Intel has launched its first wee discrete Arc GPUs, but desktop graphics cards are still a way off

pcgamer.com:

Intel has taken the best bits of AMD and the best of Nvidia is preparing to make a splash in the discrete graphics card market. And I'm not just talking about the number of engineers, designers, and marketeers Intel has poached from the big two in the GPU game, either. From the design of the new Alchemist architecture itself, to the software, to the upscaling solution, it's clear Intel is learning from the best.

That's not to say Intel isn't bringing its own style to the party as it launches its mobile-first Arc GPUs, but when you're trying to muscle your way into a market that's been dominated by only two players for decades, you need to pay attention to what works and not reinvent the wheel.

Before you get too excited about a third player in the GPU market, we're still not yet talking about Intel's discrete desktop graphics cards. Intel has just announced its Arc 3 GPUs going into thin and light laptops from early April. Following that, in the early summer, will be Arc 5 and Arc 7 GPUs; the discrete silicon going into power all-Intel gaming laptops.

There's naught but a tease about the desktop versions, however, and so the wait goes on… But it's worth stating that the core design is going to be identical from the lowliest laptop GPU, to the beefiest desktop chip.

So, up first we have Arc 3 in A350M and A370M guises, with six and eight Xe-cores (think SM in Nvidia parlance) respectively. Then we'll get the bigger bois, the Arc 5 A550M with 16 Xe Cores, and then a pair of higher end Arc 7 GPUs—A730M and A770M—with 24 and 32 Xe Cores.

Intel is building these graphics cards from a pair of A-Series SoCs for mobile, the ACM-G11 with up to 8 Xe-cores for the Arc 3, and the ACM-G10 with up to 32 Xe-cores for the Arc 5 and 7