The chip giant has been very clear when talking about the necessary configuration to be able to optimally move an Intel Arc Alchemist graphics card, so much so that it has even gone so far as to say that if we do not have a device compatible with the Resizable BAR technology it is better that we do not buy a product of said generation of graphics cards.
It may seem like a somewhat radical comment, but it makes perfect sense, since it is confirmed that a PC that does not have Resizable BAR will greatly affect the performance of an Intel Arc Alchemist graphics card. This loss of performance may vary depending on the game and the model of graphics card used, but in general we have seen values that between 30% and 50% less performance.
This means that Intel Arc Alchemist graphics cards won’t run at full power on relatively old computers, and to get the most out of them you’ll need, at a minimum, a computer configured with a Core Gen10 and an Intel 400 series chipset motherboardor in the case of AMD a Ryzen 3000 with a motherboard that has the 500 series chipset. Please note that AMD 3000Gs are not included.
In the first case we must enable Resizable BAR in the computer’s BIOS, and in the second we will have to activate SAM (Smart Access Memory). Both technologies have different names but basically they are the same, since allow the CPU to access all of the graphics memory of the GPU, and not to a small portion of it. This is what makes such a big difference in terms of performance.
It is important that you keep in mind that this does not mean that we will not be able to mount an Intel Arc Alchemist with a Core Gen9 or earlier, or with a Ryzen 2000 or earlier. We can install it and said graphics card will work, but it will lose a lot of performance because we will not be able to use the Resizable BAR and SAM technologies. The performance difference will be enormous, as we have already mentioned, and for that reason it will not be worth it.
Finally, Intel has also confirmed that Arc Alchemists require Windows 10 20H2 or Windows 11 as the operating system. These requirements are mutually exclusive and mean that these graphics cards will not work on computers based on earlier versions of Windows. If everything goes according to plan, the launch of the Intel Arc A7 will take place on October 12, although we are still not clear about the degree of availability they will have internationally.
