Intel’s entry-level Arc A380 will finally be launching in the US market next week. This midrange graphics card will be going on sale on the 22nd of August for $139, making it one of the cheapest on the market. Featuring 128 vector engines or 1,024 shaders, 8 ray tracing units, 128 XMX engines, and a core clock of 2,250MHz. The GPU is paired with 6GB of GDDR6 memory across a 96-bit bus running at 15. (https://cobblerexpress.com/) 5Gbps. The ASRock Challenger comes with a single-fan profile, making it ideal for SFF PCs. It does, however, come with an 8-pin power connector, needing a 500W power supply for optimal operation.
The Radeon RX 6400 4GB is currently going for $134 and offers better gaming performance despite having a smaller memory buffer. You can go through the initial tests below:
The Arc A380 is up to 20% slower than the Radeon RX 6400 with older DX11 titles seeing the largest deficit. DX12 and Vulkan-based games have a smaller delta, mostly in the 10-15% range with the performance set to increase as the graphics drivers mature. The GeForce GTX 1650, although pricier produces the same frame rates as the RX 6400 (with the same VRAM buffer). Essentially, you’re trading immature drivers for more stable ones.
Even though NVIDIA and AMD are set to launch their next-gen offerings in the coming months, we won’t be seeing the budget and entry-level offerings anytime soon. As such, the battlefield in this segment is going to remain largely the same for the foreseeable future.
