Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

How much does Intel Arc cost? Arc Alchemist buying guide

Intel Arc Alchemist, also known as Intel’s first serious venture into discrete graphics for gamers, is finally here. While the GPUs can’t hope to compete with some of AMD’s and Nvidia’s best graphics cards, they can stand their own ground in the midrange market, and they’re priced very competitively to make up for the fact that they won’t replace your new RTX 4090 or even your old RTX 3080.

Intel’s lineup right now includes the flagship Arc A770, which is supposed to be available with either 8GB or 16GB memory. Then, there’s the Arc A750 and the entry-level Arc A380. Below, we’ll explore their pricing, availability, and, most importantly, which one is worth spending your money on.

How much does the Intel Arc A770 cost?

The Arc A770 graphics card running in a PC.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

When Intel Arc was still in its development phase, many had big hopes for the GPUs. Time altered these expectations, and we now know that the flagship Arc A770 can compete against Nvidia’s RTX 3060, and at times, it lands close to the RTX 3060 Ti; any mentions of trading blows with the RTX 3070 Ti were nothing but a pipe dream. Intel knew that this would be the case, and for that reason, it devised a plan on how to wiggle its way into the two-horse race that is the GPU market: setting competitive prices.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

In our own testing of the GPU, we found that Intel’s pricing strategy is working, and the Arc A770 can certainly hold its ground against the RTX 3060 while remaining cheaper to buy.

Let’s take a look at the specs of the Intel flagship.

Intel Arc A770 16GB Intel Arc A770 8GB
Cores 32 Xe-Cores 32 Xe-Cores
RT cores 32 32
Bandwidth 512Gbps 512Gbps
Boost clock 2.1GHz 2.1GHz
Memory bus 256-bit 256-bit
Memory 16GB GDDR6 8GB GDDR6
TBP 225W 225W

The official MSRP of the Intel Arc A770 16GB is just $349. The GPU is now up for grabs at some online retailers, including . There’s the Intel Arc A770 16GB Limited Edition, which is Intel’s own version of the GPU, but there are also a couple of custom models made by Intel’s board partners.

Acer released the Predator BiFrost Intel Arc A770 OC 16G, with a considerably higher boost clock of up to 2.4GHz. However, the price should be enough to send you running back in Nvidia’s direction because the GPU costs more than $700 at the time of writing.

Intel itself doesn’t make 8GB versions of the Arc A770, but ASRock has a Phantom Gaming Arc A770 8GB up for grabs, priced at $329.

Ultimately, Intel’s own version is going to be the way to go here, but there might be new custom versions of the Arc A770 coming out in the future. It all depends on which one you might be able to find in stock at the time; expect these GPUs to be sold out every now and then until the demand for them normalizes.

How much does the Intel Arc A750 cost?

Two intel Arc graphics cards on a pink background.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Intel Arc A750 is Intel’s second-best (or third, if you count the 8GB Arc A770) graphics card. It comes with worse specs than the flagship, but not so much that it would have much worse performance. In fact, in our tests, the GPU outperformed the RTX 3060 by a small margin — not in every benchmark, mind you, but on average.

Intel Arc A750 
Cores 28 Xe-Cores
RT cores 28
Boost clock 2.1GHz
Memory bus 256-bit
Memory 16GB GDDR6
TBP 225W

Intel made sure to give this GPU a reasonable price, too. Its list price was set to $290, and this applies to Intel’s own version of the card. Considering that the Arc A770 costs $60 more, if you’ve got the budget to spare, you’re better off just getting that one — but for budget-friendly builds, the Arc A750 will do fine, too.

Once again, Newegg has the Arc A750 up for sale. The Intel Limited Edition Arc A750 costs $290, which is the exact same price as the custom ASRock Challenger Arc A750.

Much like for the Arc A770, these GPUs may frequently be out of stock, but things should settle down over time.

How much does the Intel Arc A580 cost?

Intel Arc A770 graphics card.
Intel

We’re breaking into the mystery territory here with the Intel Arc A580 because, unfortunately, no one knows yet how much this GPU is going to cost. Intel announced its specifications, but it didn’t launch alongside the flagship Arc A770 and the Arc A750. We expect it to appear soon enough, but we don’t know many details about Intel’s plans for this card.

Intel Arc A580
Cores 24 Xe-Cores
RT cores 24
Boost clock 1.7GHz
Memory bus 256-bit
Memory 8GB GDDR6
TBP 175W

Intel Arc A580 is likely to compete with Nvidia’s RTX 3050 and will be a budget graphics card. We expect it to be priced in the $180 to $250 range, but this is just speculation right now.

How much does the Intel Arc A380 cost?

Intel Arc A380 Gunnir Photon version.
Shenmedounengce

When it comes to the Intel Arc A380, things are even stranger. This entry-level card was the first desktop GPU from the lineup to be launched, but Intel initially only released it in China in what felt like very small quantities. Now, the GPU is here, kind of, in theory. Newegg sells two versions of the Arc A380, one of which is much too expensive to be worth the money.

We don’t know when Intel will release the card in any greater capacity, and it is yet to share an official global list price for the Arc A380.

Intel Arc A380
Cores 8 Xe-Cores
RT cores 8
Boost clock 2GHz
Memory bus 96-bit
Memory 6GB GDDR6
TBP 75W

If you want to grab this card, you can find the Gunnir Intel Arc A380 priced at $228 and the ASRock Challenger Arc A380 at a much more reasonable $140; the latter appears to be sold out.

Which Intel Arc Alchemist GPU should you buy?

Intel Arc A770 GPU installed in a test bench.
Jacob Roach / Digital Trends

Intel’s staggered launch strategy makes this question a fairly easy one to answer. While the Arc A380 is available to some (small) extent, the Arc A580 is not around yet at all. This means that you effectively have three GPUs to decide between: the Arc A770 16GB, Arc A770 8GB, and Arc A750.

Between the Arc A770 16GB and 8GB versions, there’s not much of a contest. The 16GB version will undoubtedly be a better pick as long as the extra $20 is not a problem. Doubling the memory size for just $20 makes the 16GB A770 a much better deal.

Comparing the Arc A770 to the A750 is a little bit more difficult. The A770 is certainly a better GPU, but the A750 still manages to impress us as a reasonable, budget-friendly offer. As such, it all comes down to the price you’re willing to spend on your new graphics card.

If you want to keep things budget-conscious but don’t mind spending more to gain better value, we recommend trying to pick up the Arc A770 when it’s in stock. However, if you’re building a cheaper computer and want to make some savings, you won’t see a massive step down if you go ahead and get the Arc A750. They’re both solid GPUs, and while they have their flaws, they certainly are priced in a way that makes them good value.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
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…
Does ray tracing work on the Intel Arc GPUs?
The backs of the Arc A770 and Arc A750 graphics cards.

Intel is the newest player in the GPU market now that the company has finally launched its Arc Alchemist GPUs. Since these are first-generation products from a company that has almost no experience in making desktop-grade graphics, you might wonder if GPUs like the Arc A770 and A750 support modern features like ray tracing.

Intel Arc does in fact support ray tracing, just like AMD and Nvidia does, and the performance might even surprise you.
Does ray tracing work on Intel Arc?

Read more
What is Intel XeSS, and how does it compare to Nvidia DLSS?
Intel XeSS visualized.

Intel XeSS is an exciting development in the world of upscaling PC games. This technology is finally out, and we've tested it extensively to give you a full overview of how it can improve your gaming experience.

While Intel XeSS is similar to the tech we already know well from AMD and Nvidia, it comes with its own pros and cons. We've rounded up everything you need to know about Intel XeSS, how it works, what games it supports, and how it compares to its rivals from AMD and Nvidia.
What is Intel XeSS?

Read more
Arc GPU drivers are getting better, but Intel says it’s challenging
Intel head of Graphics Raja Koduri explains Arc driver troubles

Intel Arc A770 and A750 graphics cards will be available to order on October 12, but Intel admitted it’s still struggling with drivers for DirectX games. Raja Koduri, Intel’s head of Accelerated Computing Systems and Graphics Group (AXG), discussed the challenges in a recent interview.

With reviews expected to start arriving today, the pressure is on Intel to either impress us with its recovery or rush to solve issues quickly. Intel has been creating graphics drivers for decades, but until this year, that has focused on integrated graphics built into the CPU, which come with much lower expectations. Koduri explained that the first generation of Arc GPUs was most difficult because programmers had to start with a completely new architecture. Pandemic challenges slowed development as well. Heading into the second generation it should be better.

Read more