Intel surprised PC gamers earlier this week with a price tag of $329 for its best Arc A770 GPU, which matches Nvidia’s RTX 3060 retail price. While it’s still hard to find an RTX 3060 for $329, Intel is now undercutting Nvidia’s popular GPU with a starting price of $289 for its A750, a card it says should pack a punch with the RTX 3060. .
We’re still waiting for independent reviews of the Arc A750, but Intel released 48 benchmarks last month showing it should be able to beat or come close to Nvidia’s RTX 3060 performance in modern games. Intel tested its A750 directly against the RTX 3060 in 42 DirectX 12 titles and six Vulkan games, and the results look promising.
Intel is clearly aiming for performance per dollar and budget PC gamers with its Arc GPUs, which is especially interesting if the company can actually ship its cards at recommended retail prices. Nvidia’s RTX 3060 should start at $329, but it’s still rare to find one in stock at that price. Amazon has a MSI RTX 3060 listed for $399 now and a Zotac RTX 3060 for about $379but nothing close to $329. It’s a similar story at Neweggwhere you’ll only find prizes close to $329 on cards that have been refurbished or in an open box.
Intel’s first A750 and A770 cards will ship on October 12. Here’s what to expect:
However, it’s still not clear which card makers outside of Intel itself will build these latest Arc GPUs. Intel lists some partners on its website, but most are OEMs. Only Asus, Gigabyte and MSI actually make GPUs, but they also make laptops. Intel has its own Limited Edition Arc models, but the company is not yet announcing any third-party board partners.
At $349 for a 16GB Arc A770 that may outperform an RTX 3060, Intel may be out of cards if they’re as limited as Nvidia’s Founders Edition models. “We don’t know if we’re going to have a supply problem or a demand problem,” Intel colleague Tom Petersen said in a news conference. “Hopefully we get a demand issue, in which case they’ll probably sell out pretty quickly.”
Now that the pricing and release dates for Intel’s Arc GPUs are finally here, all that’s left now is to see if Intel can truly match or beat Nvidia’s RTX 3060 at a lower price. Stay informed The edge more on that soon.
