Intel is showing a limited edition Arc A770 GPU in a few games
Intel Graphics executives were guests at the WAN Show on Friday and had an exceptional product to show in front of the cameras for the first time. The Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition graphics card is unlocked, distributed, and rotates from all angles. But that's not all, the Intel PR folks discussed some previously undisclosed graphics card technical details, and there were some talks about gaming performance with the hosts.
The A770 design in the video shares a lot in common with the Intel Arc A750, which we saw featured in yesterday's official performance preview. It has a similar looking dual axial fan cooler shroud. However, befitting the reference model of the flagship Intel Arc Alchemist GPU, there are several RGB lighting areas/effects, including the illuminated logo at the top of the card and an RGB lighting strip spread along the top edge/side of the fan. In addition, RGB light rings are scattered behind the dual axial fans. Finally, an array of RGB lighting can also be seen on the back panel.
There was an interesting talk about the performance of the Arc A770. We haven't seen any performance numbers for the A770, but we've heard that Intel's Tom Peterson (AKA TAP) showed games in titles like Cyberpunk 2077, F1 2021, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Linus seems to have spent some time playing around on this setup, but we didn't get any performance stats. TAP clarified the confidential nature of the demo by explaining that the demo card had not been sampled from developers/partners yet, and the demo was more of a sneak peek.
Intel shared the Arc A750 gaming performance numbers yesterday if you want to extrapolate and guess the Arc A770's performance. The A770 offers more GPU cores, VRAM, and a 25% wider memory bus. Unfortunately, no one is talking about other GPU features, such as raytracing or AI acceleration.
While we didn't get performance numbers from the Arc A770, TAP made a pretty revealing statement of the performance users can expect from the flagship Alchemist. This is the first card I've seen from Intel, said the former Nvidia, and now Intel exec, "You know what? Everything will be fine,” he said, adding, “We made it through. "
Performance seems decent, but the warmth of our welcome will of course depend on the price. On the topic of warmth, TAP confirmed that the Arc A770 has an over-spec dual-coaxial cooler, so it should easily keep the GPU cool. The GPU temperature peaked at 69°C under load when playing with Linus. TAP later added that power consumption was "extremely low". Given the combination of cooling and power consumption, there is a "very good" potential for overclocking.
On the software driver side and Adaptive Sync support, Intel said the new Arc Alchemist will support a game experience enhancement feature called Smooth Sync. Unfortunately we didn't get an in-depth explanation of Smooth Sync, but it seems to work on any screen, eliminating tearing using a time algorithm.
Intel has not shared pricing, specific performance claims, or availability dates for the Intel Arc A770. However, TAP has joked that this Arc Alchemist's flagship GPU availability will appear "before you know it".
For more information on Intel Arc, please check out our recent Arc A750 performance preview and a regular gathering of information we know from Intel Arc. As things stand, the Intel Arc A770 appears to have a good shot for winning a place in our best graphics card report after reviewing it.