Intel ARC Alchemist GPUs will use Samsung memory

Intel’s forthcoming ARC Alchemist GPUs will use Samsung memory modules. So far, the company has played its cards close to its chest and has released limited information regarding the news GPUs, apart from vague release dates. That hasn’t stopped third parties from leaking information to the public, and we now have an idea of its benchmark testing against Nvidia’s RTX 3070 as well as its memory configuration.

The new information comes courtesy of Twitter user Kuna, who shared an image of an ARC processor and its memory modules.

On closer inspection, it’s possible to see that the modules are labeled “Samsung K4ZAF325BM-HC16.” According to Samsung’s GDDR6 page, this particular memory module has a product status of “Sample” instead of “Mass Production” like all the other memory on the page. It also confirms that the memory has a density of 16 GB with a speed of 16.0 Gbps.

When comparing the memory layouts on the above table to the leaked image, we can identify the GPU as Intel’s SKU2 (384 EU). It’s the second-fastest GPU in the ARC lineup with 12GB of GDDR6 memory divided into six 2GB modules. The memory operates at 16Gbps, resulting in a bandwidth of around 384 GB/s.

As with most leaks, the details might differ from the finished product, especially since the Samsung memory is still listed as a sample on its website.

So far, there’s still no confirmed release date for the new ARC Alchemist GPUs, although they’re expected to drop in the first quarter of 2022.