[UNBOXING] Intel ARC B580 Limited Edition

We who thought that the year 2024 was going to end quietly after the launch of the Intel Core Ultra 200S processors, but no, Intel is unveiling this December 3 a new range of graphics cards which will include an Intel ARC B580 and an Intel ARC B570. We followed on Monday evening, a conference dedicated to the press and which was very rich in announcements. Today we are going to offer you theunboxing of the Intel ARC B580 Limited Edition graphics card that we have just received. Of course, we will not reveal any results to you for the moment, you will still have to be patient. Many thanks to Intel France for making this copy of the Intel ARC B580 Limited Edition available.

Arc Battlemage: two models for launch

This week we will offer you a complete file concerning the new technologies embedded in this new range of Intel GPUs. However, we can already announce the arrival of an Intel ARC B580 card and an Intel ARC B570. These two Arc Battlemage models will feature the second generation of Xe cores. As you might expect, these will be more efficient and will also be fewer in number than the previous generation.

The Intel ARC B580 Limited Edition version will be equipped with 20 Xe2 cores and 20 units ray tracing. It will have 12 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 192-bit memory interface, ensuring a bandwidth of 456 GB/s. The GPU frequency is announced at 2670 MHz. Its little sister, the ARC B570 Limited Edition will have 18 Xe2 cores and 18 units ray tracing. It will have 10 GB of GDDR6 memory with a 160-bit memory interface, ensuring a bandwidth of 380 GB/s. The GPU frequency is announced at 2500 MHz.

Despite certain rumors in recent weeks, these two models will be in PCIe 4.0 x8. Concerning the TDP, that of the B580 is announced at 190 watts and that of the B570, at 150 watts, which is also excellent news. We will also remain attentive to consumption at rest, which was a negative point during the launch of the ARC A750/A770.

The Intel ARC B580 will be marketed from December 13, 2024 with a recommended price of US$249, while you will have to wait until January 16, 2025 to see the B570 model arrive, at a price of US$219. These are very aggressive prices since at their launch, the ARC A770 was marketed at $329 and the ARC A750, at $289.

Intel also announced the list of its partners who will offer Intel cards. We will find Acer, ASRock, Gunnir, MaxSun, Onix and Sparkle. As you can see, not really anything new, apart from MaxSun which has been added as a new Intel partner. These models will have their own cooling system and an in-house PCB, since for example, the ASRock ARC B580 Steel Legend has two power connectors.

Intel ARC B580: a card for 1440p definition?

This is the announcement that surprised us the most. Intel explains in its slides that the tendency of competitive gamers is to turn towards 1440p definition to the detriment of 1080p. This is indeed a new trend that is emerging and which has already been highlighted by NVIDIA.

Intel thus announces that its ARC B580 card will be intended for this 1440p definition and has therefore compared the performance of the B580 against the A750. The blues announce an average gain of 24%. It would also have been interesting to know the gains compared to the A770 version.

But where we are a little lost, and we must admit it, is when Intel compares the performance of its ARC B580 model with NVIDIA's RTX 4060 and AMD's RX 7600, two fully 1080p oriented cards. We were convinced that this ARC B580 model was intended for 1080p definition, unless we made concessions on the graphics options within games. Does Intel rely on its upscaling house to highlight the use of 1440p?

Please note that Intel will offer a second generation XeSS with the XeSS-SR (Super Resolution), le XeSS-FR (Frame Generation) and the XeSS-LL (Low Latency). It is ultimately our tests which will allow us to see more clearly regarding performance in 1080p and 1440p.

Overclocking is evolving!

Good news, if with the first generation of ARC GPUs, l’overclocking was not the easiest thing, Intel seems determined to change the situation. We already know that some models custom will benefit from higher frequencies than the B580 Limited Edition version. Intel announced to us that it had thoroughly reviewed the different options in the “ Performance, Overclocking & Controls ».

We will see during our test what we can hope for as a gain thanks to l’overclocking of this Intel ARC B580 Limited Edition.