MSI Low-Profile Arc A380 Graphics Card Pictured

[btarunr]

Here are the first pictures of a low-profile Intel Arc A380 graphics card by MSI. The half-height card is 2 slots thick, and is probably the first A380 card we've come across that appears to lack a power connector. The card surfaced on Japanese IT news portals, when a DAIV-built commercial desktop was disassembled revealing this low-profile card. The desktop combines a Core i7-12700 with this A380 card. The card appears to feature a complex aluminium fin-stack heatsink instead of a cheap aluminium monoblock one. The typical board power of A380 running at stock frequencies is exactly 75 W, and so MSI could build this card without any power connectors. Other board partners have been known to include at least a 6-pin connector to minimize power draw from the slot.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

I'm more "curious" about this case lol.

It looks like internally it would have 3x 5'25'' bays, yet front panel suggests either you can remove top half to have all 3 and ugly empty space uncovered, or none at all? Interesting design, to say the least...

 

[GreiverBlade]

oh a LP card ... someone listened to my wish, i dread the price tho, if it's above 170$ then it's a no go as a RX 6400 4gb will perform about same and cost less, need 1 fan less while using a 4X PCIe interface instead of 16X/8X and consuming less than 75watts stock (53w) if lower than 160$ might be interesting (even without RE-BAR)

 

[QuietBob]

Yeah, everything about this build screams old school. 5.25" bays plus a 3.5" drive cage, with a side panel fan and a CPU cooler straight from mid 2000s. And a single HDD.
EDIT: It's got a 512GB PCIe 3.0 SSD.

Also, pairing a 12700 with an A380, how odd. Even the GPU specs in that screenshot are incorrect

EDIT: Here's more pics of the case. "The metal knob on the far right is the power switch, turn it to the right to turn on the power" The HSF fan is 92mm.

 

[SOAREVERSOR]

I'm more "curious" about this case lol.

It looks like internally it would have 3x 5'25'' bays, yet front panel suggests either you can remove top half to have all 3 and ugly empty space uncovered, or none at all? Interesting design, to say the least...

I like the case.

 

[Leshy]

I'm more "curious" about this case lol.

It looks like internally it would have 3x 5'25'' bays, yet front panel suggests either you can remove top half to have all 3 and ugly empty space uncovered, or none at all? Interesting design, to say the least...

there is handle up top and down .. to me it looks like is on a hinge .. if you want to use medium, you have to tilt it

 

[Jimmy_]

I'm more "curious" about this case lol.

It looks like internally it would have 3x 5'25'' bays, yet front panel suggests either you can remove top half to have all 3 and ugly empty space uncovered, or none at all? Interesting design, to say the least...

case +1

 

[ModEl4]

I posted before 1-1.5 month the below pic but the advertised clock was 2GHz not 2.45GHz, which one is the correct?

(Image credit: MSI / JD)

MSI Arc A380 Low-Profile, Source: ITmedia

Also:

 

[Harakhti]

I'm more "curious" about this case lol.

It looks like internally it would have 3x 5'25'' bays, yet front panel suggests either you can remove top half to have all 3 and ugly empty space uncovered, or none at all? Interesting design, to say the least...

It's a cover plate with no particular purpose, at least on previous iterations of the same case. Sort of like the Chieftec Libra.

 

[pavle]

ROP, TMU count (because of that max. fillrates) and the number of shaders reported is wrong: should be 32, 64 and 1024 respectively.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

oh a LP card ... someone listened to my wish, i dread the price tho, if it's above 170$ then it's a no go as a RX 6400 4gb will perform about same and cost less, need 1 fan less while using a 4X PCIe interface instead of 16X/8X and consuming less than 75watts stock (53w) if lower than 160$ might be interesting (even without RE-BAR)

I'm glad MSI is keeping the LP alive, but the a380 isn't on my list anymore given how poorly it performs on systems without reBAR. My LP system is older, and right now a gimped PCIe 3.0 RX 6400 is the only realistic upgrade, and that sucks.

 

[ModEl4]

I like the case.

It looks like some kind of hybrid of Chieftec Elox BT-06B and Chieftec Elox AS-01B.
I think you will like also something like the Cougar Panzer Max-G.

X

ROP, TMU count (because of that max. fillrates) and the number of shaders reported is wrong: should be 32, 64 and 1024 respectively.

GPU, die size, transistors also.
The reported numbers are a mix of A770 and A380, possibly GPU-Z v2.48.0 fixes that.

 

[GreiverBlade]

I'm glad MSI is keeping the LP alive, but the a380 isn't on my list anymore given how poorly it performs on systems without reBAR. My LP system is older, and right now a gimped PCIe 3.0 RX 6400 is the only realistic upgrade, and that sucks.

well at least you have PCIe 3.0 (well the RX 6400 do better than the A380 in 3.0 and on PCIe 4.0 it sit just in the middle of A380 RE-bar and A380 no Re-Bar) ...

the RX 6400 4gb PCIe 4.0 X4 does not suck as much as the A380 6gb PCIe 4.0 X8 it take more skill to make a product with seemingly superior specs into a bad product that perform like a roller coaster and consume more (the RX 6400 can thanks the A380 for making her look good, while at launch everyone hissed and screeched at it for the X4 and "only" 4gb... (i did ))

but if a LP A380 would cost let's say ... 135$ max (160$ max is a bit optimistic but as mentioned a RX 6400 4gb LP is ~170chf/$ max ) i would still put it on the list since my curent only sane choice is a RX 6400
i always joke about getting a 200chf+ Tesla T600 4gb or a 665chf RTX A2000 6gb but the 6400 is the only choice.
well the one i have now is a GT730 2gb DDR3 PCIe2.0 X8, that one really ... sucks... it is still in stock and cost 70ish chf so even a GTX 1030 would be an upgrade (but a bad one as it cost more than a RX 6400 which in the end is an excellent card, for a HTPC even PCIe3.0 )

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
No power connector yet two fans

 

[ModEl4]

Hi,
No power connector yet two fans

Same case as GB RX 6400 LP.

 

[ARF]

Where did you get this screenshot from? It screams photoshop.

Most of the data on it is terribly wrong.

Intel Arc A380 Specs | TechPowerUp GPU Database

 

[ModEl4]

Where did you get this screenshot from? It screams photoshop.

Most of the data on it is terribly wrong.

View attachment 261581View attachment 261582
Intel Arc A380 Specs | TechPowerUp GPU Database

It's in the TPU report above

 

[ARF]

It's in the TPU report above

I see in the videocardz article it's also posted. But it's fake!

 

[ModEl4]

I see in the videocardz article it's also posted. But it's fake!

That or the GPU-Z version wasn't reporting properly, the new version has some Intel ARC fixes I think.
But the frequency report should have been correct, 2450MHz seems iffy.

 

[GreiverBlade]

Same case as GB RX 6400 LP.

yep, but most RX 6400 LP are single fan
like the reference one

or many others,





but well, the RX 6400 is a 53 watts not a 75 (the dual fan is a tad overkill, heck it could even run passive, like a 38 watts GT730 with an adequate heatsink )

 

[HairyLobsters]

yep, but most RX 6400 LP are single fan
like the reference one
View attachment 261592
or many others,
View attachment 261593View attachment 261595

View attachment 261597View attachment 261596


but well, the RX 6400 is a 53 watts not a 75 (the dual fan is a tad overkill, heck it could even run passive, like a 38 watts GT730 with an adequate heatsink )

RX 6400 doesn't support video encoding though.

 

[ModEl4]

yep, but most RX 6400 LP are single fan
like the reference one
View attachment 261592
or many others,
View attachment 261593View attachment 261595

View attachment 261597View attachment 261596


but well, the RX 6400 is a 53 watts not a 75 (the dual fan is a tad overkill, heck it could even run passive, like a 38 watts GT730 with an adequate heatsink )

I don't disagree, my post was addressing the following:

"No power connector yet two fans"

No power connector and 2 fans are not contradictory factors in order to criticize something since even RX 6400 at 53W has designs such this although in AMD's case not necessary in LP form.

Everyone knows that RX6400 is 53W while ARC needs much more than that.
Such designs were selected the last 6 years for other cards also like 60W 1050Ti or 50W RX550 for example, nothing rare about it, that was my point.

 

[GreiverBlade]

I don't disagree, my post was addressing the following:

"No power connector yet two fans"

No power connector and 2 fans are not contradictory factors in order to criticize something since even RX 6400 at 53W has designs such this although in AMD's case not necessary in LP form.

Everyone knows that RX6400 is 53W while ARC needs much more than that.
Such designs were selected the last 6 years for other cards also like 60W 1050Ti or 50W RX550 for example, nothing rare about it, that was my point.

yep yep, i understand worries and Gigabyte MSI are quite notorious for LP with 2 fans, no additional power connector is a bit irrelevant tho given that all the cards you mention are below 75W
aside the A380 which i suspect will have issues due to that ... it already behave badly, i can't imagine if constrained to "only" what the slot can give, luckily the card is stock and most buyer interested in a card like that know better than OC a card that is already at the upper limite the RX 6400 1050Ti and RX550 have a bit marging on that aspect

although i doubt the : "No power connector yet two fans" comment was about the rarity of the thing, but rather about the ridicule of having a heavier cooling solution for a card at 75W, although given the A380 i suspect it would need it just to be borderline stable.

RX 6400 doesn't support video encoding though.

well for those who need it ... ARC is the ... well i could be a way for anyone without a potato conversion HTPC like me
although given CPU load video encoding could be defaulted to the i7 3770k in my case ...not that i would need it, although if i was a budget streamer, i'd rather go with a RX 6400 than an A380, luckily i am not

it's, nonetheless, a good point for ARC GPUs, yay i found a pro to it thanks to you

 

[ModEl4]

yep yep, i understand worries and Gigabyte MSI are quite notorious for LP with 2 fans, no additional power connector is a bit irrelevant tho given that all the cards you mention are below 75W
aside the A380 which i suspect will have issues due to that ... it already behave badly, i can't imagine if constrained to "only" what the slot can give, luckily the card is stock and most buyer interested in a card like that know better than OC a card that is already at the upper limite the RX 6400 1050Ti and RX550 have a bit marging on that aspect

although i doubt the : "No power connector yet two fans" comment was about the rarity of the thing, but rather about the ridicule of having a heavier cooling solution for a card at 75W, although given the A380 i suspect it would need it just to be borderline stable.

Since we are talking about low profile factor having 2 fans sure help a lot cooling the 75W TBP card just like in GTX 1650 case.
If it was classic design then it could be cooled passively requiring 2 slots, again just like GTX 1650.
Any card with 75W TBP from any vendor would require similar treatment, so essentially Intel & partners had 2 options, either use 2 fans in LP or leave the low profile market to AMD essentially, maybe the comment was about that.
Anyway, like I said in the past AMD already has the only serious proposition for anyone wanting LP+1 slot solution and in general in most LP chassis a 53W TBP card is preferable to a 75W one regarding heat/noise etc.

 

[GreiverBlade]

Since we are talking about low profile factor having 2 fans sure help a lot cooling the 75W TBP card just like in GTX 1650 case.
If it was classic design then it could be cooled passively requiring 2 slots, again just like GTX 1650.
Any card with 75W TBP from any vendor would require similar treatment, so essentially Intel & partners had 2 options, either use 2 fans in LP or leave the low profile market to AMD essentially, maybe the comment was about that.
Anyway, like I said in the past AMD already has the only serious proposition for anyone wanting LP+1 slot solution and in general in most LP chassis a 53W TBP card is preferable to a 75W one regarding heat/noise etc.

yep, that 75W stock card already at her limite need 2 fans indeed

for the rest i totally agree, well ... i still want an A380 LP nonetheless, i hope that MSI will go retail and preferably at a decent price (although where i live i have little hope )