Intel Launches Arc A-Series Discrete Mobile Graphics

Source: Intel Intel Launches Arc A-Series Discrete Mobile Graphics

Intel Arc GPUs Have Arrived

Intel has launched their Arc graphics product family – for laptops. No, we don’t have the desktop family just yet, but there are still the first discrete Intel Arc A-Series GPUs “to arrive from the graphics portfolio that will span laptops, desktops and workstations this year”.

Intel is launching three variants, with Arc 3, Arc 5, and Arc 7 graphics. At launch, just Intel Arc 3 will be available, with higher-end Arc 5 and Arc 7 laptops coming “in summer”. Don’t worry, however, as Intel says that “all products with Intel Arc A-Series GPUs are built on Intel’s new Xe High Performance Graphics microarchitecture, or Xe HPG for short, which was engineered from the ground up for gamers and creators”.  In other words, even entry-level Arc 3 will be a substantial advantage over integrated Xe-LP solutions in existing 12th-Gen notebooks.

Intel-Arc-A-Series-3-5-7

Intel Arc A-Series graphics will power a wide range of mobile designs, with many of the first Arc 3 graphics products going into Intel Evo devices. These will include two initial product offerings: the A350M for ultra-thin designs and the A370M for more performance in thin-and-light designs.

  • Intel Arc 3 graphics offer enhanced 1080p gaming and advanced content creation. Arc A370M-based laptops will deliver more than 60 frames per second at 1080p on a range of popular titles.
  • Intel Arc 5 and Arc 7 graphics products will offer the same cutting-edge, content-creation capabilities coupled with increased graphics and computing performance. These GPUs will have more Xe-cores, more Ray Tracing Units, and more GDDR6 memory compared with Arc 3 products.
  • The first laptops with Arc 3 graphics are available to preorder now, with Arc 5 and Arc 7 laptops coming in early summer. Intel’s Arc graphics for desktops and add-in-cards are launching in summer.
Intel Arc Xe HPG Overview

Xe High Performance Graphics Microarchitecture

All products with Intel Arc A-Series GPUs are built on Intel’s new Xe High Performance Graphics microarchitecture, or Xe HPG for short, which was engineered from the ground up for gamers and creators. Xe HPG technologies enable Intel Arc graphics to deliver breakthrough performance, efficiency and scalability. Features include:

  • Powerful Xe-cores with integrated Intel Xe Matrix Extensions (XMX) AI engines to provide a 16x increase in compute capability to complete AI inferencing operations compared with traditional GPU vector units. The increased compute can help deliver performance boosts in productivity, gaming and creator workloads.
  • The Xe Media Engine supports acceleration for the broadest set of video codecs and standards and includes industry-first AV1 hardware-accelerated encoding and decoding. AV1 is up to 50% more efficient than today’s most common codec, H.264, and 30% more efficient than H.265.
  • The Xe Display Engine is ready for high-resolution, high refresh rate HDR displays, supporting the latest standards, including Display Port 2.0 10G for 4K at 120hz uncompressed.

Every Intel Arc GPU, from Intel Arc 3 to Intel Arc 7 graphics, will fully support DirectX 12 Ultimate and advanced gaming technologies such as hardware accelerated ray tracing and Xe Super Sampling (XeSS). DirectX 12 Ultimate technologies include ray tracing, variable rate shading, mesh shading and sampler feedback.

  • Intel’s XeSS AI-based image upscaling technology will be used to significantly enhance gaming performance, and, for example, enable a game to run at a 4K resolution with performance that’s comparable to native 1080p.
  • Intel is dedicated to delivering Day 0, game-ready drivers and is partnering with game studios around the world to ensure next-gen titles are optimized for Intel Arc GPUs and technologies such as XeSS.
  • XeSS will launch this summer with support enabled in more than 20 games with Intel planning to open up the XeSS SDK and tools for everyone to implement – ensuring industry-wide adoption across a broad range of software and hardware.

Visit the Intel Newsroom for more from this announcement, including additional features of Intel Arc A-Series GPUs such as “AI-Enhanced XeSS upscaling, AI-accelerated media capabilities, Intel Deep Link technology, and more”. The premiere event video stream is embedded below.

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About The Author

Sebastian Peak

Editor-in-Chief at PC Perspective. Writer of computer stuff, vintage PC nerd, and full-time dad. Still in search of the perfect smartphone. In his nonexistent spare time Sebastian's hobbies include hi-fi audio, guitars, and road bikes. Currently investigating time travel.

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