Intel is here to shake up the graphics card market with Arc and its mid-range entry, the Intel Arc A750 Limited Edition GPU. While both AMD and NVIDIA have been pushing out flagship GPUs that dominate the high-end, Intel has been taking things slow, releasing cards that deliver on performance while still being affordable. It may not be going head-to-head with the latest 40-series, but it doesn’t have to, as the Intel Arc A750 GPU aims to capture the 1080P market while still delivering the latest features gamers crave.
With 28 Xe-cores as the building blocks of the Xe-HPG Architecture, the Arc A750 GPU offers a moderately scaled-down version of its sister GPU, the Arc A770. It is only four Xe-cores below the 32 Xe-cores that the Arc A770 has. In terms of performance, it’s not too far off from that card, but it’s a little slower and has half the memory, so the card will have its limits.
The included 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM is enough to power the Arc A750 GPU’s gaming content at 1080P and even 60FPS at 1440P. With the card paired with a good QHD or 1080P display, the Arc A750 should be more than capable of delivering a fantastic gaming experience at a fraction of the price of the latest flagship cards. The card is even capable of handling some 4K content, although due to the limitations of the hardware, 60FPS will be out of reach for most games.
| Arc A770 16GB | Arc A770 8GB | Arc A750 8GB | |
| Xe Cores | 32 | 32 | 28 |
| Graphics Clock | 2100MHz | 2100MHz | 2050MHz |
| TBP | 225W | 225W | 225W |
| Memory Size | 16GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR6 |
| Memory Interface | 256-bit | 256-bit | 256-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 560GB/s | 512GB/s | 512GB/s |
In terms of looks, the Intel Arc A750 is a modest but good-looking card. It manages to be much smaller than many of the massive RTX 40-series or even the slightly smaller AMD RX 7000-series cards. The dual cooler design is simple and looks good in a system without being overwhelming. I also love how quiet the GPU is, even under load. I barely noticed it running, and even with that fact, the card ran very cool, something not seen with many of the beefier GPU offerings. The card also manages to feature a healthy level of I/O, with one HDMI 2.1 port and three DVI 2.0 ports, ready for a range of displays.
While this all sounds great, it is worth noting that there are limits to the Arc’s performance at this time. Intel’s Alchemist GPU Architecture performs better in games that use either the DX12 or Vulkan APIs. Essentially, the more modern APIs are best suited for the Alchemist GPU Architecture. With Intel drivers focused on delivering great performance in modern games, older games using DirectX 11 will suffer, although Intel is working to improve this over time.
There are still plenty of games that rely on DirectX 11, including League of Legends and CS:GO, while others have added support for DirectX 12 in recent updates. Fortunately, while these games will not see the optimal performance that the card can deliver due to their relatively low demands on the system, they should still play well with few issues, although it is disappointing to see the card not at full power for games that many people still play and enjoy.
“…the Intel Arc A750 delivers solid results in a range of games at 1080P.”
As we did with the recent GPU reviews, including the RX 7900 XTX, and RX 7900 XT cards, we slotted the Intel Arc A750 into our quiet! Dark Base Pro 900 test system with the 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900K, MSI 850W PSU, 64 GB SK Hynix DDR5, and a PCIe Gen 4 2 TB Kingston Fury M.2 SSD. This will keep all variables the same and give us a better idea of just how well the latest from NVIDIA fares against the competition.
Another thing to note before we go any further is that you should also be aware that you will need your CPU and motherboard to support the Resize BAR if you want to get the maximum performance out of this GPU. Having a modern CPU, whether it is an Intel or AMD CPU, whether it is 10th generation or Ryzen 3000 generation, is not a problem at all. All current Arc GPUs, including the A750, will be affected. While the card will still run, you could see a significant drop in performance, with it delivering 20-30% less performance compared to when Resize BAR is active on the system.
Out of the gate, the Intel Arc A750 delivers solid results in a range of games at 1080P. It may not be able to keep up with cards like the AMD RX 7900XT or the slightly older NVIDIA RTX 3070, but it manages to hold its own against the NVIDIA RTX 3060 and the AMD RX 6600 XT, both still solid cards, and great choices for mid-range gamers. There are a few games that prefer AMD and leave the Intel Arc A750 in the dust, like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, but overall these cards feel very fairly matched.
When we bump things up to 1440P, the Intel Arc A750 seems to catch up a bit with the mid-range pack. It still lags behind the likes of the AMD RX 7900XT and NVIDIA RTX 3070, but trades blows with the RTX 3060 and RX 6600 XT in some of our tests and even pushes past them in a few games like Hitman 3 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I am honestly very impressed with the A750’s performance, delivering fantastic results even with the card and driver suite still relatively new.
Another thing I did not expect is just how good the Intel Arc A750 is at ray tracing. This is one area which AMD has been playing catchup to NVIDIA, even with their latest RX 7000 series, so to see the relatively lower-powered and less expensive card take on NVIDIA is very exciting. The NVIDIA RTX 3060 still manages to lead the mid-range pack in this area, but the Arc A750 is holding its own, and at the current price of $249, that is very impressive.
Even though the Arc A750 delivered better-than-expected results in ray tracing, that does not change how demanding the feature can be, so if you want to get the most out of the card, upscaling is recommended. Thankfully, Intel’s own XeSS upscaling technology works very well on Intel Arc, so there are options to push the visuals a bit further should you feel the need and want the best the Arc can do.
“Intel has built an impressive GPU offering with the Arc A750.”
It is strange seeing the mid-range GPU space this competitive, but Intel has mixed things up, and that is a great thing to see. At the current price, the Intel Arc A750 GPU is the clear winner when it comes to value and performance. While the AMD RX 6600 XT does match or come close to the A750 in many tests, it falls short in ray tracing, and with AMDs current MSRP of $379, it is hard not to look at the Intel Arc A750 as a fantastic alternative.
Even looking at offerings from NVIDIA, such as the RTX 3050 and RTX 3060, there is no doubt in my mind that Intel Arc A750 just makes more sense for someone building a modern mid-range rig and is looking to play the latest games at 1080P or 1440P. There is still plenty of work Intel has to do on the driver side of things, and they still have no answer for the higher-end buyer, but as it stands, Arc is shaping up to be an exciting new entry in the GPU space.
I think Intel has done a fantastic job with their first GPU in a long time, but what makes it so exciting is the price. There are plenty of powerful cards on the market, even some like the RTX 4070 Ti that are finally reaching prices that the average person can afford, but Intel has gone above and beyond, especially with this recent price cut, to make the Intel Arc an affordable card while consistently working to increase compatibility and frame rates.
The Intel Arc A750 has managed to match or beat cards that are significantly more expensive. While the Arc has a lot of maturing to do to reach a card that everyone should buy as it stands now in March 2023, if you can look past the caveats we have listed in this review, it is an exciting offering, especially for the GPU market as a whole.
Intel has built an impressive GPU offering with the Arc A750. There is still work to be done to deliver the full potential of the GPU, especially in older games, but even here, Intel is moving fast and have already narrowed the performance hit for DirectX 11 games with their latest driver suite. For older systems lacking Resize BAR support, Arc simply is not an option, but for a modern build on either Intel or AMD, there is a lot to like with the A750, and at the current price, it is a hard card to pass up.
