back to article Intel blames software, COVID lockdowns for Arc GPU delays

The rollout of Intel's Arc discrete GPUs has been slower than expected for folks hungry for a fresh option in the computer graphics hardware market. This week, the x86 giant attempted to explain what's taking so long. On the eve of this week's Intel Vision event, the chipmaker shared a note Monday acknowledging delays in its …

  1. BinkyTheMagicPaperclip

    Availability is one thing, driver support is another

    The choices at the moment are :

    Nvidia - fast, expensive, decent closed source driver support. Terrible open source driver support. Works well with PCI-e passthrough.

    AMD - marginally cheaper, less functional, faster in some areas/slower in others. Consistently lacklustre closed source driver support. Open source driver support that improves over time. All but one specific enterprise card react badly to PCI-e passthrough last time I looked.

    There is room for a card that's fast enough, stable, with great closed and open source drivers. Hopefully Arc can be that, and support PCI-e passthrough too.

    Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to try and get FreeBSD working with my AMD Vega 56. The card that finally gained stable Windows drivers 6-12 months after its successor was released, and where amdgpu under FreeBSD now has better Displayport MST support than the Windows drivers which produce corrupt images, blue screens, or no image in various topologies. The same topologies work fine under amdgpu as mentioned, or under Windows with the Vega chipset built into a Surface 4 (go figure!). Maybe AMD will fix this soon, but it's been a whole theme of things that work well under Nvidia or are fixed in a timely manner, as opposed to pain and a lot of waiting for AMD.

  2. iron Silver badge

    > it's no wonder that people are so hungry for a third option.

    Personally the only reason I'm am interested in these cards is to laugh at them.

    A GPU from Intel? Pull the other one mate!

  3. ecofeco Silver badge

    Too bad, I guess?

    I'm done with all things Intel graphics. Their history of unexpected glitches and weird conflicts has soured me forever.

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