We may earn a commission when you buy through links in our articles. Learn more.

Intel Arc Alchemist A730M GPU struggles to keep up with RTX 3060

New Intel Arc Alchemist benchmarks suggest that the A730M gaming laptop GPU barely beats the Nvidia RTX 3050, and it's unable to keep up with the RTX 3060

Intel Arc Alchemist laptop with mascot on screen with sad text face

The Intel Arc Alchemist A730M is set to be a high-end gaming laptop GPU, but benchmarks place it in the same ring as the Nvidia RTX 3050. While the mobile chip was able to surpass the green team’s baseline graphics performance, it seemingly fails to outpace the RTX 3060 during testing.

According to benchmarks shared by Weibo user Golden Pig Upgrade, the Intel Arc Alchemist A730M only just beats the RTX 3050 in the likes of F1 2020. The blue team’s chip can churn out 123fps at 1080p – a mere three frames more than Nvidia’s card at the same resolution. As you’d perhaps expect, this narrow victory means the GPU can’t match RTX 3060 levels of performance, resulting in a 10fps gap in Metro Exodus (via Videocardz)

It’s worth noting that while the leaked benchmarks specify settings and resolution, it’s unclear whether Intel DTT (Dynamic Tuning Technology) is switched on. Ultimately, this could hamper the A730M’s performance, but the high-end GPU’s struggle against existing low tier contenders is still a bad sign.

Intel Arc Alchemist laptops popped up online back in April, but listed models still bear a ‘coming soon’ label. Golden Pig Upgrade’s leaked benchmarks could help provide a reason as to why, as it seems like the blue team’s chips are still suffering from optimisation issues.

Intel Arc Alchemist chips on navy backdrop

Intel previously suggested that it’ll release a new GPU every year until 2025 if all goes well. However, as things currently stand, the Arc Alchemist lineup lacks the ability to properly take on current generation contenders, meaning it likely won’t trump even entry-level RTX 4000 series cards.

The blue team also has a challenge on its hands when it comes to the gaming laptop space, as Apple just announced its take on Nvidia DLSS upscaling. While XeSS is set to give Arc Alchemist mobile chips a helping hand, Apple’s ‘MetalFX’ might show up first, as Intel is still dragging its feet with a solid upscaler release date.