In the spotlight of CEO resignation, Intel introduces impressive graphics card duo with low price, power surpassing Nvidia RTX 4060
Intel last night launched two graphics cards, the Arc B580 and B570. The announcement comes amid major changes for the company, with CEO Pat Gelsinger stepping down in early December, indicating that Intel is continuing to follow its previous plans, despite the leadership change.
Intel released its first discrete graphics card, the Alchemist A-Series, in 2022, a year after Gelsinger took over as CEO. Now, as Intel launches its second generation of discrete graphics cards based on the Xe2 architecture, the Battlemage B-Series, Gelsinger has retired.
Back to the two new products, as previously rumored, Intel announced the Arc B580 and Arc B570, both with quite affordable prices of $249 and $219 respectively.
Intel Arc B580 and Arc B570 have quite affordable prices
They're based on the same Xe2 "Battlemage" GPU architecture as the Lunar Lake laptop chips, but with more than double the number of graphics cores, up to 12GB of dedicated video memory, and up to 190W of power. Intel's numbers show that the B580 is powerful enough to beat Nvidia's $299 RTX 4060 and AMD's $269 RX 7600, which is why Intel is confident that the two new products will deliver "best-in-class performance per dollar."
Targeting the affordable gaming segment, the Intel Arc B580 GPU features 20 Xe cores, 20 RTUs (Ray Tracing Units), 160 XMX AI Engines, and 12GB of GDDR6 memory with a 192-bit memory interface.
Meanwhile, the Intel Arc B570 has 18 Xe cores, 18 RTUs, 144 XMX AI Engines, and 10GB of GDDR6 memory with a 160-bit memory interface. While that's less than the Arc B580, the B570 still has more memory bandwidth than the Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT, both of which struggled with 1440p gaming in benchmark tests due to limited memory bandwidth.
Basic configuration of B580 and B570
Intel claims the B580 is an average of 10% faster than the RTX 4060 in a variety of games at 1440p and Ultra settings, assuming both GPUs are running Intel's expensive Core i9-14900K CPU. Intel says the B580/i9-14900K combo can break the 60fps average in Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, Returnal, and The Witcher 3, which the 4060 can't do at the same settings.
However, Intel seems pretty transparent in announcing that the Nvidia card still outperformed in Starfield, Gears 5, and the two Assassin's Creed games (as well as Counter-Strike 2, DOTA 2, and League of Legends, but with these titles both cards achieved very generous frame rates).
Comparing the power of B580 with RTX 4060, with many Intel game cards surpassing Nvidia
In a way, it seems like Intel's new line of cards is the true successor to the RTX 3060 that gamers love, while the RTX 4060 was criticized for having poor memory optimization and not being able to perform as well as expected. And perhaps Intel deliberately chose the RTX 4060 to compare in its tests.
Compared to Intel's previous-generation A750, which originally retailed for $289 but can now be found for $180, the new card runs an average of 24 percent faster, according to Intel—but that may vary by game. In our testing, Intel ran multiple games with XeSS AI upscaling enabled, and Baldur's Gate 3 ran just 4fps faster on the new GPU.
Power comparison with previous Arc generation
Intel says that users can really see a clear advantage to the B580 in situations where competitors are limited on memory, since the B580 has 12GB of video memory compared to the 4060's 8GB. For example, in Forza Motorsport, the Nvidia card clearly beats the Intel card with 86fps vs. 77fps, but the Intel wins with 64fps vs. 57fps with ray tracing enabled.
B580 has an advantage in Ray Tracing processing over Nvidia RTX 4060
Intel didn't provide any individual comparisons with the AMD RX 7600. Nor was there a comparison with the lower-end Arc B570 card.
Intel will sell the Arc B580 Limited Edition card with two fans, an 8-pin power connector, and "absolutely quiet" performance; Acer, ASRock, Gunnir, Sparkle, Maxsun, and Onix will also sell their own versions of the B-Series.
Brands will launch their own versions of the B-Series
The Arc B580 will go on pre-sale on December 13, 2024, while the Arc B570 will go on sale the following month, on January 16, 2025.
The Future Is Bright for the Best Budget Graphics Card for 1440p Gaming
For over a year now, the only graphics cards that have really made a splash in the sub-$400 segment have been the Nvidia RTX 4060 and AMD RX 7600, and neither of them can handle gaming well at 1440p resolution.
The B-Series targets the affordable gaming segment, but still offers 1440p quality with Ultra graphics
With the Intel Arc B580 and Arc B570, we could see a quality graphics card in the “affordable” segment that can handle 1440p, while their competitors at this price point can’t. Intel’s Xe2 graphics core has been performing quite well in Lunar Lake laptops, so performance on their desktop discrete graphics cards is something to look forward to.
Intel confidently says the two new products will deliver “best-in-class performance per dollar.”
However, Intel's discrete graphics future is currently quite uncertain, as while in office, Gelsinger hinted that the discrete graphics business could be axed, saying: "The capabilities of integrated graphics are getting bigger, so there will be less demand for discrete graphics in the future market."
Now that Gelsinger is retiring, the future of Intel’s discrete graphics cards remains up in the air. Following Gelsinger’s departure, two Intel executives, David Zinsner and Michelle Johnston Holthaus, have been appointed interim co-CEOs. Zinsner is currently Intel’s CFO, while Holthaus, general manager of the client computing group, has taken on a new role as CEO of Intel Products, a division that includes client computing, data centers, artificial intelligence, networking, and edge devices.
Frank Yeary, Intel’s independent board chairman, will become interim executive chairman during the transition. Intel said the leadership structure of Intel Foundry, its chip design and manufacturing unit, will remain in place. Intel’s board has also formed a committee to search for Gelsinger’s permanent successor as CEO.
All of which suggests that discrete graphics may not be Intel’s focus right now. Ultimately, the future of the product line may depend on how profitable the Arc B580 and B570 bring to Intel.
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