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The new workstation graphics cards represent a significant “step up” over the current Arc offering.

This week, Intel introduced the Arc Pro A60 and Pro A60M professional graphics processing units (GPUs). The new products are a significant step up in performance in the Intel Arc Pro family. In addition, they are “carefully designed for professional workstations users”, according to Intel.

The new cards can ship with up to 12GB of video memory (VRAM). Plus, they support up to four displays with high dynamic range (HDR) and Dolby Vision support, according to the company.

Up to double the performance

Intel Arc Pro A-series graphics offer a high powered new option to the workstation GPU space, Intel claims. Compared to existing Intel Arc Pro products, the Intel Arc Pro A60 and A60M offer double the number of PCIe lanes with 16, twice the memory bandwidth at 384 gigabytes per second, twice the dedicated AI Xe Matrix Extensions (XMX) engines with 256, and twice the number of ray tracing units with 16.

The GPUs also feature full media encode and decode support, including AV1. “These make Intel Arc Pro GPUs ideal for computer-aided design and modeling (CAD/CAM), AI inferencing tasks and media processing in dedicated business environments”, according to the company.

Support for high end engineering and design application

Intel confirms that the Arc Pro GPUs will be supported by quarterly driver releases for regular performance optimizations. They are ISV-certified by leading workstation applications used within the architecture, engineering and construction, and design and manufacturing industries. As examples, Intel names Autodesk’s 3ds Max, AutoCAD, and Maya.

Intel’s new workstation GPUs are also optimized for media and entertainment applications like Blender and run rendering and ray tracing libraries in the Intel oneAPI Rendering Toolkit to enable the creation of high-performance, high-fidelity visual experiences at scale.

Intel says the Arc Pro A60 GPU for workstation desktops will be available from Intel authorized distributors in the coming weeks, while the Intel Arc Pro A60M GPU for mobile systems will be available from original equipment manufacturers (OEM) partners in the coming months.