Could Intel ARC be the "budget king" that Nvidia and AMD desperately lack?

Intel has officially confirmed multiple ARC Alchemist GPUs. The A770 and A750 GPUs will hit shelves on October 12 and have a competitive price tag of $329 and $289 respectively. The first generation of Team Blue graphics cards will mainly focus on performance and entry-level offerings.

The main idea of Intel CEO Patrick Gelsinger, as he conveyed at the Intel Innovation event, is that graphics cards have become crazy expensive over the past few years. Intel wants to change that by introducing GPUs at prices they were available five to six years back.

Thus, the company has introduced a Geforce RTX 3060 Ti and Radeon RX 6650 XT killer at a very competitive price of $329. Both of the aforementioned competitors are costlier when compared to the Intel offering. The Nvidia GPU sells at $489 these days, which makes $90 costlier than its intended MSRP.

Thus, Intel is targeting cost-effective offerings instead of going for the performance crown, a void both Nvidia and AMD have left unguarded.

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Can Intel win over the budget gamer audience with their ARC series?

The Intel A770 will launch at $329 (Image via Intel Graphics/YouTube)

A manufacturer has to tick several boxes to make a perfect budget-friendly product. This is especially true when it comes to graphics cards as they need to perform well in modern AAA games while having a decent price tag.

Creating a budget graphics card is incredibly difficult these days. Thus, the cheapest options that can run modern titles in 1080p with some compromises in visual fidelity at a decent framerate will cost gamers $180-$200 minimum.

In this world, Intel's upcoming graphics card promises 1080p gaming with no compromises and ray tracing turned on at $330. Although Intel has not officially declared this level of performance, both of its competitors are capable of the same.

The A750 will have a starting price of $289 (Image via Intel Graphics/YouTube)

Intel will also introduce the ARC A750 graphics card at a competitive price tag of $289. It is supposed to go head-to-head with the RTX 3060 12 GB video card.

Intel claims massive improvements in price and performance with the Alchemist lineup (Image via Intel Graphics/YouTube)

According to Intel, the lower-end ARC A750 will boast up to 53% better performance per dollar while the high-end A770 will come with a 42% better value proposition.

The Intel A750 vs the Nvidia RTX 3060 in optimized video games (Image via Intel Graphics/YouTube)

With Intel optimized titles, the Alchemist GPUs are supposed to perform the best. The ARC A750 beats the RTX 3060 by a solid margin in games like Dying Light 2: Stay Human, Metro Exodus, Watch Dogs: Legion, and more.

The Intel ARC A750 vs RTX 3060 (Image via Intel Graphics/YouTube)

However, when the GPUs are compared in other titles, the ARC A750 has to accept a loss in some while it beats the RTX 3060 in some others. Thus, the performance is a mixed bag.

The ARC A770 vs the RTX 3060 in terms of performance per dollar (Image via Intel Graphics/YouTube)

In terms of performance per dollar, Intel has some strong claims. Both of their upcoming Alchemist GPUs will beat RTX 3060 by a solid double digit margin when users consider the price factor.

Thus, it seems Intel is desperately trying to fill the void created in the budget market. However, some concrete conclusions can only be drawn once reviews of these graphics cards drop.