Intel Arc Alchemist GPU compared to RTX 3070 Ti in new benchmark

The launch of Intel’s Arc Alchemist GPU series is getting closer. As development draws to a close, detectives are on the hunt for leaks. Material leak TUM_APISAK came across an entry on the SiSoftware website. The result shows that the tested card is able to match or beat the Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti in some tests.

The entry reveals plenty of specs, and that indicates we’re looking at the top-end DG2-512EU model. It contains the 512 execution units and 4096 cores of complete chips. The entry lists a rather odd 12.8GB of VRAM, but it’s possible this is just a reporting or detection error, as the high-end Arc GPU is expected to include 16GB of GDDR6 memory. A 2.1 GHz clock is reported, but we don’t know if this is a base or boost clock, and it may not be representative of the final product.

In the SiSoftware entry (via Videocardz), the Intel card delivers a score of 9017.52 Mpix/s. This compares to Nvidia’s RTX 3070 Ti which gets around 8369 Mpix/s. That’s just under 8% ahead for the Intel card. The results of the subtests are a bit more mixed. The Arc card lags in the half-float and single-float tests while leading in the double-float and quad-float tests.

While these results make the Arc GPU look good, it’s important to point out that floating point and compute performance aren’t reliable indicators of card performance in games. There’s a leak from Ashes of the Singularity, but the result is a bit unreliable. There is also the question of the maturity of the driver. If the Arc cards are a few months or more away from release, it’s likely Intel has a lot of work ahead of them to get the most out of the cards. It actually encourages us.

As the GPU shortage continues, the hope is that Intel could become something of a savior. Uptown, Intel shouldn’t knock the RTX 3090 or 6900 XT down, but if Arc cards are available in volume and at the right price, entry and midrange buyers who have been starved of options may find Arc cards to be very compelling options. Well, that’s the hope anyway. The entry-level Arc card can compete with the GTX 1650 Super. If it ends up doing that, it should be able to beat the disappointing RX 6500 XT.

Arc graphics cards were originally slated to launch in Q1, but Intel’s landing page now says “coming 2022”. The later the release, the less time Intel will have to make a splash in the market. Nvidia’s RTX 40 series and AMD RDNA3 cards are also slated for 2022 and these cards will of course offer much tougher competition. If you can actually buy them, you can.