Intel Arc B580 Review

The Intel Arc B580 represents good news on two fronts: it showcases Intel's second-generation Xe Battlemage architecture and reaffirms Intel's commitment to the PC gaming GPU market. Despite current perceptions, Intel remains a major player in silicon, and its entry into the discrete GPU market is significant.

Battlemage Architecture and Performance

Battlemage boasts a 70% generational leap in Xe core SIMD performance and a 50% improvement in performance-per-watt thanks to a 5nm EUV process. Intel claims the B580 outperforms most of its Arc A-series cards, including the A750.

Competitive Pricing and Positioning

Priced at $250, the B580 directly challenges the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 and AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT. This aggressive pricing strategy, targeting a popular price segment, shows Intel's ambition to capture market share.

Specifications

The Arc B580 features:

• 20 Xe2 cores (128 execution units, 2560 unified shaders)
• 20 Ray Tracing Units
• 160 XMX matrix accelerators
• 160 TMUs, 80 ROPs
• 12GB 19Gbps GDDR6 memory (192-bit bus)

XeSS 2 and Enhanced Ray Tracing

Battlemage introduces the Xe2 Core with significant performance improvements. Ray tracing performance is specifically enhanced with a 50-100% boost in certain areas. Intel's XeSS 2 upscaling technology (including frame generation) promises to further boost performance.

Review Unit and Availability

This review covers the Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition, a reference design sold directly by Intel. Reviews of partner cards will follow.

Market Segment Comparison

Benchmarks

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