Intel’s first desktop gaming GPU, the Arc A380, is already launching in China. But the product offers some underwhelming performance, according to an early review.
The conclusion comes from a Chinese tech reviewer called “Shenmedounengce,” which means anything can be tested. On Wednesday, he posted a video benchmarking the Arc A380, an entry-level graphics card that’ll cost starting at 1000 yuan ($149).
The gaming results show Intel’s GPU lags behind AMD’s similarly-priced Radeon RX 6400 and even Nvidia’s GTX 1650, a $200 product the company launched three years ago.
For example, on the title PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the Arc A380 produced an average frames-per-second at 99.4. Meanwhile, the Radeon RX 6400 posted an FPS at 111 while the GTX 1650 was able to achieve an FPS at 125.
The performance gap was also wide for Grand Theft Auto 5. The Arc A380 could only achieve an FPS at 81 while both the RX 6400 and GTX 1650 produced frame rates at over 100.
However, Shenmedounengce attributes the disappointing performance not to any inferior hardware, but to a lack of software and driver optimizations on Intel’s part. The reason is the Arc A380 can actually rival or easily beat the other graphics cards when it comes to running 3DMark’s benchmarking programs.
So it’s possible the gaming performance could significantly improve once Intel rolls out more updates to the Arc GPUs. Still, the review isn't’ a great sign for the company’s first entry into the gaming desktop GPU market.
Not helping the matter is how the GPU shortage seems to be over, giving consumers less of a reason to try an Intel graphics card. That said, Intel plans on launching a whole range of more powerful Arc desktop GPUs later this year. So stay tuned for our reviews.
UPDATE 6/24: A couple more reviews from China show the Arc A380 graphics card performing a little more favorably against AMD's Radeon RX 6400 when it comes to gaming frame rates. But in many cases, the GPU still seems to fall behind Nvidia's GTX 1650.
Intel has also provided its own benchmarks through a reviewer's guide for the Arc A380 graphics card.
