- Intel’s Arc GPUs might offer great value for money but still come with a few drawbacks.
- Behavior in some titles is still unpredictable, with games such as GTA V and Starfield struggling to run properly on these GPUs.
- Utilizing Resizable Bar provides significantly better performance with Arc GPUs, which means older systems without the feature might provide worse performance.
- There are options from AMD that rival the price-to-performance of Intel’s lineup without any of the driver-related issues.
Intel’s graphics card had a disappointing launch; however, they have had a fair share of improvements over the years to refine their drivers to a competitive degree. Despite the updates, I think the Arc series GPUs still come with too many drawbacks, making them a hard sell in the face of competition from AMD.
Still Unpredictable, Just Not As Much
Intel has definitely refined their drivers a lot, and there’s no denying that; however, I still wouldn’t say that they can rival that of AMD or Nvidia. And that does make sense, especially if you consider how long it took AMD actually to make their drivers usable.
You see, at the time of launch, Intel’s game performance would vary drastically from game to game, which was mostly an issue on the driver level. A lot of those issues have gotten patched over time, but some discrepancies still exist, which is not ideal if you are looking for a simple and intuitive experience.’
In Gamers Nexus’ recent tests, performance on GTA V and Starfield fell below the expected threshold, with all cards from the series struggling to even maintain playable frame rates let alone compete with AMD’s lineup.
As Gamers Nexus pointed out in his Intel Arc Revisit, you will get a solid experience in most titles; however, there is still a chance of running into such issues on some games.
Despite that, I am still surprised by how much Arc GPUs have managed to improve when compared to the time of their launch, and things might just change with a few more updates.
Older Systems Might Suffer
Even apart from the unpredictable behavior in certain titles, installing an ARC GPU on an older system might actually not be ideal. That’s because Intel GPUs tend to rely a lot on the Resizable bar, which means you’ll notice a performance loss on systems that don’t support the feature.
This is further substantiated through RandomGaminginHD’s video, where he further went in depth about how much of a difference the Reziable bar can make for Intel Arc GPUs.
In RDR2, for example, there was a 10 FPS difference from disabling rebar, which can be a game-changer, especially in these sub-60fps scenarios. Of course, Rebar can also make a difference with Nvidia and AMD GPUs, but the difference is simply not as drastic as the ones seen from Intel’s cards.
There Are Better Options
While Intel’s Arc GPUs compete on a budget level, there is still better value to be found on AMD cards, especially considering how you won’t have to face any driver-level issues when opting for Team Red.
Of course, the A310 is an exception to this, given there is no AMD card competing in its price bracket. Apart from that, AMD’s 6000 series cards still one up Intel’s Arc series by a decent margin.
Don’t get me wrong, you will probably find Intel’s offering for $10-15 less, and their performance in modern titles is comparable to AMD’s alternatives; yet, they don’t immediately stand out as viable options when accounting for the previously mentioned disadvantages.
In my opinion, AMD’s options present themselves as well-rounded GPUs that will guarantee a smoother experience in any title you throw against them. Intel, on the other hand, might require a few more updates before I can say the same about their lineup.
Still A Need For Improvement
Intel has clearly paid a lot of attention to revamping its driver structure, even managing to bring support for a number of older titles. Despite that, there is clearly a lot of room for improvement present within these cards and while I still won’t recommend Intel’s Arc offering as of right now, hopefully, future updates will change that.
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[Hardware Reviewer]
Awais Khan is a Tech Geek, conscientious, reliable, and hardworking individual who pays attention to detail with excellent time management skills. Alongside that, he is an expert in PC Hardware; dealing with Benchmarks, Analysis, and testing before sharing information with readers. Whenever free, Awais occasionally shares Gaming Videos on his YouTube Channel.
Get In Touch: awais@tech4gamers.com
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