Skip to main content

Intel Arc A380 struggles against AMD’s worst RDNA 2 GPU

Intel Arc Alchemist A380 is Intel’s first desktop graphics card in the lineup, and as of today, the first reviews of the GPU started rolling in as the embargo had been lifted. Unfortunately, the first look at Intel Arc doesn’t bode well for the card.

According to early reviews, Intel’s A380 struggles to compete even against the most low-end GPUs made by AMD and Nvidia.

Related Videos
Intel Arc A380 Gunnir Photon version.
Shenmedounengce

After a series of early leaks, Intel Arc A380 appeared in a video posted by Shenmedounengce on Bilibili. The model in question is actually a custom version of the card, the Gunnir A380 Photon. It differs from the basic version of Intel Arc a little bit — it comes with two fans and a slightly higher clock speed of 2450MHz.

The A380 features the full ACM-G11 GPU and comes with 8 Xe-Cores as well as 6GB of GDDR6 memory and a 96-bit memory bus. Although the GPU uses 16Gbps Samsung modules, this model’s memory is configured for 15.5Gbps, which is less than the version offered by Intel. So far, this is the only custom design of the GPU that we’ve seen.

For the purpose of testing, the reviewer paired the Arc A380 with an Intel Alder Lake Core i5-12400 processor, B660 motherboard, and DD4 RAM. The GPU was tested in synthetic benchmarks on 3DMark TimeSpy and Port Royal, but it was also put to the test in real-world gaming environments. In both cases, it was compared to entry-level offerings from Nvidia and AMD, including the GeForce GTX 1650, the RTX 3050, and the Radeon RX 6400 as well as 6500 XT. These are indeed the GPUs Intel can hope to compete against with the A380, but unfortunately, the card seems to fall short.

The synthetic benchmarks went well enough for the A380. It proved itself to be faster than the RX 6400/6500 XT and the GTX 1650. However, Nvidia’s RTX 3050 has it beat in both Port Royal and Time Spy, and in the former, the difference is massive — the RTX 3500 is 3.7 times faster than the A380. The difference between the two cards is much smaller in the TimeSpy test.

Intel Arc A380 gaming benchmark.
Shenmedounengce

It’s all downhill from there when we move on to actual gaming tests. Shenmedounengce tested the GPU in League of Legends, PUBG, Tomb Raider, Forza Horizon 5, GTA 5, and Red Dead Redemption II. In every single one of these games, the Intel Arc A380 was outperformed by both AMD and Nvidia when playing at 1080p. On the upside, the A380 came very close in some games.

Intel Arc Alchemist has been having a pretty rough time. Just recently, Intel’s claims about the performance of the GPU had been closely examined, and it seems that we might need to lower our expectations in regards to the kind of gaming prowess we can expect from Intel Arc. The staggered release of the GPU, which is right now only available in China in pre-built PCs, is also not helping it shine.

Of course, there might be hope yet for Intel Arc. Perhaps further driver optimizations will result in an increase in performance, and as time goes on and the flagship A770 is released, Intel might become competitive. As it stands now, Intel is likely to have a hard time winning over many users, considering that both AMD and Nvidia entry-level options are now readily available, and their prices are nearing MSRP.

Editors' Recommendations

How Nvidia tricked everyone into buying a $1,600 GPU
The RTX 4080 logo on a pink background.

Nvidia's RTX 4090 is intensely powerful, but at the first glance, it's hard not to call it overpriced. Spending upwards of $1,600 on a graphics card is a lot, especially if you consider that you can build an entire gaming PC for the same amount of money.

Of course, the flagship RTX 4090 only sounds like a rip-off until you look at the $1,200 RTX 4080. Has Nvidia really managed to trick us into thinking that a $1,600 GPU is a great deal?
Nvidia's RTX 4090 is a beast with a scary price

Read more
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
Why I bought one of AMD’s worst GPUs
The Powercolor Radeon RX 6400.

When it comes to graphics cards, AMD has had some stinkers over the years, and the Radeon RX 6400 has to be counted among them. For $130, it's a terrible deal for most gamers, and the practical requirement of a recent CPU and motherboard is frustrating.

That is, for most gamers. Despite what I knew to be true about the RX 6400, I actually went out recently and bought one. No, I didn't have a mental breakdown or some kind of psychotic episode. In fact, I had a very good reason for buying a 6400, and although it's a terrible card for most people, it actually has a good reason to exist.
RX 480 level performance for just 40 watts

Read more