Although Intel’s A770 drivers installed easily and we set up our Valve Index, SteamVR refused to recognize the Index and Intel confirmed lack of Arc driver support. Fortunately, we were able to set up a Reverb G2, a WMR (Windows Mixed Reality) headset, and charted A770 performance versus the RTX 3060 using FCAT VR.

The Reverb G2 is a much more demanding headset than the Valve Index. We do not recommend using entry level VR cards like the A770 or RTX 3060 to drive it any more than we would for 4K pancake gaming, but the G2 is our only WMR headset. Fortunately, despite many crashes to desktop, we were able to benchmark six VR games on generally the lowest settings using FCAT VR.

VR Games & Settings

We benchmark using FCAT VR on Windows 11 Pro Edition 2H22 with Intel’s Core i9-13900KF, and 32GB of T-Force Delta RGB 6400MHz CL40 DDR5 2x16GB memory on an ASUS Prime-A Wi-Fi Z790 motherboard with fast SSD storage. All VR games and benchmarks are patched to their latest versions, and we use Intel’s most recent drivers.

For this review, we benchmarked the Reverb G2 using FCAT VR and allowed the default SteamVR 100% render resolution (3168×3096). It uses a factor of ~1.4X (the native resolution is 2160×2160) to compensate for lens distortion and to increase clarity. We are going to compare the performance of the A770 with the RTX 3060, generally at each game’s in-game lowest VR settings.

Here are the six VR games we tested.

VR Games

• Elite Dangerous
• F1 2022
• Moss: Book II
• Project CARS 2
• The Vanishing of Ethan Carter
• The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners

IMPORTANT: BTR’s charts use frametimes in ms where lower is better, but we also compare “unconstrained framerates” – measuring only one important performance metric – which shows what a video card could deliver (headroom) if it wasn’t locked to either 90 FPS or to 45 FPS by the HMD. In the case of unconstrained FPS, faster is better.

In addition, FCAT VR does not distinguish between dropped and synthesized frames using the G2.

Let’s individually look at our 6 VR games’ performance using FCAT VR.

First up, Elite Dangerous.

Elite Dangerous (ED)

Elite Dangerous is a popular space sim built using the COBRA engine. It is hard to find a repeatable benchmark outside of the training missions.

A player will probably spend a lot of time piloting his space cruiser while completing a multitude of tasks as well as visiting space stations and orbiting a multitude of different planets. Elite Dangerous is also co-op and multiplayer with a dedicated following of players.

We picked the Lowest settings but we left the Field of View on its maximum.

Here are the frametimes.

Here are the details as reported by FCAT-VR:

The A770 managed 69.73 unconstrained FPS with 3301 (40%) synthesized or dropped frames but no Warp misses.

The RTX 3060 delivered 77.41 unconstrained FPS with 4667 (50%) synthesized or dropped frames and no Warp misses.

Although the A770 delivers only ~10% less unconstrained frames per second, the Elite Dangerous VR experience is much better using the RX 3060. The A770 framerate delivery is uneven leading to visible stutters which break immersion.

Let’s look at F1 2022.

F1 2022

Codemasters has captured the entire Formula 1 2021 season racing in F1 2022, and the VR immersion is good. The graphics are customizeable and solid, handling and physics are good, the AI is acceptable, the scenery is outstanding, and the experience ticks many of the necessary boxes for a racing sim.

Here is the frametime plot for F1 2022.

Here are the details as reported by FCAT-VR.

The A770 managed 38.58 unconstrained FPS with 5935 (61%) synthesized or dropped frames but no Warp misses.

The RTX 3060 delivered 59.13 unconstrained FPS with 6202 (54%) synthesized or dropped frames and no reported Warp misses.

The A770 falls way behind the RX 3060 in raw performance. The A770 framerate delivery is fairly even due to Motion Smoothing, but the artifacting is very annoying and there are immersion breaking stutters.

Stay tuned. Rodrigo has two not-to-be-missed in-depth major video card reviews coming shortly.

A personal note from BTR’s now retired E-I-C, Mark Poppin

After a great 15 years since ABT and then BTR were established, I am retiring from my duties as Editor-in-Chief and lead reviewer as of today, January 1, 2023. BTR’s has been acquired by JPR (Jon Peddie Research) splitting ownership with Mario who is now BTR’s manager, and Rodrigo is now the lead reviewer. I’ll continue to contribute some VR reviews regularly.

Thanks to all of our loyal readers who turn to BTR for the best reviews – It will get even better!

Happy New Year & Happy Gaming!

We received an Intel Arc A770 from JPR and were eager to put it through its paces. The drivers installed easily and we set up our Valve Index hoping that we could play VR games and also test performance against competing AMD and Nvidia video cards.

Unfortunately, we were greeted by the above image. Resetting the headset, cables, and moving to different USB ports, as well as trying SteamVR Beta and non-Beta plus installing Intel WHQL and Beta drivers made no difference.

Our next step was to contact Intel customer support. After a very brief waiting time on chat, we got connected with a Support agent who asked for a PC log file which we uploaded.

“Please know that Intel Arc graphics support for VR headsets continues to evolve as we ramp our products and add updates to our software stack”.

Contacting Intel’s representatives in charge of Arc gave us the same canned response with no ETA for VR support:

Intel Arc graphics support for VR headsets continues to evolve as we ramp our products and add updates to our software stack.

Although the A770 launched more than two months ago, there is still no proper SteamVR support from Intel. So if you are doing your last minute holiday shopping and want an Intel Arc video card to play your VR games using a native SteamVR headset like the Valve Index, you are probably out of luck.

However, BTR also tried the Reverb G2 which is a Windows Mixed Reality (WMR) headset, and it set up and works to get into VR, including into several SteamVR games we launched. BTR will test performance and give our experiences with the A770 and the G2 after the New Year.

Happy Holidays and Happy VR gaming!!

Intel is finding out just how tricky they can be!

By Jon Peddie

As you may know, we have had the privilege and pleasure of reuniting with our pal and colleague Bob Raikes and have acquired Display Daily. One of our journalist friends commented, “Nice. Displays are tricky technology.”

You think monitors are tricky. . . GPUs are black magic.

I had my doubts about Intel’s commitment to GPUs given their past efforts and Pat Gelsinger’s cost-cutting moves selling off or shutting down various operations. Since then, I have been assured that Gelsinger and Raja Koduri have a BOD-approved 10-year commitment to bring out a top-to-bottom GPU product line, with supporting software, to market.

That 10-year quest started in 2018 (or 2017), so they have plenty of runway, so to speak. The big problem at Intel is the left hand doesn’t communicate with the right hand, and both of them have different bosses and objectives. What does that mean? It means marketing is not in sync with the GPU business unit—or to use another cliché, too far ahead of their skis.

As a result, Intel has had to announce embarrassing delays and apologize for drivers still in development, and in the process, pretty much confused the hell out of everyone watching them. It would be delightful to think that it was all some Machiavellian strategy to throw off the competition, but sadly it is not.

Also keep in mind that Intel is a huge company and deals with other huge companies and governments. That means more so than any other company, their stuff has to be absolutely bulletproof. The company has hundreds, if not thousands, of testers trying to find and then fix the corner cases. That is why you have heard them say they were not going to be backward compatible with their DirectX drivers initially.

And remember, Intel has built hundreds of millions of GPUs since the early 2000s; they are not strangers to the technology, the tasks, or the applications. Furthermore, the company is trying to simultaneously bring out entry-level, midrange, high-end, mobile, workstation, and supercomputer GPUs. No company in the world has ever attempted anything of that scale and magnitude before. Also, there’s a new API suite to enable it all.

So, give them the benefit of the doubt. It’s a Herculean task, and they will make some mistakes, but once they get their equilibrium, it will be Intel 2.0—and you better not get in their way. Another thing to remember is they know and are close friends with every PC manufacturer, dealer, distributor, and accessory provider in the world. They will find (already have) open, anxious arms for their products—the Intel brand is that powerful.

To the company’s credit, they have been quite candid about their progress and problems. Gregarious Tim Peterson has been trying to explain what’s going on and how things work on Ryan Shrout’s TV show. A few days ago, he got Raja out of the office long enough to give some more insight. You can see the interview here—it’s pretty damn interesting.

So now the Web is all abuzz about how well the Arc A750 is doing against Nvidia’s two-year-old RTX 3060. No mention of any comparison against AMD, though. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just filling space on a Web page; there’s no definitive data there.

But it will come, and then all the experts can explain it to us.

So, while we’re waiting, how about taking a little poll? Email your answers to me (jon@jonpeddie.com).

How much market share in desktop AIBs will Intel have by June 30, 2023?

• 0%
• 5%
• 10%
• 20%
• 50%

Or write in your opinion and any other thoughts.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Oh, and for a bonus, tell me why you picked the number you did.

For everyone who writes to me, I’ll send you a copy of our 2022 GPU developments report when it comes out in January—a $500 value.

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