The first Intel Arc desktop GPU is now on sale in the United States. Previously released in China, the Intel Arc A380 is available on Newegg for $140 from vendor ASrock. Though competitively priced against GPUs like the AMD Radeon RX 6400 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 1630 ($149 and $179, respectively), it would be wise to temper one’s expectations for this budget graphics card from Intel.
Per the specs on Newegg’s listing, the ASrock Challenger Arc A380 has 6GB of GDDR6 memory with a core clock speed of 2.25GHz. This clock speed is a bit higher than the GPU’s standard 2GHz, as listed on Intel’s website. The ASrock Challenger has an HDMI port, three DisplayPort 2.0 ports and a single PCI Express slot.
The card supports technologies like ray tracing, Variable Rate Shading (VRS), DirectX 12 Ultimate, Adaptive Sync and more. It has a maximum resolution of 4K at 60Hz via HDMI and 8K at 60Hz over DisplayPort, with support for up to four displays.
Intel Arc A380 performance: What to expect
Back in June 2022, Intel released performance metrics of the Arc A380 in 17 gaming titles and compared said metrics to the GTX 1650 and RX 6400 running on the same PC (via Tom’s Hardware).
On average, Intel’s GPU couldn't match the performance of its rivals, with the GTX 1650 and RX 6400 reportedly outperforming it by 19% and 9%, respectively. Intel's GPU outpaced the RX 6400 in four of the 17 games (including F1 2021 and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt), and only outdid the GTX 1650 in a single game: Naraka: Bladepoint. Considering that the GTX 1650 and RX 6400 aren’t exactly top-tier GPUs, the Arc A380’s performance in these tests isn’t encouraging.
While the Arc A380 seems less powerful than its direct rivals, its bigger sibling the beefier Intel Arc A750 GPU beat the Nvidia RTX 3060 – at least according to Intel. Of course, we’ll need to see some independent benchmarks (or do our own tests) to see how these claims hold up in the real world.
Intel Arc A380 outlook
Though you’d likely not want to stick the Arc A380 into the best gaming PCs, the fact we’re seeing Intel’s GPU line finally arrive state-side is still worth celebrating. Until now, Intel and AMD cards were the only viable options when it comes to GPUs. Having a third contestant enter the ongoing PC graphics card war could be good for customers, so long as Intel’s offerings are up to snuff.
The Asrock A380 is currently available for backorder and is expected to begin shipping as early as August 22. We’ve yet to hear word on when the rest of the Intel GPU line will release in the United States.
