How to buy an Intel Arc graphics card in South Africa

South African gamers looking to buy one of Intel’s Arc desktop graphics cards can show their interest in the products through one of two popular PC hardware retailers or import it themselves.

Intel launched the Arc A750 and Arc A770 globally in October 2022, aiming to upset the budget-oriented market dominated by the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060.

The company’s first dedicated graphics cards in over two decades were initially met with mixed reviews, primarily due to graphics API issues.

Intel has much catching up to do if it wants to close the gap between itself and GPU heavyweights like Nvidia and AMD.

The company does not have the benefit of developing graphics drivers for older games over the many years that those companies had to fine-tune their software.

That has meant significantly degraded performance in games that run on older versions of DirectX.

Nevertheless, prominent tech reviewers like Linus Tech Tips have encouraged gamers to support Intel to promote more competition in the GPU industry.

Piling pressure on AMD and Nvidia with competitively-priced graphics cards could turn into a big win for consumers.

Intel Arc graphics cards are also the most affordable cards you can buy for encoding video in AV1.

Unfortunately, even if you are willing to set the driver issues aside, want to play the latest DirectX 12 games, or only intend to get the card for video encoding, Arc cards are difficult to come by in South Africa.

At the time of publication, MyBroadband could only find one Intel Arc A750 model at a well-known South African PC hardware store.

Wootware had the Arc A750 listed for R7,799. However, customers had to contact the company to find out if there was stock available.

The lone Intel Arc A750 graphics card listed on South African online PC hardware stores at the time of our article.

Wootware told MyBroadband that the allocation of Intel A750 cards in South Africa had been limited as the card had only been in the country for a short period.

“That being said, we are expecting a new shipment, and we’ll be sure to update our product page as soon as possible,” Wootware stated.

“Customers may click on the ‘Notify Me’ button, and we’ll get back to all customers who have signed up the moment stock is available.”

The retailer also said it had seen an uptick in requests and demand for the Arc A750 as more reviews for the card became available.

Another reputed online PC retailer — Dreamware Tech — told MyBroadband that Arc graphics cards were slowly making their way into South Africa in small test shipments aimed at gauging consumer interest.

The store said customers interested in buying one of these cards from Dreamware Tech were also welcome to send the retailer an email with their request, so it could help facilitate the transaction.

Dreamware Tech said bringing the graphics cards to South Africa on a permanent basis would depend on customer interest and demand.

“Based on the number of orders we can get, the supplier will make their decision on whether they will bring in Arc GPUs on a larger scale,” the retailer said.

Import it yourself — but watch the warranty

One option for those who want to get their hands on an Arc graphics card as soon as possible is to use Amazon.com.

The ecommerce giant’s US marketplace currently lists a handful of Arc A750 and Arc A770 models that ship to South Africa.

At the time of publication, the Arc A750 Limited Edition was selling for $295 compared to its $229 recommended retail price.

An Acer Predator BiFrost version of the Arc A770 was selling for $369.99, about $20 more than its recommended retail price.

The prices above don’t factor in VAT, import taxes, and shipping costs. Amazon will factor these in at checkout and handle customs on your behalf.

Fair warning though, it is possible to encounter costly hurdles if the cards get damaged during shipping, whereas local stores like Dreamware Tech and Wootware can provide locally-honoured warranties.

The table below provides a cost breakdown for buying an Intel Arc graphics card listed on Amazon.com that ships to South Africa.

Now read: Nvidia RTX 4070 graphics cards launch price comparison for South Africa