Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Computing
  3. News

Intel Arc Alchemist may let you overclock virtually for free

Monica J. White
By

Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards continue to surprise us in many ways prior to their actual release. This time, a new teaser from an interview with Intel fellow Tom Petersen reveals some more information about the GPUs, including their overclocking capabilities.

According to Petersen, Intel Arc might be unexpectedly good at overclocking and striking the right balance between performance and power consumption — so much so that a massive overclock was achieved at almost no extra energy cost.

Intel Arc Graphics: Ask Us Anything With Tom TAP Petersen!

Despite the various shortcomings of Intel Arc, be it the delays or the fact that the GPUs are chiefly optimized for DirectX 12 and Vulkan only, the promotion and communication have definitely been on point lately, and Intel has been transparent about the performance of these graphics cards. To that end, Tom Petersen joined a Q&A session with HotHardware and answered many questions about Intel Arc.

Recommended Videos

The card’s overclocking powers were briefly discussed and the Arc A770 certainly managed to impress. The GPU went through some overclocking and undervolting in order to measure its performance in Hitman 3. The GPU’s regular clock speed maxes out at 2.1GHz, but this time, it was overclocked to 2.7GHz. That’s a noteworthy overclock that would certainly impact the performance.

Perhaps the more interesting fact is that during the 2.7GHz overclock, the card’s power consumption reached 228 watts, which is just 3 watts more than its regular maximum TBP. This proves that through a good combination of overclocking and undervolting, Intel Arc can deliver good results.

Intel Arc A770 and A750 specification sheet.
Intel/HotHardware

Intel has also shared new slides about the Arc Alchemist graphics cards, namely the Limited Edition versions, which are Intel’s own design. The Arc A770 and Arc A750 both house the same ACM-G10 GPU, but the A770 has the full 32 Xe-Cores and 16GB of memory, although it can also come in an 8GB flavor. Despite that, both graphics cards have the same 225-watt TBP.

The middle-of-the-pack Arc A580 comes with 24 Xe-Cores and 8GB of memory; Petersen has now also confirmed that it will have a TBP of 175 watts. We don’t know much about the Arc A310 and the Arc A350, both rumored to be part of the lineup. The Arc A380 has already seen a limited release, so perhaps a global launch will soon follow alongside the better models.

Petersen addressed many questions, but he was still not ready to talk about a possible release date of Intel Arc. It’s possible that Intel might mention them during its Intel Innovation event on September 27, although that would give the GPUs very little chance to shine — the company is also set to reveal Raptor Lake CPUs on that date, and AMD will be launching its Ryzen 7000 processors.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Monica J. White
Monica J. White
Computing Writer
Monica is a UK-based freelance writer and self-proclaimed geek. A firm believer in the "PC building is just like expensive…
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
Intel Arc Alchemist: specs, pricing, release date, performance
Two intel Arc graphics cards on a pink background.

Intel's first-generation Arc graphics cards are here -- codenamed Alchemist. It's a bid to shift the balance that Nvidia and AMD have maintained for decades, with modern furnishings like real-time ray tracing and AI-assisted supersampling. Arc Alchemist is gunning for the top of the best graphics card list, and it has some serious power to get there. If you want to see how much power, make sure to read our Arc A770 and A750 review.

To get you up to speed, we rounded up everything we know about Arc Alchemist's release date, price, specs, and performance.
Intel Arc Alchemist price and release date

Read more
Intel Arc A770 16GB vs. A770 8GB vs. Nvidia RTX 3060
The backs of the Arc A770 and Arc A750 graphics cards.

Intel Arc Alchemist is here, and the flagship comes in two different versions: Arc A770 16GB and Arc A770 8GB. Both of these GPUs have been compared to Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3060 and RTX 3060 Ti, but how do they really match up?

For many years, the GPU arena has been a two-horse race. Dominated by AMD and Nvidia, it lacked any extra competition. Now, with Intel joining the fray, do these two industry stalwarts need to start worrying? We've tested both Intel Arc and Nvidia extensively, so we have all the answers. Read on to find out which GPU wins the battle.
Specs

Read more