The memory specifications of Intel’s 1st Gen Arc graphics cards have leaked out. Internally known as DG1 (codenamed Alchemist), these SKUs are slated to launch in the coming months, first for notebooks and then the desktop “DIY” market. We already know that there are four primary dies that will power the first-gen Arc lineup. These are known as SKU1, SKU2, SKU3, and SKU4 with 512, 384, 256, and 128/96EUs, respectively.
The memory configurations of these dies have been spotted by @9950pro on Twitter. Going by the shared figures, it’d be safe to say that Intel will be competing with NVIDIA and AMD right from the $149 to the $549 segments. As expected, this includes the massively popular GeForce GTX 1650 to the haughty GeForce RTX 3070 Ti (Radeon RX 6800 on AMD’s end).
The higher-end SKU1 GPUs will feature 16Gbps eight VRAM dies paired with a 256-bit bus, resulting in a maximum memory bandwidth of 512GB/s. It’s worth noting that this is higher than the GeForce RTX 3070 which is limited to 448GB/s of external bandwidth, courtesy of the 14Gbps memory modules. AMD has already upgraded its Big Navi chips to the 16Gbps dies from Micron. Here, the RTX 3070 is the only 8GB card, with both its rivals featuring twice as much memory. This explains why NVIDIA is rushing to launch a 16GB variant.
The 384EU SKU2 is placed similarly next to the GeForce RTX 3060 and the Radeon RX 6700 XT. It combines a 192-bit bus with six 16Gbps modules, resulting in a bandwidth of 384GB/s, the same as the latter, marginally higher than the former. All three SKUs feature 6GB memory buffers.
SKU3 with 256EUs features four memory dies paired via a 128-bit bus to four memory dies, resulting in a bandwidth of 256GB/s. The 8GB memory buffer puts it on par (and maybe even slightly ahead) of the RTX 3050 which also comes with 8GB of 14Gbps memory. The Radeon RX 6500 XT with its 4GB memory is at a serious disadvantage here.
Finally, we have the entry-level SKU4 which will see widespread adoption in the notebook gaming market. It comes with a 64-bit bus paired to two 14Gbps memory dies (total= 4GB), resulting in a bandwidth of just 112GB/s. This GPU will feature 96-128EUs and go straight up against the GeForce GTX 1650/1650 Super.
