Intel Arc#Alchemist

According to Intel, the brand is named after the concept of story arcs found in video games.{{Cite web |last1=Ung |first1=Gordon |date=August 19, 2021 |title=Intel's Arc gaming GPU: Price, specs and availability |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/3629402/intels-arc-gaming-gpu-price-specs-and-availability.html |website=PCWorld |language=en-US |access-date=August 29, 2021 |archive-date=August 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829104354/https://www.pcworld.com/article/3629402/intels-arc-gaming-gpu-price-specs-and-availability.html |url-status=live}} Each generation of Arc is named after character classes sorted by each letter of the Latin alphabet in ascending order. They begin with A, then B, then C, and so on. The first generation is named Alchemist, while Battlemage, Celestial and Druid are the respective names for the second, third and fourth Arc generations.{{cite web |title=Intel Introduces New High-Performance Graphics Brand: Intel Arc |url=https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/newsroom/news/introducing-discrete-graphics-brand-intel-arc.html#gs.e4uo5u |website=Intel Newsroom |date=August 16, 2021 |access-date=October 5, 2022}}

File:Intel Arc A770 with Rubik's Cube-2.jpg for scale]]

Developed under the previous codename "DG2", the first generation of Intel Arc GPUs (codenamed "Alchemist") released on March 30, 2022.{{Cite web |last=hachman |first=Mark |date=March 14, 2022 |title=Intel will launch its Arc GPUs on March 30 |url=https://www.pcworld.com/article/623068/intel-will-launch-its-arc-gpus-on-march-30.html |website=PCWorld |language=en-US |access-date=December 25, 2023}}{{Cite web |last1=Rutherford |first1=Sam |date=August 16, 2021 |title=Intel Names New Brand of GPUs That Will Hit Shelves Next Year |url=https://gizmodo.com/intel-names-new-brand-of-gpus-that-will-hit-shelves-nex-1847493648 |website=Gizmodo |language=en-US |access-date=August 29, 2021 |archive-date=January 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220103155200/https://gizmodo.com/intel-names-new-brand-of-gpus-that-will-hit-shelves-nex-1847493648 |url-status=live}} It comes in both add-on desktop card and laptop form factors. TSMC manufactures the die, using their N6 process.{{Cite web |last1=Cunningham |first1=Andrew |date=August 20, 2021 |title=Intel provides more details on its Arc GPUs, which will be made by TSMC|url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/intel-provides-more-details-on-its-arc-gpus-which-will-be-made-by-tsmc/ |website=Ars Technica |language=en-US |access-date=August 29, 2021 |archive-date=August 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829104355/https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/08/intel-provides-more-details-on-its-arc-gpus-which-will-be-made-by-tsmc/ |url-status=live}}

Alchemist uses the Intel Xe GPU architecture, or more specifically, the Xe-HPG variant. Alchemist supports hardware-based ray tracing, XeSS or supersampling based on neural networks (similar to Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR), and DirectX 12 Ultimate.{{cite web |title=Intel® Arc™ A-series Graphics Gaming API Guide |url=https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/guide/arc-a-series-gaming-api-developer-optimization.html |website=Intel |language=en-US |access-date=September 15, 2022 |archive-date=July 20, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720172259/https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/developer/articles/guide/arc-a-series-gaming-api-developer-optimization.html |url-status=live}} Also supported are DisplayPort 2.0 and overclocking. AV1 fixed-function hardware encoder is included in Alchemist GPUs as part of the Intel Quick Sync Video core.{{Cite web |last1=Szewczyk |first1=Chris |date=April 4, 2022 |title=Intel Arc GPUs will support AV1 encode and decode |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/intel-arc-gpus-will-support-av1-encode-and-decode/ |website=PC Gamer |access-date=September 15, 2022 |archive-date=July 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706101018/https://www.pcgamer.com/intel-arc-gpus-will-support-av1-encode-and-decode/ |url-status=live}}

Intel confirmed ASTC support has been removed from hardware starting with Alchemist and future Arc GPU microarchitectures will also not support it.{{Cite web |title=intel: ASTC support was removed on Gfx12.5 (!13206) · Merge requests · Mesa / mesa · GitLab |url=https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/merge_requests/13206 |website=GitLab |date=October 5, 2021 |access-date=October 7, 2021 |archive-date=October 7, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211007123652/https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/mesa/mesa/-/merge_requests/13206 |url-status=live}}

Arc Alchemist does not support SR-IOV{{cite web |title=Graphics Virtualization Technologies Support for Each Intel Graphics Family

|url=https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000093216/graphics.html |website=Intel |language=en-US |access-date=September 15, 2022 |archive-date=August 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809091118/https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091656/graphics.html |url-status=live}} or Direct3D 9 natively, instead falling back on the D3D9On12 wrapper which translates Direct3D 9 calls to their Direct3D 12 equivalents.{{cite web |title=Which Intel® Graphics Products Support DirectX 9* (DX9)? |url=https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091238/graphics.html |website=Intel |language=en-US |access-date=September 15, 2022 |archive-date=August 27, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220827124053/https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091238/graphics.html |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |last1=Killian |first1=Zak |date=August 15, 2022 |title=Intel Xe And Arc Graphics Lack DX9 Support Forcing DX12 Emulation |url=https://hothardware.com/news/intel-xe-and-arc-graphics-d3d9on12 |website=HotHardware |language=en-US |access-date=October 10, 2022}}

Arc support OpenCL 3.0{{efn|name="OpenCL3.0"|In OpenCL 3.0, OpenCL 1.2 functionality has become a mandatory baseline, while all OpenCL 2.x and OpenCL 3.0 features were made optional.|group=note}} for example, this GPU can work in the grid World Community Grid.{{Cite web |title=Help |url=https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/help/topic.s?shortName=GPU |website=World Community Grid |language=en-US |access-date=September 15, 2022}}

Display connections: DisplayPort 2.0 (40 Gbit/s bandwidth) and HDMI 2.1

{{Intel Arc Alchemist}}

{{Intel Arc Alchemist Mobile}}

{{Intel Arc Alchemist Workstation}}

Battlemage (X^e2) is the second-generation X^e architecture that debuted with its low power variant in Lunar Lake mobile processors that released in September 2024.{{cite web |last1=Lam |first1=Chester |date=October 8, 2024 |title=Lunar Lake's iGPU: Debut of Intel's Xe2 Architecture |url=https://chipsandcheese.com/p/lunar-lakes-igpu-debut-of-intels |website=Chips and Cheese |language=en-US |access-date=December 3, 2024}} On December 3, 2024, Intel announced two Arc B-Series desktop graphics cards based on the X^e2-HPG graphics architecture.{{cite web |last1=Hollister |first1=Sean |date=December 3, 2024 |title=Intel announces $249 Arc B580 and $219 Arc B570 'Battlemage' graphics cards |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/3/24311887/intel-battlemage-b580-b570-price-release-date |website=The Verge |language=en-US |access-date=December 3, 2024}}

{{Intel Arc Battlemage}}

Intel also revealed future generations of Intel Arc GPUs under development: Celestial (X^e3), and Druid (X^e4).{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Ryan |date=August 16, 2021 |title=Intel Video Cards Get a Brand Name: Arc, Starting with 'Alchemist' in Q1 2022 |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/16886/intel-video-cards-get-a-brand-name-arc-coming-q1-2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220108230710/https://www.anandtech.com/show/16886/intel-video-cards-get-a-brand-name-arc-coming-q1-2022 |archive-date=January 8, 2022 |access-date=August 29, 2021 |website=AnandTech}}

Intel revealed that Meteor Lake and later generations of CPU SoCs uses an Intel Arc Tile GPU.{{Cite web |last1=Smith |first1=Ryan |date=February 17, 2022 |title=Intel Meteor Lake Client Processors to use Arc Graphics Chiplets |url=https://www.anandtech.com/show/17264/intel-meteor-lake-client-processors-to-use-arc-graphics-chiplets |website=AnandTech |access-date=February 17, 2022 |archive-date=February 17, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220217181425/https://www.anandtech.com/show/17264/intel-meteor-lake-client-processors-to-use-arc-graphics-chiplets |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |last=Sripada |first=Radhakrishna |date=July 7, 2022 |title=[Intel-gfx] [PATCH 0/2] i915: Introduce Meteorlake |url=https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/intel-gfx/2022-July/301011.html |website=Free Desktop |access-date=September 15, 2022 |archive-date=July 7, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220707194456/https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/intel-gfx/2022-July/301011.html |url-status=live}}

Intel XeSS is a real-time deep learning image upsampling technology developed primarily for use in video games as a competitor to Nvidia's DLSS and AMD's FSR technologies. Additionally, XeSS is not restricted to Arc graphics cards. It utilizes XMX instructions exclusive to Arc graphics cards, but will fall back to utilizing DP4a instructions on competing GPUs that have support for DP4a instructions. XeSS is trained with 64 samples per pixel as opposed to Nvidia DLSS's 16 samples per pixel (16K reference images).{{Cite web |last1=Solca |first1=Bogdan |date=August 8, 2022 |title=More details on Intel's AI-based Xe SuperSampling tech launching with the ARC GPUs revealed by principal engineer |url=https://www.notebookcheck.net/More-details-on-Intel-s-AI-based-Xe-SuperSampling-tech-launching-with-the-ARC-GPUs-revealed-by-principal-engineer.556659.0.html |website=NotebookCheck |access-date=July 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703025535/https://www.notebookcheck.net/More-details-on-Intel-s-AI-based-Xe-SuperSampling-tech-launching-with-the-ARC-GPUs-revealed-by-principal-engineer.556659.0.html |archive-date=July 3, 2022}}{{Cite web |title=Intel® Iris® Xe MAX Graphics Open Source Programmer's Reference Manual For the 2020 Discrete GPU formerly named "DG1" Volume 11: Media Engines February 2021, Revision 1.0 |url=https://01.org/sites/default/files/documentation/intel-gfx-prm-osrc-dg1-vol11-mediaengines.pdf |website=Intel |access-date=September 15, 2022 |archive-date=July 3, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703025311/https://01.org/sites/default/files/documentation/intel-gfx-prm-osrc-dg1-vol11-mediaengines.pdf |url-status=live}}

{{notelist|refs=

{{efn|name=scale-factor| The linear scale factor used for upsampling the input resolution to the output resolution. For example, a scene rendered at 540p with a 2.00× scale factor would have an output resolution of 1080p.}}

{{efn|name=render-scale| The linear render scale, compared to the output resolution, that the technology uses to render scenes internally before upsampling. For example, a 1080p scene with a 50% render scale would have an internal resolution of 540p.}}

{{efn|name=preset-disclaimer| The algorithm does not necessarily need to be implemented using these presets; it is possible for the implementer to define custom input and output resolutions.}}

}}

Performance on Intel Arc GPUs has suffered from poor driver support, particularly at launch. An investigation by Gamers Nexus discovered 43 known driver issues with Arc GPUs, prompting a response and acknowledgement of the issues from Intel.{{cite web |author=Gamers Nexus |date=August 1, 2022 |title=Worst We've Tested: Broken Intel Arc GPU Drivers |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjYSeT-T5uk&ab_channel=GamersNexus |website=YouTube |language=en-US |access-date=December 8, 2022}}{{cite web |last1=McLoughlin |first1=Aleksha |date=October 8, 2022 |title=Intel Arc driver issues – Are they fixed? |url=https://www.pcguide.com/gpu/intel-arc-driver-issues-are-they-fixed/ |website=PC Guide |language=en-US |access-date=December 8, 2022}}{{cite web |last1=Pearce |first1=Lisa |date=August 19, 2022 |title=Engineering Arc - 8/19/2022 |url=https://community.intel.com/t5/Blogs/Products-and-Solutions/Gaming/Engineering-Arc-8-19-2022/post/1407637 |website=Intel |language=en-US |access-date=December 8, 2022}} Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger also blamed driver problems as a reason for Arc's delayed launch.{{cite web |last1=Cunningham |first1=Andrew |date=August 9, 2022 |title=Rumors, delays, and early testing suggest Intel's Arc GPUs are on shaky ground |url=https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/rumors-delays-and-early-testing-suggest-intels-arc-gpus-are-on-shaky-ground/ |website=Ars Technica |language=en-US |access-date=December 8, 2022}} A beta driver from October 2022 accidentally reduced the memory clock by 9% on the Arc A770 from 2187{{nbsp}}MHz to 2000{{nbsp}}MHz, resulting in a 17% reduction in memory bandwidth.{{cite web |title=Some Intel Arc A770 Limited Edition GPUs may show up with lower memory clock |url=https://videocardz.com/newz/some-intel-arc-a770-limited-edition-gpus-may-show-up-with-lower-memory-clock |website=VideoCardz |language=en-US |date=October 24, 2022 |access-date=December 8, 2022}} This particular issue was later fixed.{{cite web |last1=Klotz |first1=Aaron |date=October 28, 2022 |title=Intel Arc A770 GPU Memory Clock Bug Fixed With Driver Update |url=https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-fixes-low-memory-clocks-a770 |website=Tom's Hardware |language=en-US |access-date=December 8, 2022}} Intel provides an open source driver for Linux.{{cite web |last=Larabel |first=Michael |date=August 25, 2022 |title=Intel Arc Graphics Running On Fully Open-Source Linux Driver |url=https://www.phoronix.com/review/intel-arc-graphics-linux |website=Phoronix |language=en-US |access-date=January 13, 2023}}

As of the Alchemist generation, Arc only includes direct hardware support for the DirectX 11 & 12 and Vulkan graphics APIs, with the older DirectX 9 & 10 and OpenGL APIs being supported via a real-time compatibility layer built into Intel's graphics driver.{{cite web |last1=Roach |first1=Jacob |date=August 22, 2022 |title=Bad news: Intel's Arc GPU issues run much deeper than performance |url=https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/intel-arc-alchemist-driver-issues-compound/ |website=Digital Trends |language=en-US |access-date=December 8, 2022}} As a result, Alchemist GPUs perform noticeably worse than competing Nvidia and AMD GPUs in software that can only use these older APIs, including multiple DirectX 9-based esports games such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, League of Legends and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.{{cite web |last1=Kan |first1=Michael |date=December 7, 2022 |title=With New Driver, Intel Arc GPUs Run Older DirectX 9 Games Up to 79% Faster |url=https://uk.pcmag.com/graphics-cards/144245/with-new-driver-intel-arc-gpus-run-older-directx9-games-up-to-79-faster |website=PCMag |language=en-GB |access-date=December 8, 2022}} There is also a performance gap between DirectX 11 and DirectX 12.

A December 2022 driver update improved Arc compatibility and performance with DirectX 9-based games.{{cite web |last=Shrout |first=Ryan |date=December 6, 2022 |title=Upward Trajectory: Improvements to DirectX 9 Games on Intel® Arc™ Graphics |url=https://game.intel.com/story/intel-arc-graphics-directx9/ |website=Intel |language=en-US |access-date=December 8, 2022 |archive-date=June 16, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230616014637/https://game.intel.com/story/intel-arc-graphics-directx9/ |url-status=dead}} According to Intel, the driver update made Arc GPUs up to 1.8x faster in DirectX 9 games.{{cite web |title=Intel Arc GPUs get performance boost for DirectX 9 games, CS:GO now up to 1.8x faster |url=https://videocardz.com/newz/intel-arc-gpus-get-performance-boost-for-directx-9-games-csgo-now-up-to-1-8x-faster |website=VideoCardz |language=en-US |date=December 7, 2022 |access-date=December 8, 2022}} A February 2023 driver update further improved Arc's performance on DirectX 9-based games.{{cite web |title=Intel Arc Graphics Updates, New Bundle, and Pricing |url=https://game.intel.com/story/intel-arc-graphics-unleashing/ |website=Intel |language=en-US |access-date=February 1, 2023 |archive-date=October 1, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001043414/https://game.intel.com/story/intel-arc-graphics-unleashing/ |url-status=dead}}

Intel Arc requires a UEFI BIOS with resizable BAR support for optimal performance. {{Cite web |title=Intel® Arc™ A-Series Graphics – Desktop Quick Start... |url=https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000091128/graphics.html |website=Intel |language=en-US |access-date=July 4, 2024}} UEFI Class 1 and Class 2 BIOS are not supported by Intel Arc.

{{Reflist}}

• [https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/docs/arc-discrete-graphics/overview.html Official website]
• [https://software.intel.com/content/www/us/en/develop/tools/graphics-performance-analyzers.html Intel Graphics Performance Analyzers 2024.1]

{{Graphics Processing Unit}}

{{Intel}}

Category:Computer-related introductions in 2022

Category:Graphics processing units

Category:Graphics cards

Category:Intel graphics