AMD & NVIDIA Abandoned This Segment - Intel Arc GPU Factory Tour with Sparkle
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Date: 2026-01-23
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Comments and reviews: 20
jasonfullerton7763
I have been in the electronics manufacturing industry since 1993. Love it, all top of the line equipment in this factory. ESD controls are well implemented. Your guide was very knowledgeable. I will highly consider Sparkle the next time I buy a video card after seeing this.
PCBs - widgets, but very complex ones made of layers of copper and epoxy.
GPUs - silicon based widgets with solder bumps on the bottom
MLCCs and resistors - little widgets that all look the same
solder paste - the good stuff ;-)
reflow oven - where all the fun happens
gerber file - map to where where the widgets go
SMT connectors - the bane of everyone's existence
BIOS flash - put the digital widgets inside
AOI - makes sure all the widgets are there and mostly checks that they are soldered
inspectors - ladies that have the final say on what's soldered right, they don't mess around
Wave solder - my first job out of college that nobody volunteers for because of the hot molten metal
nitrogen - wave solder's best friend
manual solder touch-up - the hidden factory of quality at the end of every wave solder
final pack - turning all that work back into money!
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I have been in the electronics manufacturing industry since 1993. Love it, all top of the line equipment in this factory. ESD controls are well implemented. Your guide was very knowledgeable. I will highly consider Sparkle the next time I buy a video card after seeing this.
PCBs - widgets, but very complex ones made of layers of copper and epoxy.
GPUs - silicon based widgets with solder bumps on the bottom
MLCCs and resistors - little widgets that all look the same
solder paste - the good stuff ;-)
reflow oven - where all the fun happens
gerber file - map to where where the widgets go
SMT connectors - the bane of everyone's existence
BIOS flash - put the digital widgets inside
AOI - makes sure all the widgets are there and mostly checks that they are soldered
inspectors - ladies that have the final say on what's soldered right, they don't mess around
Wave solder - my first job out of college that nobody volunteers for because of the hot molten metal
nitrogen - wave solder's best friend
manual solder touch-up - the hidden factory of quality at the end of every wave solder
final pack - turning all that work back into money!
reply
spirit2219
Steve: What's the actual model name of the card, A310...
Lucas: A310 Omniview
Steve: Ahhmneeview
Lucas: Ahhmneeview
American accents and their weird vowels.. /facepalm xD
Thanks for covering this topic GamersNexus! A rapidly growing number of us out here in the wild are becoming fed up with the enslopification of PC hardware, and it's wonderful to get insider looks into whatever alternatives exist to the big players in the industry who have already fallen to the Singuslopery. Love to see more on these cards too!
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Steve: What's the actual model name of the card, A310...
Lucas: A310 Omniview
Steve: Ahhmneeview
Lucas: Ahhmneeview
American accents and their weird vowels.. /facepalm xD
Thanks for covering this topic GamersNexus! A rapidly growing number of us out here in the wild are becoming fed up with the enslopification of PC hardware, and it's wonderful to get insider looks into whatever alternatives exist to the big players in the industry who have already fallen to the Singuslopery. Love to see more on these cards too!
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bacon.cheesecake
What an incredible tour, wild to see that much transparency.
But I do wonder, why does it matter that you pay for the trip yourself You're not testing and reviewing the factory, you just stand there while they tell you about it. At the end of the day, they show you what they want to show you and tell you what they want to tell you. They already have complete control of what we see and hear.
It's about as biased as a video can get, I don't see how a little money would really change anything.
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What an incredible tour, wild to see that much transparency.
But I do wonder, why does it matter that you pay for the trip yourself You're not testing and reviewing the factory, you just stand there while they tell you about it. At the end of the day, they show you what they want to show you and tell you what they want to tell you. They already have complete control of what we see and hear.
It's about as biased as a video can get, I don't see how a little money would really change anything.
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MarkRUSSIA100
I have asrock stell legend B580 on my gaming pc, because it have massive radiator and rgb light. That is a good quality product, for this price. Good 12gb card for 3440x1440 100hz gaming. Old dx9 games works better, than on my friend's rtx3060 rig. Good job with software at last year intel, thanks.
In my second rig asrock challenger A580 are installed for two years, good card. You can play crysis3 at 3440x1440 with raytracing for about 160$, that's a good deal.
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I have asrock stell legend B580 on my gaming pc, because it have massive radiator and rgb light. That is a good quality product, for this price. Good 12gb card for 3440x1440 100hz gaming. Old dx9 games works better, than on my friend's rtx3060 rig. Good job with software at last year intel, thanks.
In my second rig asrock challenger A580 are installed for two years, good card. You can play crysis3 at 3440x1440 with raytracing for about 160$, that's a good deal.
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jamesmcd71
I would leave Nvidia tomorrow if anyone would make a GPU that can compete with the 4090.
I started buying Nvidia stock back in the early days. So as a business Nvidia has been very good to me. I shifted to pickup AMD stock in 2019. Mainly because i thought AMD was going to fight for the GPU market like it did with the CPUs.
I just don't understand why no one is willing to capitalize on Nvidia turning its back on the foundation of Nvidia.
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I would leave Nvidia tomorrow if anyone would make a GPU that can compete with the 4090.
I started buying Nvidia stock back in the early days. So as a business Nvidia has been very good to me. I shifted to pickup AMD stock in 2019. Mainly because i thought AMD was going to fight for the GPU market like it did with the CPUs.
I just don't understand why no one is willing to capitalize on Nvidia turning its back on the foundation of Nvidia.
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jojetski1
This video was awesome. The reputation of Sparkle just went up in my book by a lot. 1. They were open and let you film and show us how this all works. 2. Most importantly, Sparkle has acquired one of EVGA's top guys. If I switch to Arc I would give sparkle the first look since this guy is in the top talent at Sparkle. My 3080ti xc3 is still running great but at some point, I will need a new card.
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This video was awesome. The reputation of Sparkle just went up in my book by a lot. 1. They were open and let you film and show us how this all works. 2. Most importantly, Sparkle has acquired one of EVGA's top guys. If I switch to Arc I would give sparkle the first look since this guy is in the top talent at Sparkle. My 3080ti xc3 is still running great but at some point, I will need a new card.
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GloriousKev
I recently purchased a Sparkle B570 for my LLM and Jellyfin server and it has been great so far. Really happy with my purchase. Also got my son a Sparkle B580 for Christmas that he is really happy with as well. I also have a Sparkle A310 laying around here that I hope to purpose soon. I just need more hardware for it. Looking at maybe separating Jellyfin from my LLM and doing that.
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I recently purchased a Sparkle B570 for my LLM and Jellyfin server and it has been great so far. Really happy with my purchase. Also got my son a Sparkle B580 for Christmas that he is really happy with as well. I also have a Sparkle A310 laying around here that I hope to purpose soon. I just need more hardware for it. Looking at maybe separating Jellyfin from my LLM and doing that.
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wettuga2762
Awesome video, the manufacturing process is insane. If I was working at those routine and repetitive manual work stations, I think I would go insane in less than a month!
Due to the memory crisis, I'm guessing Intel is going to have the advantage with the lower priced cards. It's not longer about the most powerful graphics card, it's about the best price to performance ratio.
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Awesome video, the manufacturing process is insane. If I was working at those routine and repetitive manual work stations, I think I would go insane in less than a month!
Due to the memory crisis, I'm guessing Intel is going to have the advantage with the lower priced cards. It's not longer about the most powerful graphics card, it's about the best price to performance ratio.
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AgentNice
Corporations will do everything to prove to consumers that they have our best interests in mind. Once Intel makes big moves into GPUs and gaming, they'll show their true greed. Fortunately, maybe it'll be a while before they do this. A progressive congress could eliminate or at the very least, cause it to drastically regulate greed and yes regulations work.
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Corporations will do everything to prove to consumers that they have our best interests in mind. Once Intel makes big moves into GPUs and gaming, they'll show their true greed. Fortunately, maybe it'll be a while before they do this. A progressive congress could eliminate or at the very least, cause it to drastically regulate greed and yes regulations work.
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godofpebbles
I can see why AMD and Nvidia gave up this segment. Their smt line is a bottle neck. It makes only 1120 cards per day. 1120 x $100, is not a lot of revenue. Intel A310 is a very low end, low margin card. It's basically competing with other generic display cards / hubs for signage or productivity. I'm glad Intel still cares enough to even be here.
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I can see why AMD and Nvidia gave up this segment. Their smt line is a bottle neck. It makes only 1120 cards per day. 1120 x $100, is not a lot of revenue. Intel A310 is a very low end, low margin card. It's basically competing with other generic display cards / hubs for signage or productivity. I'm glad Intel still cares enough to even be here.
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DrakuzDark
my hair is longer than Steve's and i fit it in a ballcap. but i dont have the volume he has. so i would suggest this:
wash hair, or put something wet in it. then ponytail, then pull the tail up towards forehead, fold back towards your neck. then you go from instant long hair, to instant ''short hair'' appearance. Ninja Secret Disguise tips ;)
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my hair is longer than Steve's and i fit it in a ballcap. but i dont have the volume he has. so i would suggest this:
wash hair, or put something wet in it. then ponytail, then pull the tail up towards forehead, fold back towards your neck. then you go from instant long hair, to instant ''short hair'' appearance. Ninja Secret Disguise tips ;)
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spiralingspiral72
for about 100 bucks, the A310 is basically a davinci resolve accelerator card, which is very useful for people like me who want av1 support but dont have a high-end 40 or 50 series nvidia card (i use a rtx 3060)
edit: i would've loved to see the single-slot version of sparkle A310, which has a max tdp of 50w
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for about 100 bucks, the A310 is basically a davinci resolve accelerator card, which is very useful for people like me who want av1 support but dont have a high-end 40 or 50 series nvidia card (i use a rtx 3060)
edit: i would've loved to see the single-slot version of sparkle A310, which has a max tdp of 50w
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MonochromeWench
Recently bought a B570. Interesting to get this peak into the manufacturing process. Shipping these cards by Air freight suggests they are selling well enough they are emptying the supply chain. My card didn't have the port protectors in place, they just came in a little ziplock bag for some reason.
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Recently bought a B570. Interesting to get this peak into the manufacturing process. Shipping these cards by Air freight suggests they are selling well enough they are emptying the supply chain. My card didn't have the port protectors in place, they just came in a little ziplock bag for some reason.
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codycast
6:33 dumb. I like the idea that companies like AMD, Nvidia, Intel, make the main ship and sell them to board partners, and then board partners build whatever they wanna build with it. As much as little ramm, as many, or a few different ports, as big or as small of a cooler, etc.
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6:33 dumb. I like the idea that companies like AMD, Nvidia, Intel, make the main ship and sell them to board partners, and then board partners build whatever they wanna build with it. As much as little ramm, as many, or a few different ports, as big or as small of a cooler, etc.
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eyo-wk5ig
As someone who doesn't like Intel, I wish Intel success. You really made a cheap and high-quality graphics card, and I bought and used it :)
At least it's not like Nvidia, which sells dreams of a 5080 Super.
Meanwhile, the quality control and the workers are excellent.
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As someone who doesn't like Intel, I wish Intel success. You really made a cheap and high-quality graphics card, and I bought and used it :)
At least it's not like Nvidia, which sells dreams of a 5080 Super.
Meanwhile, the quality control and the workers are excellent.
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pokealong
Interesting video. But let's not forget Intel and Nvidia are partnering up to create new superchips while investing Billions into each other. They're putting just as much effort into AI and datacenters as Nvidia and AMD while being a decade behind in consumer GPUs.
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Interesting video. But let's not forget Intel and Nvidia are partnering up to create new superchips while investing Billions into each other. They're putting just as much effort into AI and datacenters as Nvidia and AMD while being a decade behind in consumer GPUs.
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SlyNation
That was quite an open tour with a lot of info you do not usually hear which is nice. I always stayed away from the Sparkle brand, but seeing the manual checks and employment of people vs 99% robots, makes me think differently about it. Thanks for the tour.
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That was quite an open tour with a lot of info you do not usually hear which is nice. I always stayed away from the Sparkle brand, but seeing the manual checks and employment of people vs 99% robots, makes me think differently about it. Thanks for the tour.
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zapman2100
to bad intel along with everyone elese is focusing on forcing AI into everything they make the new cards are all going to be focused on AI and nothing more sad to see the whole industry abandon its customers due to idiots at the top.
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to bad intel along with everyone elese is focusing on forcing AI into everything they make the new cards are all going to be focused on AI and nothing more sad to see the whole industry abandon its customers due to idiots at the top.
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TriCorp109VA
Used to work for National Instruments in Hungary, Debrecen on the frontend SMT Line as a maintenance technician. God, seeing how better equipped these guys are just makes my seething hatred for upper management of NI even worse.
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Used to work for National Instruments in Hungary, Debrecen on the frontend SMT Line as a maintenance technician. God, seeing how better equipped these guys are just makes my seething hatred for upper management of NI even worse.
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TumanWK
Steve, has anyone done a wellness check on K|ngp|n
Still waiting for the next Kingpin card.... Was hoping it would be a PNY card or other Nvidia card... Would be awesome if he's the one that makes Intel Graphics cards popular!
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Steve, has anyone done a wellness check on K|ngp|n
Still waiting for the next Kingpin card.... Was hoping it would be a PNY card or other Nvidia card... Would be awesome if he's the one that makes Intel Graphics cards popular!
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