Intel Arc Discussion

[diamond.g]

Well I got the PC from Lenovo and it is defective. Trackpad is not responding and doesn’t even show up in device manager. I restored the device using a recovery image from Lenovo and it made no difference.

Lenovo customer service has been pretty terrible so far. They don’t have any more stock of my unit configuration. So they said for me to return it and buy another device on their website. Of course I got a great deal at the time and no other laptop is even close to what I paid. I told them I just want to replace the unit with one that works or offer me a similar replacement.

They have an exact same laptop but with a 512gb ssd instead of 1 tb. But they won’t exchange it because it is not exactly the same even though they are out of stock on my exact unit.

I had to escalate to a supervisor and now I am waiting for new stock in less than a week and if they get one they will replace the one I have but if they don’t then my only option will be a return.

I have spent hours on the phone and have received conflicting information almost every time. I am doubtful that I will get what I ordered in working condition. Feels like a bait and switch to me. Send a defective unit at a too good to be true price then when customer receives it have them return it and buy a more expensive version.

If Lenovo can’t replace the unit I have with a similar configuration for what I have already paid then I will have no choice but to return the laptop. I may not buy another Lenovo after this experience. I have dealt with HP, Dell, Razer, Asus and many other OEM’s and never had a issue with a defective unit they weren’t willing to exchange for a similar product to make the customer happy. This is the first time it is either return, wait for a refund and if you want a similar product pay more for it while you still don’t have the refund.

I did do some light benchmarking and my results were not very promising. If I had a working unit I would put it through the paces but this one doesn’t even benchmark much faster than 1260p on multi core and graphics on Dgpu were the same as integrated iris?

So far Lenovo has made me very unhappy with the brand. I have had good experiences with Lenovo in the past and I have tried to be open minded but I don’t know what else to do?

Which Xe dGPU was it supposed to have?
Nevermind, I looked up farther. I guess your results depend on what you used to benchmark, and whatever driver version Intel has for that "card". 1080P should be fine for pretty much anything new, old games/benchmarks are gonna suffer though as Intel hasn't really spent a lot of time fixing them (or at least the last time I read an article about the state of their drivers they hadn't). It is a shame your trackpad is messed up, and that Lenovo isn't doing anything to make it right.

 

[maflynn]

So far Lenovo has made me very unhappy with the brand.

Oh man, that sucks

Check out https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/English-Community/ct-p/Community-EN

At this point, I'd just get the RMA process moving and cut your losses.

 

[TSE]

Hi my wonderful folks.

Anyone here with one? What are your experiences with it? Supposedly the performance on the A750 has increased by ~75% in many circumstances since it came out due to driver updates and Intel really caring for their customers. What do you all think?

 

[maflynn]

What do you all think?

I don't think they suck, but conversely I think overall you'll be better off with an older RX 6600 or 6700 card
Here's a head to head and the AMD RX 6700 does better.

Linus and Luke did a 30 day challenge and you can see the synopses of that challenge. They were largely impressed by the end of the challenge but in the beginning it was fairly frustrating. I guess some major driver updates dropped and turned things around

Prices (Microcenter)
Arc A770: 350
Arc A750: 250
AMD RX 6600: 259
AMD RX 6700: 350

Edited for price corrections

 

[TSE]

I don't think they suck, but conversely I think overall you'll be better off with an older RX 6600 or 6700 card
Here's a head to head and the AMD RX 6700 does better.

Linus and Luke did a 30 day challenge and you can see the synopses of that challenge. They were largely impressed by the end of the challenge but in the beginning it was fairly frustrating. I guess some major driver updates dropped and turned things around

All prices are from Amazon:
Arc A770: 434
Arc A750: 328
AMD RX 6600: 269
AMD RX 6700: 350

Watch just the conclusion portion of the video. He says that the drivers have improved dramatically to where it actually probably leads the pack of the 6700 / 3060 group in value. Intel is truly doing a great job!

 

[maflynn]

Watch just the conclusion portion of the video.

I watched the full video, and there's not much to detail other then improved performances. He did mention the software is still problematic and annoying.

I just double checked the pricing and Microcenter has the A750 for 250 as does newegg. I'll edit my post above just to ensure the information is accurate.

I think if you're a light gamer (I consider myself a light gamer) you could make the case for the A750, though I'd love to see the A770 price drop. I think given my quiet pc build, the A750 would be decent fit and maybe a successor to the RTX 2060 that's in there now.

LTT's video above still details game and monitor oddities with the ARC gpu, so I still have my doubts.

 

[TSE]

I watched the full video, and there's not much to detail other then improved performances. He did mention the software is still problematic and annoying.

I just double checked the pricing and Microcenter has the A750 for 250 as does newegg. I'll edit my post above just to ensure the information is accurate.

I think if you're a light gamer (I consider myself a light gamer) you could make the case for the A750, though I'd love to see the A770 price drop. I think given my quiet pc build, the A750 would be decent fit and maybe a successor to the RTX 2060 that's in there now.

LTT's video above still details game and monitor oddities with the ARC gpu, so I still have my doubts.

GPUs are complicated, complicated things. Intel just came in with a very calculated approach and it's been pretty successful, imo. Are they breaking ground? No. Are AMD and nVidia in trouble? Absolutely not. Could you recommend the A750 as the best choice for a lot of people who are on budget machines? Absolutely.

 

[salamanderjuice]

I have the Arc A380 although I bought it more for Linux than gaming on Windows. There's still some problems, ironically where Arc GPUs have problems running older games on Windows with newer games fine on Linux it's the opposite with DX12 titles usually refusing to launch because Intel's Linux driver is missing some feature to get VKD3D working. Older titles seem to work pretty well considering the price paid. The officially supported Ubuntu drivers are also really bad haha but on other distros with newer kernels/Mesa it's been good.

I'm excited for what the next gen brings. Hopefully they'll have worked out the quirks by then.

 

[Phil A.]

I've been playing PC games more than XBox games recently after I purchased a Steam Deck so I got myself a Serpent Canyon NUC to use as a gaming PC (it's got an A770M and 12th gen i7).

So far, I've been pretty impressed by the performance: It's only driving a 1920x1080 TV which eases things a fair bit, and I've only tried Hitman, Assassin's Creed Syndicate and Odyssey, Witcher 3 and Crash Bandicoot n sane trilogy but it runs all of them at ultra settings 60fps.

I was a bit concerned after all the bad press the Arc GPUs got initially, but was encouraged by better reports recently, and I've not had any issues at all with it

 

[maflynn]

Could you recommend the A750 as the best choice for a lot of people who are on budget machines? Absolutely.

I still run hot and cold on this. In the beginning, I really wanted to like the ARC GPU, but Intel continually shot themselves in the foot, so much so, I have concerns.

The LTT 30 day challenge highlights how oddly and frustrating the cards behave. In other words, there's game performance but also game stability and odd issues. The card still incurs weird behavior to the point do you really want to live with that? Just using the included software seems to be a pain point, and so its sort of a cumulative thing where do you want to deal with those headaches or plop a RX 6600, get decent performance, no headaches for the same price? To put it another way, do I spend 250 dollars for a RX 6600 I'm off to the races, or do I get an A750 and spend time diagnosing and putting up with odd behavior, like monitor sleeping issues and weird notifications

 

[maflynn]

I'm going to repeat what I just above - I still run hot and cold, but I am warming a little more to A750

I subscribe to TechTesters and I like Nada's testing methodology and how she presents her reviews

Here's a screen grab of the YT and I think she's the only one that mentioned the power consumption. What I'm surprised about his how much power on idle the Arc750 consumes.

With all that said, I think I'm taking more of a shining to the Arc GPUs

 

[maflynn]

Looks like Acer has a A770 card.
Synopsis of the video is that its not really that much faster, runs a tad cooler under load but seems to be nosier at idle.

Steve is really impressed with the attention to detail with the card, but if I was choosing between Intel and Acer, I'd chose the Intel version

 

[TSE]

Yeah. Software issues hampered the initial release, but the more I learn about these cards the more I like them. They are a really good value, and for a first generation release Intel did very well. Excited to see their next generation and if they can keep up.

Might be a good time to buy Intel stock.

 

[mi7chy]

Hopefully not the beginning of the end.

https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-to-discontinue-a770-limited-edition

 

[maflynn]

Hopefully not the beginning of the end.

Here's the news blurb from Tom's hardware, I think the way their article is written it seems a bit more dire
Intel Discontinues Arc A770 Limited Edition GPU

Battlemage, the successor to Alchemist, is supposed to arrive in 2024, so Intel may want to redirect any Limited Edition resources toward getting Battlemage ready. According to some rumors, Intel is reportedly preparing at least two Battlemage graphics cards that could be the direct replacement for the Arc A750 and Arc A770.

The issue is by discontinuing the top end, and possibly the mid range in the near future, is that you send a message to the consumers that you're not supporting them, and they (the consumers) are buying a product that has a short product life.

The sad part of this, is that I've been seeing YT and articles praising the A770 and seeing how now 6+ months from launch, its a decent card for a good price. I don't know what I'll get to later this summer but it certainly won't be something from Intel

 

[diamond.g]

Here's the news blurb from Tom's hardware, I think the way their article is written it seems a bit more dire
Intel Discontinues Arc A770 Limited Edition GPU



The issue is by discontinuing the top end, and possibly the mid range in the near future, is that you send a message to the consumers that you're not supporting them, and they (the consumers) are buying a product that has a short product life.

The sad part of this, is that I've been seeing YT and articles praising the A770 and seeing how now 6+ months from launch, its a decent card for a good price. I don't know what I'll get to later this summer but it certainly won't be something from Intel

From my understanding Intel is no longer making in house LE cards (hence the whole Limited Edition). 3rd Party cards are still being made though, so you can still buy a Arc 770 if you want one (just not from Intel).

 

[maflynn]

3rd Party cards are still being made though

I don't think there's very many AIBs and in all honesty when people hear that intel is discontinuing the a770 they're not about to be relieved that they can buy one from asrock. If the company creating the gpu is getting abandoning the gpu so quickly why buy it from a 3rd party? Not when you can get a better overall product from nividia or amd (just more expensive)

 

[maflynn]

Let me put it another way, Intel has to do everything it can to show they're in the GPU market for the long haul. Discontinuing the A770 limited edition at a time when they're just getting a toe hold, is a horrible move imo.

 

[diamond.g]

Let me put it another way, Intel has to do everything it can to show they're in the GPU market for the long haul. Discontinuing the A770 limited edition at a time when they're just getting a toe hold, is a horrible move imo.

Yes, Intel has been sending mixed messages regarding Alchemist this whole time. I kind of feel like they need to hit Battlemage out of the park and really grab some market share. I am just not confident Intel leadership has their heart in it.

 

[salamanderjuice]

They

I don't think there's very many AIBs and in all honesty when people hear that intel is discontinuing the a770 they're not about to be relieved that they can buy one from asrock. If the company creating the gpu is getting abandoning the gpu so quickly why buy it from a 3rd party? Not when you can get a better overall product from nividia or amd (just more expensive)

To give board partners more room to breathe? I'd imagine Intel probably sucked up a good amount of air from them. It's still the cheapest GPU with 16GB vRAM by a wide margin.

 

[maflynn]

I kind of feel like they need to hit Battlemage out of the park

No question and if it gets delayed its going to be horrible news for intel. I do think the gains they made in marketshare (up to 3%) are going to get eroded from this move imo

 

[The point and shoot pro]

Am I reading this right? Intel is discontinuing their own A770 but you can still buy them from other card makers? If so, I have no problem with that. I really want to have a 770 with 13th gen chip for video work. It's really a great combo. I don't game for the most part so it does not bother me.

 

[mi7chy]

From a consumer standpoint it's better for Intel to let it fade quietly rather than make consumers even more wary of future driver support by publicly dropping a product. On the other hand, perhaps this Intel's way to avoid future litigation that consumers were mislead into buying a discontinued product. Bad timing for Intel to get into the GPU market but perhaps this will let them refocus on CPU performance efficiency otherwise they might lose that market too.

 

[maflynn]

From a consumer standpoint it's better for Intel to let it fade quietly

I disagree, I think its a bad look and gives consumers more pause on a product that already has an uncertain future.

Bad timing for Intel to get into the GPU market

The poor timing is of their own making, they had an opportunity to strike when the GPU market was red hot yet they struggled to get the card, drivers and software out the door and incurred numerous delays. Even when they were released in Oct 2022 the A750 and A770 were not in a finished state.

 

[maflynn]

Intel rumoured to be scaling back its next-gen Battlemage GPU

Bad news if this turns out to be true. I guess the site that broke the news has had a spotty success rate with this sort of stuff, but it does sound very intel like in its possible decision to scale back the GPU