Intel Arc A770 vs Arc A750 vs Nvidia RTX 3060: Which is the better choice for budget gaming in 2023?

The Intel Arc A770 is currently the top-of-the-line graphics card from Team Blue. It was launched to directly compete against the RTX 3060 from Nvidia, which is among the most popular graphics cards today. Alongside the Arc A770, the company also introduced the Arc A750, a slightly lower-end card launched for a hundred bucks less.

The A770, the RTX 3060, and the A750 aren't quite far apart in terms of overall performance. Industry experts have often touted the lower-end $229 card as better value for money over the A770 and the 3060. This might leave users confused.

In this article, we will pit the three GPUs against each other and find out which of them is worth the cash. The comparison will include everything from on-paper specs to real-world performance in video games and synthetic benchmarks.

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The Intel Arc A770 might be a better deal than the RTX 3060 and the A750

It's not possible to make an apples-to-apples on-paper comparison between the Intel Arc GPUs and the RTX 3060 since the graphics cards are based on wildly different architectures.

However, here's a quick rundown of what exactly the different GPUs bring to the table:

	Intel Arc A770	Intel Arc A750	Nvidia RTX 3060
Graphics processor	DG2-512	DG2-512	GA106
Cores	4,096	3,584	3,584
TMUs	256	224	112
ROPs	128	112	48
Base clock	2100 MHz	2050 MHz	1320 MHz
Boost clock	2400 MHz	2400 MHz	1777 MHz
Memory size	8/16 GB	8 GB	12 GB
Memory type	16 Gbps GDDR6	16 Gbps GDDR6	15 Gbps GDDR6
TDP	225 W	225 W	170 W
Price	$329/$349	$249	$329

It is worth noting that while the Arc A750 and the A770 are based on the same GPU, the DG2-512 is a massively cut-down version of the costlier Intel graphics cards.

The Arc A770 packs way more shading units and will draw much higher power while delivering peak performance. This is because Intel's Arc architecture is way newer than Nvidia's. Team Green has been making GPUs for over two decades now. Thus, it is expected to be not as fine-tuned as other veterans in the market.

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Performance differences

The real-world performance of the Intel Arc GPUs still isn't up to par with the hardware it packs. The main issue with the new graphics cards from Team Blue is the drivers. Thus, users can expect completely different performances depending on the scenario the GPUs are being tested in.

	Intel Arc A750	Intel Arc A770	Nvidia RTX 3060 12GB
3DMark Fire Strike Ultra	6968	7358	5296
3DMark Time Spy	12631	13121	8773

In synthetic benchmarks, both the Arc A750 and the A770 come off as faster than the RTX 3060. However, don't get your hopes up as the story completely flips in video games where the RTX 3060 takes a clear lead and the Arc A750 comes off as slower than the RTX 3050.

	Intel Arc A750	Nvidia RTX 3050	Intel Arc A770	Nvidia RTX 3060
PUBG	109	95	117	136
Assassin's Creed Valhalla	66	57	71	81
Cyberpunk 2077	56	47	59	69
Dota 2	227	272	228	281
Total War: Three Kingdoms	66	50	71	74
League of Legends	204	246	206	248

The performance of the Intel GPUs in video games is mostly patchy in older games that use DirectX 9 APIs, like Dota 2 and League of Legends. In these titles, both the Arc A770 and the A750 fall behind the Nvidia GPUs.

However, Intel engineers are hard at work, trying to improve performance in video games using older APIs. Performance has improved by heaps over the last few months and is expected to continue to improve with each driver update.

Unless you are specifically hoping to play older games, both the Arc A770 and the A750 are solid options. They are cheaper than their Nvidia counterparts and can outperfor them or match them closely in most modern video games. In addition, if you are a creative professional, the A770 just makes more sense, thanks to its raw rendering prowess.

However, if you play older video games a lot, the RTX 3050 is your best friend. It can run all DirectX 9-based games at up to 4K resolutions without dipping below 60 FPS.