Skip to main content

AMD takes a swing at Intel with claims of beating Arc GPUs

Intel hasn’t provided comparisons between its new discrete Intel Arc Alchemist GPUs and the competition, so AMD took it upon itself to fill in the missing information.

AMD compared the Intel A370M GPU to its own RX 6500M. The results were not great for Intel.

AMD comparison chart for the RX 6500M and the Intel Arc A370M.
AMD

Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards have only just been released, so there isn’t much in the way of benchmarks for users to check out before choosing to buy a laptop with those GPUs. Intel has provided some comparisons to give an idea of the performance of the A370M and A350M, but it mostly compared the GPUs to its own Iris Xe integrated graphics cards. Such a comparison is almost certain to prove favorable for Intel Arc, so it does little in terms of giving customers an idea of what exactly they can expect.

With only Intel benchmarks to go by, all we could do to gauge the performance of thev A370M was to speculate based on its specs. The company did not send out samples of the product to reviewers ahead of time either. As such, until the first actual users receive their Intel Arc products, we wouldn’t have known much … if not for AMD.

AMD decided to compare its Radeon RX 6500M laptop graphics card to Intel’s A370M, which happens to be the top chip Intel currently offers. The GPUs feature a very similar set of specs, so it’s not outlandish to compare these two models.

AMD and Intel each have 4GB of GDDR6 memory and the same power requirements, with a TDP range of 35 watts to 50 watts. The Intel Arc 370M has 8 Xe-cores, which is the equivalent of 1,024 FP32 cores, and AMD’s Navi 24 XM GPU has 16 compute units, adding up to the same. Both chips are produced on TSMC’s N6 process node. There’s a difference in transistor count, but it’s in Intel’s favor: It comes with 7.2 billion transistors versus AMD’s 5.4 billion.

On paper, these are similar units and should deliver comparable performance. According to AMD’s findings, that’s not quite what we’re getting.

Intel's graph on Arc Alchemist gaming performance.
Intel

AMD tested the cards at 1080p resolution and on medium settings with the aim to hit at least 80 frames per second (fps). The games used for this test were Hitman 3, Total War Saga: Troy, F1 2021, Strange Brigade (this one was played on high settings), and Final Fantasy XIV. As seen on the top graph, AMD wins in each one of those tests, with Intel not breaking past 71 fps at any point.

This is a tough blow for Intel. Some of the games revealed a massive gap between the two GPUs. For example, in F1 2021, AMD managed to hit 135 fps while Intel trailed far behind at just 63. Intel’s highest score of 71 comes from Final Fantasy XIV, where AMD maintained 99 frames per second.

As VideoCardz points out, Intel initially claimed to be able to deliver 90 fps in 1080p gaming. However, the games used for that graph were entirely different titles than what AMD has used for this comparison. AMD has most likely chosen titles that were optimized for its GPUs in order to test the RX 6500M and compare it to the A370M. The same can probably be said for Intel.

While this is an official benchmark, it’s difficult to fully trust tests that come from Intel’s direct competitor. An independent benchmark leaked on Twitter yesterday, showing the performance of the A350M GPU. It landed in a similar ballpark to Nvidia’s somewhat dated GTX 1650 graphics card. We’ll have to wait for more users to get their hands on Intel Arc before we can get benchmarks that are 100% unbiased.

Editors' Recommendations

Monica J. White
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
Intel just gave your Arc GPU double the frames-per-second performance
Intel Arc A750M Limited Edition graphics card sits on a desk.

It’s no secret that Intel’s Arc graphics cards had a rough launch, with multiple delays and even cancellation rumors plaguing Intel’s efforts. But now the company finally has some good news: its latest drivers could more than double Arc performance in certain situations.

In a recent blog post, Intel explains that its latest driver (version v3959) can improve 99th percentile DirectX 9 frames per second (fps) by up to 2.3 times. Compared to the previous driver, average fps is increased by up to 1.8 times. Those are some major boosts if you play a lot of DirectX 9 games.

Read more
For the first time ever, I’m ready to switch to an AMD graphics card
AMD RX 7900 XTX standing up on a red background.

Fine, AMD. You win. I'm jumping ship.

With the launch of the RX 7900 XTX and 7900 XT, this Nvidia fan was finally convinced to pick up an AMD graphics card as my next upgrade. I can't believe I'm saying it, but for the first time ever, I couldn't be more excited to be going Team Red.
I was never a fan of AMD

Read more
AMD just subtly dunks on Nvidia’s melting RTX 4090 power adapters
amd makes fun of nvidia rtx 4090 power adapters scott herkelman

AMD and Nvidia don't typically reference each other by name at public events, but at its RX 7000 and RDNA 3 launch, AMD just made some indirect nods to Nvidia's recent problems with melting power adapters.

"There's no need to rebuild your desktop. No need to upgrade your case. And there's no need for a new power adapter," said Scott Herkelman, head of graphics at AMD, with a sly smile on his face. "We made it as easy as pulling out your old card and putting in a new one."

Read more