GUNNIR Unveils The Arc A380 Photon 6 GB Graphics Card, The First Intel Arc Custom Design Starting at $150 US
GUNNIR has become a very popular graphics card manufacturer in the Asian Pacific OEM & Pre-built PC segment. They have been amongst the first to offer custom flavors of the DG1 graphics card in custom flavor and they are now back with the first custom DG2 graphics card, the GUNNIR Arc A380 Photon which features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory and the full ACM-G11 GPU from Intel. The Intel Arc A380 graphics card will be an entry-level design featuring the full ACM-G11 GPU that utilizes the Alchemist Xe-HPG architecture. It houses the full GPU configuration, making use of 8 Xe-Cores or 1024 ALUs. The graphics card also features 6 GB of GDDR6 memory running at TBP rated at around 92W. The maximum frequency for the card is rated at 2450 MHz which shows that Intel is taking full advantage of TSMC’s 6nm process node. The GUNNIR custom model features a VRAM clock of 15.5 Gbps for 186 GB/s bandwidth while the reference model features a 16 Gbps clock for 192 GB/s bandwidth. As for the graphics card itself, the GUNNIR Arc A380 Photon comes in a standard box package that features the Intel Arc 3, XeSS, and DirectX 12 Ultimate marketing logos. The graphics card itself is a dual-slot and dual-fan design which houses an aluminum heatsink underneath it. The shroud and backplate feature a nice dual-tone black+grey color theme plus the backplate extends beyond the PCB. There’s a single 6mm nickel-plated copper heat pipe that runs through the heatsink. It is not known if the card uses a custom PCB or a reference design but it does come with a single 8-pin power connector to boot and houses a 2+1 phase VRM design. The shroud features the ‘Intel Arc’ logo on the side and has a GUNNIR Photon logo that lights up with LED illumination, giving even the entry-level card a more premium look. There’s also a blue and black colored trim on the backplate which enhances the looks of the card. Display outputs include three DisplayPort & a single HDMI output. The fans are two 90mm designs and the card measures 222×114×42mm. The reference Intel Arc A380 graphics card has also been officially announced for the Chinese market. The card features a dual-slot and single-fan design. Compared to the GUNNIR variant which rocks an overclocked design, the reference model features a 2000 MHz clock speed plus a TBP of 75W which means that it won’t require any external power connector. The graphics card ships this summer in various pre-built from leading manufacturers such as ASUS, MSI, Gigabyte, ACER, etc plus will also be available in DIY custom flavors such as the GUNNIR model above. While the GUNNIR Arc A380 Photon 6 GB graphics card has been made official we expect the card to remain an Asian-market only GPU offering with other manufacturers bringing the Arc A380 and the rest of the higher-end lineup to the market by later Summer in other regions. The graphics card is currently priced at 1030 Chinese Yuan or $150 US which is a very reasonable price point for the entry-level segment given the features it packs. Now it is only a question of when it will become available in other regions. As for performance, Intel claims that the Arc A380 offers 25% higher performance per yuan than the AMD Radeon RX 6400 4 GB graphics card. Following is official test performance results provided by Intel:
Intel Arc A-Series Desktop Graphics Card Lineup ‘Official’:
Claim: The Intel Arc A380 GPU, with a recommended customer price of 1,030 yuan, delivers up to 25% better performance per yuan than available competitive offerings as measured by performance on a selection of popular games. GPU(s): Intel® Arc™ A380 6GB reference card AMD Radeon RX 6400 4GB System Configuration: Intel® Arc™ A380 configuration: Graphics Driver: 30.0.101.1735, Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-12600K, MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI DDR4, BIOS: 1.3, Memory: 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 @ 3200MHz, Storage: MP600 PRO XT 4TB, OS: Windows 11 Version 10.0.22000.675 AMD Radeon RX 6400 configuration: Graphics Driver: 30.0.15021.11005, Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-12600K, MSI PRO Z690-A WIFI DDR4, BIOS: 1.3, Memory: 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 @ 3200MHz, Storage: MP600 PRO XT 4TB, OS: Windows 11 Version 10.0.22000.675 Measurements: All FPS (frames per second) scores are either measured with PresentMon or in-game benchmark. All gameplay has a documented workload running the same replay or game scenario across all configurations and test runs. Game workloads that support this claim are Naraka Bladepoint (27)%, JX Remake (27%), F1 2021 (26%), Rust (24%), Total Saga: Troy (22%), The Witcher 3 (22%), Arcadegeddon (21%), Metro Exodus (18%), NiZhan (16%), Wolfenstein: Youngblood (15%), Destiny 2 (14%). All games tested at 1080p resolution and medium settings presets. Period: Pricing and testing as of June 12, 2022. Radeon RX 6400 pricing of 1199 yuan on JD.com. via Intel
