Intel enters the mid-range GPU market with its new Arc B580 and B570 graphics cards, priced at $249 and $219 respectively. These cards, announced on Tuesday, use Intel’s Xe2 “Battlemage” architecture and pack substantial VRAM for their price points.
The Arc B580 contains 20 Xe2 cores and 12GB of VRAM on a 192-bit bus, delivering 456GB/s bandwidth. Its sibling, the B570, carries 18 Xe2 cores and 10GB of VRAM on a 160-bit bus, providing 380GB/s bandwidth. Both cards draw power through a single 8-pin connector, with TDPs of 180W for the B580 and 150W for the B570.
When paired with a Core i9-14900K CPU and ReBar enabled, the B580 performs 10% faster than the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 at 1440p resolution. The B580 also demonstrates a 24% performance improvement over its predecessor, the Arc A750. The BMG-G21 chip powering these cards contains 19.6 billion transistors, reduced from the 21.7 billion in the previous ACM-G10 chip.
The cards include Intel’s XeSS 2 upscaling technology, supported by over 150 games. F1 24 leads nine upcoming titles supporting XeSS 2:
- Assassin’s Creed: Shadows
- Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions
- RoboCop: Rogue City
- Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii
- Dying Light 2 Stay Human
- Ascendant
- Marvel Rivals
- Killing Floor 3
- Citadels
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The timing raises questions about Intel’s strategy. AMD prepares to announce its RX 8000 series, while Nvidia readies its RTX 5000 series. The competitive landscape could shift dramatically by the cards’ release dates – December 13, 2024, for the B580 and January 16, 2025, for the B570.
Vivian Lien, Intel Vice President and General Manager of Client Graphics, states: “The new Intel Arc B-Series GPUs are the perfect upgrades for gamers. They deliver leading performance-per-dollar and great 1440p gaming experiences with XeSS 2, second-generation ray tracing engines, and XMX AI engines.”
Acer, Asrock, Gunnir, Maxsun, Onix, and Sparkle will manufacture custom versions of these cards. Acer has announced its Nitro variants of the B570 OC and B580 OC graphics cards.
The Xe2 architecture shows a 70% improvement in performance per core and 50% better power efficiency compared to first-generation Alchemist GPUs. The new XMX AI engines accelerate ray tracing operations and AI workloads, with the B570 and B580 delivering 203 and 233 TOPs of AI performance respectively.Intel faces established competitors and potential market disruptions. Recent comments from CEO Pat Gelsinger about possible cuts to the discrete GPU division add uncertainty to Intel’s long-term commitment in this space.