Intel ARC A750 & A770 Reviews

I been thinking about getting something with more vram with AMD and Nvidia being long gone with the new pricing! Intel has been working hard and they have a new AIB building ARC cards with SPARKLE, they have a new line of ARC cards like the A310 ELF 4Gb for $110, they had the cheapest A770 / 16Gb card at $319 so I applied for one to review with the hopes that Intel keeps building up the drivers and driver team.

here is the card that I bought https://www.newegg.com/sparkle-arc-a770-sa770t-16goc/p/N82E16814993004
Date First AvailableSeptember 12, 2023
 
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CAD4466HK said:
Awesome. Now all you need to do is turn off VSync so we can see how much of an animal it is
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I'll give it a go and will report back.

This card is a lot of fun to overclock, the Arc Control app is actually pretty decent despite being very basic. Just playing around with 3DMark and trying to find the sweet spot I'm getting stable 2624 MHz with temps peaking at 82c, still playing with settings so I'm hoping to squeeze a little more out of it.

ac1.JPG

The top scores on 3DMark are showing a couple of outliers running at 3100+ MHz, although 2700 - 2800 is more common at the top, all the top performers are paired with an Intel CPU, unsurprising.

3d1.JPG
 
Intel states that the A770 is PCIe 3 / 4 / 5 ready. does anyone even make a motherboard that is PCIe 5 just for the video card?
 
crazycrave said:
How would Intel even know if it's PCIe 5 ready? and is that something to think about down the road if Intel's plans to move the card forward to a different phase with the drivers.
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because pcie 5 slots already exist. no, has nothing to do with drivers.
 
Been about a week with the A770 and I am pretty pleased.

Crashing in Starfield is a definite problem, it seems to happen when transitioning between the game and the screen where you access map/inventory etc, it can be mitigated by regular quick saves but personally I'm going to wait for further updates before I invest proper time in the game. In every other game and application I use there have been absolutely no problems at all, it performs really well. Going to try rendering some video soon, this is an area where it's said to excel.
 
Folly said:
Been about a week with the A770 and I am pretty pleased.

Crashing in Starfield is a definite problem, it seems to happen when transitioning between the game and the screen where you access map/inventory etc, it can be mitigated by regular quick saves but personally I'm going to wait for further updates before I invest proper time in the game. In every other game and application I use there have been absolutely no problems at all, it performs really well. Going to try rendering some video soon, this is an area where it's said to excel.
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Is vsync on? It could be spinning out thousands of frames and causing a hardware fault. Used to happen a lot with menu transitions...maybe it still does, haven't really been paying much attention recently.
 
Nobu said:
Is vsync on? It could be spinning out thousands of frames and causing a hardware fault. Used to happen a lot with menu transitions...maybe it still does, haven't really been paying much attention recently.
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I disabled vsync and it still happened.
 
Folly said:
I disabled vsync and it still happened.
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If VSync is on it should limit the framerate to your monitor's refresh rate or somewhere in the variable refresh rate range of your monitor, which would prevent the problem.

But if it happens either way, then it's probably some other issue.
 
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crazycrave said:
Intel states that the A770 is PCIe 3 / 4 / 5 ready. does anyone even make a motherboard that is PCIe 5 just for the video card?
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My AsRock Z790 Steel Legend WiFi has 3 PCIe slots, listed as:
CPU:
- 1 x PCIe 5.0 x16 Slot (PCIE1), supports x16 mode*
Chipset:
- 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot (PCIE2), supports x4 mode*
- 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 Slot (PCIE3), supports x2 mode*

It does also support PCIe 5.0 for one M.2 as well (which drops the GPU to x8 lanes if used).

-bZj
 
Down8 said:
My AsRock Z790 Steel Legend WiFi has 3 PCIe slots, listed as:
CPU:
- 1 x PCIe 5.0 x16 Slot (PCIE1), supports x16 mode*
Chipset:
- 1 x PCIe 4.0 x16 Slot (PCIE2), supports x4 mode*
- 1 x PCIe 3.0 x16 Slot (PCIE3), supports x2 mode*

It does also support PCIe 5.0 for one M.2 as well (which drops the GPU to x8 lanes if used).

-bZj
Click to expand...

Sound like you should buy the $199 A750 to test that out just for the bragging rights as I know your 12600K should also link up the iGpu to the Arc gpu.
 
I was seriously considering an Arc card before stepping up to the RX7800XT. I figured I'd take the extra performance if I was gonna spend the extra dough.

I don't have much cause to run dual cards, though. Until I can toss in an Intel A60 for some AI or something....

-bZj
 
Nobu said:
If VSync is on it should limit the framerate to your monitor's refresh rate or somewhere in the variable refresh rate range of your monitor, which would prevent the problem.

But if it happens either way, then it's probably some other issue.
Click to expand...
Iit can run for up to around an hour without issue, combat, in the city, spaceflight, various menus etc, and then it'll just crash to desktop out of the blue, usually when transitioning from one game type to another or in and out of menus. My current last save won't even let me load in, it crashes as soon as loading finishes.

Definitely an issue with card compatibility, when it runs it's fine though, but the crashing wears thin after a while, and constantly saving progress kind of ruins any immersion. I was expecting this and similar problems when I bought the card, happy to wait for further updates.
 
I wonder if the A310 and A380 are PCIe 5 ready? they even make a low profile A380 now for $120, on newegg they state the ASRock A380 can do Ray Tracing.

Take your gaming experience to the next level with Xe Super Sampling (XeSS), Intel’s AI-enhanced upscaling technology, for more performance and fluid gaming on popular titles.

Support for DirectX12 Ultimate takes your gaming to a new level of realism with the latest graphics technologies including ray tracing, variable rate shading, mesh shading, and sampler feedback — the fundamentals for next-gen gaming.
 
I have the Intel Arc Sparkle A770 16gb in hand now, 300mm / 3 fan card, my case is too small for it right now and needs modding.
 
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cyberpunk 2077 2.0, 12700 32gig 3200 C16 intel arc A770LE 16G

preset low RT
avg 58.21
min 48.25
max 69.05

preset medium RT
avg 57.90
min 48.27
max 64.24

preset ultra RT
avg 11.40
min 9.00
max 16.26
 
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More games to add to the problem free list...

Football Manager 2023 - More CPU intensive game but it plays with graphics maxed out no issues.
Total War: Rome Remastered - Everything maxed out including 'experimental' Huge units, no issues after several hours FPS between 60 and 80 in big battles.
BeamNG.Drive - It's so great to finally play this on Ultra, FPS varies depending on the map but I never saw them dip below 65 and that was at the saw mill, otherwise pretty stable between mid 70's and mid 90's.

20230924100548_1.jpg
20230924101734_1.jpg
20230924104421_1.jpg

Further to the Starfield issues, I switched driver to the Beta and the crashing is much less severe, I had the 'pro' driver before which I guess is the safe option, Beta crashing seems to be reduced massively, I managed a couple of hours last night with only one incident.
 
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I found out my Coolermaster box nr 400 will take 340mm video cards without a front rad, just need a better power supply as the Evga one I have does not have two 8 pins connections (RX 6600) is what is in there now. so, it will be on a B550/ 5600x or 5700x system and a different setup from Intel.

my card looks like this but A770 16Gb


View: https://youtu.be/VhMZsD4v3CA?si=aIOylmM8y-Rq_vkN
 
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crazycrave said:
I found out my Coolermaster box nr 400 will take 340mm video cards without a front rad, just need a better power supply as the Evga one I have does not have two 8 pins connections (RX 6600) is what is in there now. so, it will be on a B550/ 5600x or 5700x system and a different setup from Intel.

my card looks like this but A770 16Gb
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Nice touch with the card logo becoming redder the hotter it gets, I have the Acer Predator, be interesting to see how they compare on clocks and temps.
 
It up and running, my issue is the fans on card ramp up under load and never back down unless I reboot the computer and then it fine, no way to control fans so far.
 
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crazycrave said:
It up and running, my issue is the fans on card ramp up under load and never back down unless I reboot the computer and then it fine, no way to control fans so far.
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Have you tried the arc Control fan tool?

intfan.JPG
 
crazycrave said:
I wonder if the A310 and A380 are PCIe 5 ready? they even make a low profile A380 now for $120, on newegg they state the ASRock A380 can do Ray Tracing.

Take your gaming experience to the next level with Xe Super Sampling (XeSS), Intel’s AI-enhanced upscaling technology, for more performance and fluid gaming on popular titles.

Support for DirectX12 Ultimate takes your gaming to a new level of realism with the latest graphics technologies including ray tracing, variable rate shading, mesh shading, and sampler feedback — the fundamentals for next-gen gaming.
Click to expand...
Why would PCI-e 5.0 matter for budget cards? Doubt they would even saturate a 3.0 slot.
 
Folly said:
More games to add to the problem free list...

Football Manager 2023 - More CPU intensive game but it plays with graphics maxed out no issues.
Total War: Rome Remastered - Everything maxed out including 'experimental' Huge units, no issues after several hours FPS between 60 and 80 in big battles.
BeamNG.Drive - It's so great to finally play this on Ultra, FPS varies depending on the map but I never saw them dip below 65 and that was at the saw mill, otherwise pretty stable between mid 70's and mid 90's.

View attachment 600865
View attachment 600866
View attachment 600867

Further to the Starfield issues, I switched driver to the Beta and the crashing is much less severe, I had the 'pro' driver before which I guess is the safe option, Beta crashing seems to be reduced massively, I managed a couple of hours last night with only one incident.
Click to expand...
The 4826 (latest beta) driver was set to fix a bunch of games.
 
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Saabjock said:
The 4826 (latest beta) driver was set to fix a bunch of games.
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I reinstalled the card and put that driver on it, it is fine so far but 3D Mark will not let me show any scores of the card, seems ufo to them as never seen hardware.
 
Saabjock said:
The 4826 (latest beta) driver was set to fix a bunch of games.
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They give me a new driver 4885 this morning, unknown what changes but a lot of speed was added to a list of games.

After reading Intel's info which really never says anything about AMD systems, and you want to run drivers like beta, in order to run just the beta driver on my AM4 system, just uninstall with DDU and reboot, install the beta driver but not the Arc control panel, you will have no recording software or gpu control without the panel, what this does it removes that updating (looking for a new driver) Intel has made the driver for OEM system builders and AMD is not one of those as why it keeps kicking me back to 4502 OEM driver. so, without the control panel it cannot update itself and you need to use gpu -z and afterburner to watch the card.
 
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Since the last driver update (4885) I've had no issues, and with Starfield devs finally giving Arc some love in the last patch I'm even able to play that game crash free.
 
Folly said:
Since the last driver update (4885) I've had no issues, and with Starfield devs finally giving Arc some love in the last patch I'm even able to play that game crash free.
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Just to reiterate, there has been another driver update (4887) which adds significant improvements to Starfield and other titles.

It's now been more than 3 weeks since I experienced a crash, that includes playing various games, video recording, editing and rendering, general web browsing and word processing etc. Although I'm sure there are still issues to be resolved it's reached the point now where I feel confident enough to dismantle my old workhorse rig and officially make this my daily driver.

For anyone on the fence now would be a good time to take the plunge, the better Intel does the better we all do in terms of the future of the GPU market, a new horse entered the race and despite lacking pedigree and starting from way back is already competitive, that's got to be a good thing, Intel is the Seabiscuit of GPU manufacturers.
 
How is the A770 for playing recent titles at 4k, and how well does it run games that use DX11 or earlier? I need to build a new system in the next few months and I really don't feel like paying AMD or Nvidia upwards of a 1000 to 1200 bucks for a card since I don't game a lot these days.

Also is there an 800 series or more powerful 700 series than the 770 on the way anytime soon?

​

 
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peppergomez said:
How is the A770 for playing recent titles at 4k, and how well does it run games that use DX11 or earlier? I need to build a new system in the next few months and I really don't feel like paying AMD or Nvidia upwards of a 1000 to 1200 bucks for a card since I don't game a lot these days.

Also is there an 800 series or more powerful 700 series than the 770 on the way anytime soon?

​

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It's very much geared up to tackle the latest software, although they have done a lot of work with the drivers increasing compatibility with older games. If I get time I'll try a few older titles over the weekend and report back. If you can list some games you're particularly interested in I'll try them, or similar if I don't own them.

A770 is effectively a mid range card and not designed to compete with the top end Nvidia or AMD cards, so 4K is a stretch, it's going to be able to perform some tasks at that resolution but it will struggle with others. It's very much an extremely capable 1080p and very capable 1440p card, it's main rivals are the RX7600 and RTX4060. The A770 is the top card of this generation, there's no indication that they intend to bring anything out that's more powerful, next gen may be interesting though as they will have learned much and may feel confident enough to push into that space.
 
Folly said:
It's very much geared up to tackle the latest software, although they have done a lot of work with the drivers increasing compatibility with older games. If I get time I'll try a few older titles over the weekend and report back. If you can list some games you're particularly interested in I'll try them, or similar if I don't own them.

A770 is effectively a mid range card and not designed to compete with the top end Nvidia or AMD cards, so 4K is a stretch, it's going to be able to perform some tasks at that resolution but it will struggle with others. It's very much an extremely capable 1080p and very capable 1440p card, it's main rivals are the RX7600 and RTX4060. The A770 is the top card of this generation, there's no indication that they intend to bring anything out that's more powerful, next gen may be interesting though as they will have learned much and may feel confident enough to push into that space.
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Thanks!

Red Dead Redemption 2 and STALKER GAMMA are two titles I would want to play at 4k
One review I read said the ARC cards don't run Vulkan games well
 
peppergomez said:
Thanks!

Red Dead Redemption 2 and STALKER GAMMA are two titles I would want to play at 4k
One review I read said the ARC cards don't run Vulkan games well
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Good Lord, where did you read that last bit? Arc chews through Vulkan and DX12 fine, and it's definitely not worse than AMD for OpenGL. It's just DX11 where things get iffy, and older DirectX titles where you'll want to explore DXVK and other options.

I'm somehow running two Arc cards here, one in the ITX family PC (Sparkle A380, a nice upgrade over its 5700GE video) and an 8GB Intel A750 in my 11900F. The A380 is quite lovely for a 75W part, drives an older 1200p IPS display without a care in the world, and handles my kids' casual games and apps with zero issues. The A750 was pretty rough out of the gate, but Intel's been doing yeoman's work with the drivers and I've been genuinely happy with it. Here's hoping they finish mainlining the Xe driver for Linux at some point, so I can toss the card into my Power9 machine for a noticeable bump over the RX 6600 currently in there.
 
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If you want to run the majority of your games in 4K using an A770 then like other mid range cards the answer is upgrade. It does well at 1080P and 1440P but struggles like others at 4k. Kudos to Intel continuing to improve the software side.
 
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