Intel’s New Tactic for Pushing Arc GPUs: Large Bundle of Games and Applications Worth Up to $ 500
Intel has prepared a package of incentives to convince people to buy ready-made computers with an Arc Alchemist graphics card and an Alder Lake processor, consisting of several games and more serious software.
All-Intel machines ship with PC games worth $ 190 (around £ 165, AU $ 280) (and in-game content in one case) and a choice of three out of five featured apps which, if you choose the most expensive products, adds up to $ 284 (around £ 250, AU $ 420). All this is done thanks to the development of an average retail price by Intel.
This offer or ‘Intel Software Advantage Program (opens in a new tab)‘was noticed by @momomo_us on Twitter (via VideoCardz (opens in a new tab)) and applies to specific computers with Arc A5 or A7 graphics cards with Alder Lake Core i5, i7 or i9 processors (both desktops and laptops are included).
Intel Software Advantage Program Intel Arc System Pack 5/7 pic.twitter.com/I0BiYXtwL5September 6, 2022
The game pack consists of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed, Gotham Knights, and Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodhunt content.
On the front of the software, you can choose three of the following five: PowerDirector 365, D5 Render, Magix Video Pro X14, Topaz Gigapixel AI, or XSplit Premium Suite.
As mentioned, when selecting the most expensive apps in the latter group, you are looking at a $ 474 package (around £ 410, AU $ 705), or with the cheapest software of your choice, $ 380 (around £ 330, AU $ 565). All of these products are delivered as digital downloads.
The offer is active now, or rather with the A5 and A7 graphics cards – we expect the high-end A7 models, the A770 and A750, to arrive soon, Intel recently informed us. Of course, the games are yet to be released, and the three titles on offer will not be released until next month.
The promotion itself lasts until the end of 2022, by then you will need to claim your code to download the file.
Analysis: Give it back, now …
Whichever software you choose, it’s a pretty chunky gift with nice giveaways available. As you’d expect, games are chosen for their features with Arc GPUs boasting XeSS support, allowing FPS to be accelerated via Intel’s rival DLSS – and we already know Team Blue has implemented ray tracing for Gotham Knights. (Intel has also been fueling the hype around XeSS lately, and it sounds impressive at first glance.)
Apparently, Intel is serious about making its high-end Arc Alchemist graphics cards more attractive, given that they won’t even be able to compete remotely with the best dogs from AMD and Nvidia – and that’s before the advent of next-gen GPUs from Team Red and Green. which won’t take too long anymore.
Intel pointed out that while Arc performance may be slightly boosted by drivers over time, it won’t be to a great extent and so the main way the chip giant will have to compete with established rivals in the graphics card world is to do so on pricing . And evidently part of this, aside from the drop in suggested prices, will be such value packages – though we must remember that this is not a pure GPU package, but one that comes with the entire computer (totally more expensive proposition, of course).
The problem with the package scene is that at the moment AMD and Nvidia offer fairly attractive packages with standalone graphics cards, so Intel has its job to compete. (For example, Nvidia’s latest “face the demons” pack is Doom Eternal – plus two shooter expansions – and Ghostwire: Tokyo).
In some respects, the problem for Intel on the value front is that it is entering an environment where Nvidia in particular needs to port the current-gen RTX 3000 GPUs before launching the next-gen market, and price reduction efforts are set to accelerate already in this a month, really. Even so, whatever the case may be, we won’t argue with big gifts or big price drops, no matter where they come from – the more, the merrier, simply.
