If Intel's return to the world of dedicated graphics cards was highly anticipated, the result seems to have disappointed users.
Since the abandonment of the Larrabee project in 2009 - but made official only in 2010 - Intel had been focusing on the development of very modest graphics solutions, designed to be associated with the brand's CPUs, as iGPUs(integrated GPUs). However, the American company had never completely given up on the idea of returning to the dedicated graphics card segment, and the announcement of the ARC architecture was seen as a new hope to shake up a universe dominated by AMD and NVIDIA. Could a third player be the right one to bring the wind of change?
The ARC Alchemist graphics cards - the first generation to mark Intel's return - were released in 2022 in some countries around the world, but it was not until February 2023 that French-speaking wholesalers and resellers actually offered them. Since then, the ARC A380, A750 and A770 models have been distributed - the A580 is invisible - and even then, it is the A750 that does most of the deliveries. Deliveries are not lacking, as can be seen by looking at the main retailers in France: the card is in stock almost everywhere.
The PC21.fr website even displays a real-time stock status and we can see that the cards are in interesting quantities with 20 or 30 available here. More interesting, the Intel ARC A750 Limited is even displayed with more than 1 100 units directly available. The shortages linked to the Covid-19 pandemic had not accustomed us to such a stock. That said, if we are happy that the products are finally on the shelves, we can still ask ourselves why so many Intel boards are still on sale while AMD or NVIDIA are less numerous. The answer is simple: they don't go away.
Numerous tests have shown that the ARC A750, in particular, does not have to be ashamed of the comparison with the competing models from AMD and NVIDIA. In fact, it has a much better quality/price ratio, but Intel is probably paying for its chaotic communication during the last year. It is also certainly paying for its relative lack of notoriety in the graphics sector. Finally, let's face it: Intel comes at the worst possible time with cards that are perceived as being from an earlier generation, while recent inflation is pushing people to prioritize their purchases. A graphics card is still less important than many other things.
