A Weibo user who goes by the alias "Golden Pig Upgrade" has delighted us with the first gaming benchmarks (via HXL) for Intel's Arc A730M mobile graphics card. He previously provided a couple of synthetic benchmarks, but there's nothing like real-world performance to evaluate the Arc A730M's gaming capability.
Once again, the reviewer used the same Machenike Dawn Discovery Edition 2022 gaming laptop that brings together the Core i7-12700H (Alder Lake-H) processor, the Arc A730M, and 16GB of DDR5-4800 memory. If you're not familiar with Intel's Arc family of graphics cards, the Arc A730M utilizes the chipmaker's ACM-G10 silicon. The graphics card incorporates 24 Xe cores with a graphics clock of 1,100 MHz. In addition, the Arc features 12GB of GDDR6 across a 192-bit memory interface. From a hierarchy standpoint, the A730M sits comfortably below the flagship A770M, which delivers up to double the compute performance of the former.
We recommend you approach the Arc A730M benchmarks with caution since we don't know the laptop's settings in the Weibo user's tests. For example, it's unknown whether he had Dynamic Tuning Driver (DTT) enabled or not. DTT is a feature that dynamically optimizes the power limits for the processor and graphics card to improve performance, battery life, or thermals. Furthermore, it's evident that Intel's Arc drivers still have a long way to go, as the Weibo reviewer commented that Shadow of The Tomb Raider refuses to work and crashes every time he opens the game. Finally, the frame times also reflect the lack of software optimization for some tested games.
Intel Arc A730M Benchmarks
| Game | Max. Framerate | Average Framerate | Min. Framerate | Resolution | Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Metro Exodus | 122.44 | 70.00 | 9.57 | 1920 x 1080 | High |
| Metro Exodus | 97.02 | 55.00 | 9.30 | 2560 x 1440 | High |
| F1 2020 | 133 | 123 | 106 | 1920 x 1080 | High |
| F1 2020 | 105 | 95 | 84 | 2560 x 1440 | High |
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 64 | 38 | 10 | 1920 x 1080 | Very High |
| Assassin's Creed Odyssey | 71 | 32 | 9 | 2560 x 1440 | Very High |
The Arc A730M performed great in Metro Exodus with average framerates of 70 FPS and 55 FPS on the high quality preset at resolutions of 1920 x 1080 and 2560 x 1440, respectively. Unfortunately, the driver's poor optimization manifested itself as the reviewer recorded framerate dips as low as 9 FPS.
The graphics card's performance in F1 2020 was excellent even with the high preset. The Arc A730M had no problems keeping the average framerates above 60 FPS during the benchmark, no matter the resolution. Even the minimum framerates never dropped below 80 FPS.
The Arc A730M only struggled in Assassin's Creed Odyssey on the very high preset, where the graphics card barely provided a playable experience above 30 FPS. However, the Weibo user observed minimum framerates going down the drain (10 FPS or below).
It's unfair and wrong to judge the Arc A730M's performance based on three titles. But if we look at what's available right now, the Arc A730M performs like a GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile in Metro Exodus. In F1 2020 or Assassin's Creed Odyssey, however, Intel's quasi-flagship is more like a GeForce RTX 3050 Mobile.
Availability for Intel's Arc-powered laptops is improving; however, the Arc A5 and A7 SKUs won't debut until late summer. It'll be a while before we can get our hands on the A730M or A770M to give it a proper review.
