# Intel Arc discrete GPUs are here!



## freezr (Oct 4, 2022)

The embargo has been lifted:






						Intel Arc Graphics A750 + A770 Are Ready To Run On Open-Source Linux Drivers - Phoronix
					






					www.phoronix.com
				




Now the whole point is those GPUs born with opensource drivers and are already paired with Blender!

I am pretty sure the FreeBSD driver will arrive soon and making 3D animation (and more) with FreeBSD will be a reality. Intel is also improving Arc for Krita, therefore wherever a software will be optimized for the Arc GPUs this will likely benefit the FreeBSD ecosystem (I guess).

Once the drivers will be available in the BSD space, also the *BSDs might be considered platforms for making professional computer graphic, I am very excited!

Is worth to mention the prices are very affordable, probably the horse-power is still not at same level of Team Green and Team Red but the future is bright!


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## Phishfry (Oct 4, 2022)

I give it a two year life span. Then Intel will conceed and drop out from graphics market (again).
Right about then we will gain support in FreeBSD..

I almost thought these were stillborne. There were talks going on about canceling the whole project.

For a company that could not scale down from 10nm they sure spent alot of resources on a GPU.
Meanwhile AMD handed them their ass in a basket while successfully area scaling.

It would funny if not for the mining GPU bubble. Real bad time to get into the graphics market.


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## Phishfry (Oct 4, 2022)

I do wonder about getting into graphics market with crypto mining now gone.








						Nvidia lost a billion dollars while AMD continues to thrive | Digital Trends
					

Nvidia's Q2 earnings look as if the company lost a billion dollars in revenue since last year, while AMD gained a billion dollars.




					www.digitaltrends.com
				





> The GTX 1060 is still the most common GPU in gaming computers around the world.


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## jardows (Oct 4, 2022)

Phishfry said:


> I do wonder about getting into graphics market with crypto mining now gone.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Do not underestimate the power Intel has over the computer OEMs.  Expect to see a lot of these in pre-built computers for the next couple of years.  

Raja seems to be very skilled at over promising and under delivering, but his designs usually do one or two things very well.  From my initial reading of these GPUs, I expect they will have some tasks they are very competitive in performance, while not being very competitive in gaming.  For me personally, since Minecraft is the most graphically intense game I play, that is much less important for me.  If the Intel cards do get developed with better open source drivers and integration for acceleration in video programs, these could be very promising.  I'm certainly not buying one until they have been confirmed to work well in FreeBSD, as my AMD card is working just fine for now.


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## freezr (Oct 4, 2022)

I bet Intel will finance the Foundation to have some talented dude working on their drivers!


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## kpedersen (Oct 5, 2022)

I am definitely going to get myself a couple. If anything for collectors value; I have this weird feeling that these things might become quite rare and exclusive in the future.

I don't really care about power but the Intel driver quality for open-source tends to be fairly on-top so it will be nice to have a card that I trust (in a year or so, once the drivers mature )


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## sko (Oct 5, 2022)

I don't care about gaming performance as long as intel will support video transcoding on all platforms. This has been a farce with nvidia for 10+ years now...


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## Phishfry (Oct 7, 2022)

> if you have an older PC and have been waiting for a more affordable graphics card to extend its life further, Arc isn’t it.











						Don't buy Intel's Arc graphics cards without knowing these 7 key details
					

Intel’s first generation of discrete Arc graphics cards show a lot of promise—but the company still has growing pains to get through.




					www.pcworld.com


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## shkhln (Oct 7, 2022)

sko said:


> This has been a farce with nvidia for 10+ years now...


What farce?


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## freezr (Oct 7, 2022)

kpedersen said:


> I am definitely going to get myself a couple. If anything for collectors value; I have this weird feeling that these things might become quite rare and exclusive in the future.
> 
> I don't really care about power but the Intel driver quality for open-source tends to be fairly on-top so it will be nice to have a card that I trust (in a year or so, once the drivers mature )



I really hope not! 

At Intel aren't saint but treat open source drivers fairly.

More than ten years ago I was screaming more engaging by tech corps into the opensource (at that time I knew only Linux) but I guess people were asking for more participation from the hardware manufacturers... Unfortunately other tech corps answered and have been using opensource to build cloud, or better SaaS, product... Meanwhile from the hardware side has been made so little that is embarrassing...


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## Jose (Oct 8, 2022)

Phishfry said:


> Don't buy Intel's Arc graphics cards without knowing these 7 key details
> 
> 
> Intel’s first generation of discrete Arc graphics cards show a lot of promise—but the company still has growing pains to get through.
> ...


The power consumption is a disappointment too.


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