), with some leaks indicating it can hold its own against a 4080, and at a better price then Intel may yet recover, but that also depends on the hardware and driver, and signs are that Battlemage may be the card that gives Intel its breakthrough into the discrete GPU market.

A leaked Intel Roadmap shows that Battlemage is due early to mid 2024, so Intel may not throw the towel in just yet, and may give the full ARC lineup a try before making a decision.

Ah, just in time to compete with Nvidia’s 5000 series and AMD’s 8000 series GPU rumours a few months before their launches.

Shame they can’t release Battlemage this year instead.

 

[Hotwired]

Anything is fine if the price is right but Intel is going along with AMD who's going along with Nvidia pricing who largely has free reign to price however they want.

Unless you've got a design or manufacturing advantage that can back up lower prices for higher performance all you're doing by cutting prices is lowering profit when you could just soft price fix with the market leader.

 

[Author_25]

Ah, just in time to compete with Nvidia’s 5000 series and AMD’s 8000 series GPU rumours a few months before their launches.

Shame they can’t release Battlemage this year instead.

They are a step behind, but at present the RTX 5000 series is just a rumour and until Nvidia has cleared not just its, 3000 but 4000 stock, I doubt the 5000 series will be launched until 2025, if not later.

 

[Quartz]

and future updates looking to get rid of or allow the overlay to be disabled?

Linus Tech Tips have reported that the overlay is going to be dumped.

but like others have said it's about £100 too expensive

Yes.

 

[humbug]

A price cut would make the A770/A750 more appealing, combined with the driver improvements and getting rid of the overlay, but it would have to be a large cut to make people choose it over the 3060 or 6650XT/6700XT.

The A770 is down from £450 to £350 already but it was always a £250 card.

@random_matt is right, and Intel would have to rebate retailers to shift them out of stock so more money lost, that's assuming £250 would do that.

 

[PIPPI]

I'd bite at £250 for sure for a 16gb a770

 

[humbug]

Linus Tech Tips have reported that the overlay is going to be dumped.



Yes.

Linus while not being dishonest about its problems is trying really hard to promote them.

Which in one sense is perhaps honourable but also shows the man's mind set because while on the one hand he does that he has also spent the last decade ridiculing AMD in a far less friendly way, its why people call him out as an AMD hater, in one of his WanShow episodes he had a hissy fit at his viewers and let slip "yes because AMD are a joke and irrelevant"
So these viewers ain't wrong even if he thinks its justified, its one of the real reasons Nvidia have total mind-share. He's knows and understands this problem, which is why he's so keen on promoting Intel. But he's clutching at straws, the fact is AMD are in a far better position to combat Nvidia, but because of the likes of him they don't have any backup.
The man is an idiot.

 

[Quartz]

I think Intel have made a great start with the A7xx cards, and it bodes well for the B series. Intel just need to stay the course. Like AMD with their Ryzen CPUs.

Linus while not being dishonest about its problems is trying really hard to promote them.

Granted that LTT seem to have a policy about trying to not be nasty about anything but I did not get the impression you did. Rather, in that video it was Luke who nailed it when he said that at some point he stopped thinking about it being an Intel Arc but rather just a GPU. And as a GPU these days the A770 seems to pretty much just work.