Today Intel revealed its new Arc GPU with promises of massive performance improvements in gaming and content creation. Normally this would excite me, but we’ve been here before with Intel.
The company has attempted to excite us with its integrated graphics, with promises of buttery gaming and fast video rendering when editing, and consumers have been let down time and again.
During the thirty-minute presentation, Intel demonstrated improved gameplay and rendering in 1080p and 4K using the new Arc GPU. The company also revealed impressive video resolution upscaling capabilities and more.
If you want to watch the full presentation below you can do so, but we’ll walk you through the highlights.
Intel unveiled the Xe HPG GPU with multiple cores handling several different processes to improve and enhance graphic performance.
Intel also discussed the use of a new AV1 codec that is supposed to be 50% more efficient than H.264 and 20% more efficient than HEVC, which are considerable gains in performance that could be game-changing.
The Full AV1 hardware acceleration is supposed to improve performance by up to 50% in Adobe Premiere and DaVinci Resolve. We’ll believe it when we see it. While that’s not likely to make any Apple ecosystem devotees consider making the switch from their M1-powered Macs, it could keep longtime Intel and Windows fans from converting.
Intel also announced that the first new Arc GPU-powered laptop will be the Samsung Galaxy Book2 Pro which is available to order today.
Intel also stated that other manufacturers will have Arc-powered laptops in the coming weeks and months.
As the Youtube event came to a close, Intel teased that they would be releasing a new Arc desktop GPU this summer. I want to be excited, and I am sure that GPU makers AMD and Nvidia are also very interested to see how Intel’s new GPUs perform and how capable they are of delivering on Intels performance promises.
The other player that will be paying close attention is Apple. Sure Apple’s M1 delivers excellent performance, especially for content creators, but you can’t game on them. I mean, sure you can, but it’s awful. Now with the new Arc GPU, Intel is saying, we can do content creation and gaming, and we can do it better. Though my hopes are high, Intel has let me down so many times in the past. I hope I’m not being gaslit by the chipmaker once again.
