The requirements of the Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards left us with an important question, will they work without problems with AMD’s Ryzen processors? For the explanation that appeared in the fine print of the official list of requirements published by the chip giant everything seemed to indicate that yes, but we were not entirely clear, until now.
Ryan Shrout, Senior Director of Graphics at Intel, has completely cleared up any doubts by openly saying on Twitter that: “To be clear, Intel Arc graphics cards should work with AMD platforms that support resizableBAR, we just hadn’t validated them in time for the A380 launch. My expectation is that any rBAR-enabled system will work just fine, including high-end cards.”
In summary, the Intel Arc Alchemist will work well with any system that allows you to activate ResizableBara technology that in the case of AMD is identified as Smart Access Memory (SAM). Both refer to the same thing, since they perform the same function, allow the CPU to access all of the graphics memory of the GPU. Without these technologies the processor can only access a maximum of 256 MB of graphics memory per request.
Since graphics memory houses very important elements, such as shaders and textures, which take up large amounts of memory (more than 256 MB), this technology can dramatically improve performance when used correctly, and the performance tests of the Intel Arc A380 prove it. As we can see in the attached graph, the difference between using or not using ResizableBAR with said graphics card can mark an 18% performance loss.
Hey Andreas! To be clear, Intel Arc graphics cards should work with AMD platforms that support resizable BAR, we just hadn’t validated in time for A380 launch. My expectation for any rBAR enabled system it will work fine, including higher end cards.
— Ryan Shrout (@ryanshrout) July 25, 2022
This means that the performance of Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards should be just as good when used with Intel CPUs and AMD CPUs, saving, obviously, the possible differences that each specific processor may make due to a matter of gross performance. Thus, for example, an Intel Arc Alchemist graphics card should perform better with a Core i9-12900K than with a Ryzen 7 5800X, but not because of compatibility or support, but simply because the former is more powerful.
As for the Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards, we were recently able to see new performance tests that confirmed the rumors that had been sounding loud for months, and that said that Intel was going to compete with the upper-middle range of NVIDIA and AMD, and that it could reach the level of a GeForce RTX 3070 with the Intel Arc Alchemist A770. Tom Petersen also confirmed that they will offer excellent value for money.
The launch of the Intel Arc Alchemist series should take place between the months of August and September, but we do not have a definitive date yet, so we have to wait. In any case, the important thing is that this generation of graphics cards is promising, supposes the entry of a third player in the graphic sector (more competition, and this is good for everyone) and represents the spearhead of a new architecture that will improve with future generations. In this sense, I remind you that Intel Arc Battlemage, successor to Intel Arc Alchemist, should be the consecration of this new adventure of the chip giant in the graphics sector.
