The embargo on the Intel Arc B580 graphics card analysis was lifted today – the second generation of the company’s GPU architecture, which fully supports hardware-accelerated machine learning and ray tracing. The Intel Arc B580, priced at $250, promises 12 GB of VRAM and performance that is about 10% faster on average than the market leader, Nvidia’s RTX 4060 8GB. The B570 will be released in January, with slight cuts in shaders, bandwidth, and VRAM (10 GB), priced at $220.
Performance and Comparison
The ray tracing performance is a highlight in the battle against the RTX 4060. In various games, the Arc B580 outperforms the competition, showcasing its capabilities in both rasterization and ray tracing tasks.
Issues and Concerns
Despite its impressive performance, the Arc B580 faces some challenges during testing, including stuttering in certain games and compatibility issues with older titles. These issues raise concerns about the overall stability and compatibility of the graphics card.
Intel Arc B580: Agressive Price and Excellent Performance
The B580 comes with an aggressive price, the price/performance ratio is the best in its class, ray tracing is excellent, and XeSS is very, very good. My only concern is that Intel’s upscaling support is not as widespread as FSR and DLSS – for example, why isn’t it supported in Alan Wake 2? XeSS 2 frame generation? In the rush to get our new comparative analysis workflow online, I didn’t have time to test it, but I am looking forward to trying it out – Intel promises a complete AI pipeline.
Intel Arc B580: A Highly Attractive Proposal
Meanwhile, the Intel Arc B580 is a highly attractive proposal and a shot in the arm for one of the most stagnant market segments. Our previous advice for this product class was to get an RTX 4060 if needed, or to buy a cheap RTX 3060 for its 12GB framebuffer memory. The Arc B580 makes the decision-making process much more difficult. Considering its origin, I don’t think Intel could have launched a better product. It would be a must-buy if it weren’t for the fact that DLSS has become so predominant and crucial. Even so, it is highly worthy of consideration.
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