When it comes to the best graphics cards, compatibility is just as important as performance. While AMD and Nvidia don’t have much trouble in that department, Intel’s Arc Alchemist still has some issues to iron out, as the company’s graphics cards struggle with legacy APIs.
Unlike other publications that focus on the Arc A380’s performance, German media outlet PC Games Hardware tested the graphics card across 50 games that were released between 1999 and 2022. The site used Gunnir’s Arc A380 Photon 6GB OC for testing, one of three custom Arc A380 models available on the market.
Overall, the Arc A380’s support for all 50 titles was pretty decent, considering the state of Intel’s Arc drivers. The graphics card only had issues with nine games out of the 50 that PC Games Hardware tested. If we want to simplify the results, Arc A380 would have problems with every 1 out of 5 games. Not a terrible ratio, but Intel drivers ultimately have a lot of room for optimization.
We were surprised that the Arc A380 did not work well with eternal doom, Earthquake 2 RTX, infinity halo, either spiderman remastered, keeping in mind that these titles take advantage of the Vulkan or DirectX 12 APIs. Of course, Arc should work remarkably well with games on modern APIs. But again, let’s not confuse performance with compatibility.
Results from PC Games Hardware also revealed that Arc runs smoothly on APIs that predate DirectX 12. Popular games, such as Worktop–Strike: overall offensive (DirectX 9) or the witcher 3 (DirectX 11), it worked without a hitch. However, it is surprising that the German publication left out other most played Steam, among them dota 2 (DirectX11), apex legends (DirectX 11), and lost ark (DirectX 11), out of your tests.
Remember PC gaming hardware tested for compatibility. Performance, on the other hand, is another story. Intel has admitted that Arc performs poorly on DirectX 11 and earlier APIs. The chipmaker is aiming to bridge the performance gap between legacy APIs and DirectX 12, but it’s a long work in progress, or a “forever labor of love,” as Intel Fellow Tom Petersen calls it.
The Arc A380 has been available in China for a couple of months. The ASRock Challenger Arc A380 model recently arrived on US soil via Newegg for $139.99 (opens in a new tab), and it’s already sold out. We’re still waiting for Intel’s Arc A5 and A7 series, which will hopefully arrive before the end of the year.
