Revisiting Intel’s 12th Gen CPUs with Intel® Arc™ GPUs

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Sponsored by Intel

Last year, Intel entered the GPU market with the launch of Intel Arc graphics. When they launched, we were really impressed by the power they offered at a highly affordable price point. Since then, they’ve only gotten better thanks to a steady stream of driver updates from Intel.

What’s New with Arc?

At launch, the Intel Arc A750 offered performance comparable to other 1080p GPUs offered by the competition. However, while other GPU manufacturers have focused on releasing new models, Intel has doubled down on their support for their existing cards and worked tirelessly to make them even better than they already are.

Game On Drivers

Intel’s Game On drivers arrive ahead of some of the biggest games to ensure that your launch day experience is as smooth as possible. Games like STAR WARS: Jedi Survivor, Diablo IV, and Resident Evil 4 all saw driver releases before their launch (even before the beta release, in Diablo IV’s case!). These Game On Drivers push the Intel Arc A750 well above last generation’s 1080p cards. Since October, Game On drivers have supported 42 new games.

Intel XeSS

XeSS launched with Intel Arc graphics and has only gotten better with each driver update. XeSS, or Xe Super Sampling, boosts your frame rates and picture quality without putting additional strain on your GPU. It accomplishes this through AI upscaling – rendering a game at a lower resolution then using AI to review and upscale each frame. This opens up more bandwidth on your GPU for frame rendering, boosting your FPS, but without the lower quality resolution tradeoff that usually comes with improved FPS.

XeSS is already in a number of games, ranging from cult darlings like Redout II to AAA titles like Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Call of Duty Modern Warfare II. XeSS improves frame rates up to 60% in recent titles. and is currently in over 50 games and is constantly being added to more games!

DirectX 9 Performance Improvements

DirectX 9 is still the cornerstone of some of your favorite games, like Counter Strike: Global Offensive, and it’s where Intel has made massive strides to improve performance. Since launch, driver updates have improved Intel Arc’s DX9 speed by an astounding 43%. That’s an extra 200+ frames in games like Half Life 2, with games like League of Legends and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim seeing proportional jumps in performance.

DirectX 11 and 12 have also seen improvements, with changes ranging from a percentage or two in speed improvements to vast boosts for underperforming games, all designed to bring your gaming experience up to the level you deserve.

Intel Balanced Builds: What is the Best Bang for your Buck?

Intel isn’t just hard at work improving their Arc GPUs, they’re striving to make sure all PC builders are getting the most out of their new PCs. And to do that, they ran tests. A lot of tests.

They combined just about every modern Intel processor with a plethora of GPUs in any and every combination imaginable. And then they put each and every one of those combinations through a series of rigorous tests in over 50 games at two different resolutions. There’s a lot of data to comb through (and it can all be found at the bottom of this page), but they helpfully boiled it down to this handy graph:

The big takeaway is that if you pair a high-powered CPU with a lower-power GPU (or vice versa), you’ll quickly start to see diminishing returns with high-intensity applications. In essence, you want to ensure that your CPU and GPU aren’t going to dwarf each other’s – or your! – needs.

When it comes to Intel’s A750 and A770 GPUs, the 12th and 13th gen Intel Core i5 and i7 processors hit that sweet spot perfectly. Those CPUs compliment the power and capabilities of the A750 and A770 in a way that won’t bog down either, allowing your whole build to sing in beautiful harmony.

This combo – whether you’re using an 12th Gen i7 with a A770, a 13th Gen i5 with an A750, or any combination therein – makes a great basis for a budget friendly build that can still deliver some incredible gaming experiences.

If you’re looking for an example of a Balanced Build, look no further than the Powerspec G234[RA7] . With an Intel Core i5-13400F and the Intel Arc A770 GPU, this is a prebuilt PC that carefully balances its components to ensure you’re getting a ton of power without breaking your budget!

Bundle and Save!

We here at Micro Center partnered with Intel to make this budget build base even better. We’ve unveiled a brand-new bundle, bringing together the Intel Arc A750 and an Intel Core i5-12600k, wrapped together with savings of up to $155 off!

That takes the A750 price reduction and chops even more off the top, really driving home Intel’s goal of bringing affordable gaming back to the masses.

Not sure what you want to build? Head over to Micro Center's Intel PC Builder and check out everything we have to offer. The PC Builder will help you choose compatible parts so your next Intel build goes smoothly! If you're looking for ideas, we put together a sample parts list for a gorgeous, minimalist build using the Arc A750 and Core i5-12600k that comes in at $1,005 before the bundle discount! That’s a killer 1080p system that’ll last you for years of high-quality gaming.

Prices taken at time of writing, availability of parts vary based on store

Rye_Bread

I can't wait to see what the future holds for Arc. This is a great bundle deal!

w8deywins

So stoked to see the continuous efforts on current titles with driver support. Very cool to see them pushed out before the titles release!

tbarggs

Arc graphics cards were already pretty good when they came out, with them getting continuous updates they're becoming a real competitor!

Shoan041

I'm hoping Arc cards will find a permanent place in the GPU line up!

ChaosDTV

cant wait to see what the future holds for arcs

ricardo_ortega

Intel has improved their drivers since launch and is slowly coming right behind other competitors for best bank. Hope to see what’s their new line of cards are gonna be in the near future. 

ronwoodson

The arc GPU's look sexy inside a glass window.

SF888

With the release of the RX7600 and Nvidia 4060, Intel Arc is looking better everyday. Intel is offering similar performance and features for a fraction of the price. I'll be upgrading to an Intel Arc A750 soon, especially since i'd rather support a third option rather then have an Nvidia and AMD duopoly in GPUs where they both try to milk consumers for every dollar.

TreBouncee

I think intel's trajectory as far the ARC cards is promising.