ASRock Goes Low-Profile with New Arc A380 Graphics Card
by Anton Shilov on July 5, 2023 4:30 PM EST_678x452.jpg)
As Intel's slate of video card board partners has expanded over the last year, so has the variety in the ecosystem, as the newly minted partners set out to design their own unique products around Intel's fledgling GPU family. This, thankfully, is starting to include some underserved markets such as low profile vide cards, which have been left behind in the focus on bigger-and-better video cards. Which brings us to ASRock's latest Arc A380 graphics card, a new low-profile A380 design that brings Intel's entry-level discrete GPU to smaller systems.
As far as specifications are concerned, ASRock's Arc A380 Low Profile 6GB (A380 LP 6G) is a typical Arc A380 product that carries Intel's ACM-G11 GPU (1024 stream processors, 2.0 GHz) coupled with 6GB of GDDR6 memory attached via a 96-bit interface. Remarkably, the card maintains a TDP below 75W, which eliminates the need for an extra power connector. This makes it a potential upgrade for small form factor machines and older PCs that do not have a spare PCIe power connector.
It should be noted, however, that while the A380 LP 6G is a low-profile card, it is still a relatively powerful card, necessitating a dual-slot cooler. So while the card should work with the majority of compact PCs, it may still be a bit too big for the smallest of systems.
The low-profile design of the ASRock Arc A380 graphics card suggests that it is not necessarily targeting even entry-level gaming machines. Instead, it appears to be a reasonable choice for minimalist office PCs and home theater PCs (HTPCs). Speaking of office PCs, ASRock's Arc A380 Low Profile 6GB graphics card only has two display outputs: one DisplayPort 2.0 and one HDMI 2.0b. This characteristic sets a constraint for applications that require more than two monitors. Of course, far not all office PCs need three or more displays, but ASRock's board will be unusable for things like video walls that are typically driven by compact PCs.
ASRock's low-profile Arc card should be available at retail soon. Though at least for the moment, the company is not listing a price for the pint-sized product.
Source: ASRock
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rowenarrow - Friday, August 11, 2023 - link
Agreed, that is what I would like to get it for.Samus - Friday, September 15, 2023 - link
I use mine with BlueIris for QuickSync and CodeProject.AI and it's by far the cheapest solution for video encoding. Quicksync has been around for nearly 10 generations of Intel CPU's and is incredibly powerful. The ARC is the first discrete product to offer QuickSync outside of an Intel CPU.nandnandnand - Thursday, July 6, 2023 - link
I'd have to check some reviews but I think it's about on par with RX 6400. Driver updates improved performance slightly, although I think getting rid of the crashes and graphical issues was more important.A380 is obviously useful to some people, it's the price point that should be in contention. What's it worth, $80?
ballsystemlord - Wednesday, July 5, 2023 - link
So does this mean that Intel will be releasing more GPUs in the future and everyone is getting on-board, or that partners are trying to liquidate their current stock because it's dead?StevoLincolnite - Thursday, July 6, 2023 - link
I think most people are just waiting to see how these GPU's mature... History is littered with graphics cards that were poorly supported over the long term or suffered from performance irregularities.Delta Chrome, Kyro, Parhelia, Xaber just to name a few are prime examples.
Current Intel GPU's are notorious for poor compatibility in older DX11 and prior titles, but it is improving, Intel just needs to play the long game and not give up to early.
Kevin G - Thursday, July 6, 2023 - link
The long game is necessary due to Intel leveraging the same basic architecture in their integrated graphics as their discrete cards. That alone means that Intel will be making the software investments because, well they have to for their mobile business. The discrete side might die but the software side will live on.nandnandnand - Thursday, July 6, 2023 - link
It would be interesting if their iGPUs became more like dGPUs. It looks like Adamantine cache in Meteor Lake will only be in the ballpark of 128-512 MB, but what if they put in 4... 8... 16 GB of L4 in the future?Zoolook - Tuesday, July 11, 2023 - link
They need to step it up, what they have delivered on mobile is functional at best, never great.