Discrete graphics cards Intel Arc A750/A770 were presented back in the middle of October last year. Unfortunately, until now, the manufacturer’s graphics adapters are still not available in Ukraine. However, the company is actively working on improving and optimizing its solutions, trying to compete decently in the rather difficult niche of mid-range graphics cards.
Unlike the processor segment, Intel’s position in the discrete graphics market requires the developer to take even unpopular steps to improve the appeal of its offerings. Intel has officially reduced the price of the Intel Arc A750 Special Edition from the starting $289 to $249. With this, the company is trying to offer the best price-performance ratio in the first place.
Intel assures that after cost reduction and software optimizations, the Intel Arc A750 8GB graphics card offers a 52% better price/performance ratio than its competitor, the GeForce RTX 3060 12GB. For such calculations, the developers used the average cost of the NVIDIA model on the online site newegg.com – $391, although the recommended price of the RTX 3060 is $329. In the case of such imprecise calculations, Intel’s marketing department could not avoid a certain curiosity.
The slide presented above was used during the official launch of Intel graphics cards. As you can see, then the price/performance ratio for the Arc A750 and RTX 3060 was also compared. The advantage of the Intel solution was 53%, even taking into account the “average price” of $418 for the RTX 3060 and $289 for the A750. It turns out that despite the official price reduction of Intel Arc A750, the advantage over the opponent has even somewhat decreased.
But still, let’s not be so picky about the announced percentages. Everyone understands that such comparisons directly from manufacturers are a rather conditional guide, which usually requires confirmation from unbiased sources. However, Intel’s desire to track performance per $ spent for its products deserves separate praise.
The price factor is an effective persuasive argument, but in the case of graphics cards, software support is almost the deciding factor before the purchase. After the first reviews of the Intel Arc A770/A750, it appeared that the proposed software needed further optimization.
It is good that the developers are trying hard enough to improve the drivers, thereby allowing the potential of the adapters to be revealed. Since the announcement, Intel has already offered eight major software updates.
The developers emphasized the improvement of performance in games with DirectX 9. This API is used for quite a large number of projects, which are still very relevant. Here the engineers managed to achieve tangible progress. The declared average increase in productivity is 43%. Of course, such telling general indicators should be treated with skepticism, but the increase in fps is really significant.
Moreover, it was possible not only to increase the number of frames/s but also to improve the fps stability indicator, which is very important for competitive projects. The difference in actual frame time in CS:GO is amazing.
Of course, Intel tries to improve performance not only for projects with DX9 but also in games with modern DX11 and DX12. In addition, the developers remind us about the support for ray tracing, as well as the Intel XeSS intelligent scaling system.
More than 30 games have already received support for proprietary AI scaling, while at the start of sales of the video game, Intel had 17 of them. There is a certain lack of “big” projects in the existing list, because even the 3DMark test package got into the list. However, support has already appeared in quite popular games, and even more of them should appear this year.
The manufacturer is also trying to increase the attractiveness of purchasing the Intel Arc A750 with the help of game bonuses. Direct purchasers of graphics cards will receive Nightingale and The Settlers: New Allies, which are preparing for release, for free. However, the geographical coverage of the promotion with game bundles has not yet been determined. To begin with, it would be nice if Intel graphics cards officially appeared in Ukraine.
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