It’s not being spelt out overtly, however there’s a whiff of Intel’s new Battlemage GPUs being pitched as what the Alchemist era ought to have been. These finally grew into their PCIe footwear, however solely after months of dial-shifting driver updates – whereas the flagship B580 guarantees Nvidia-besting video games efficiency from the off. Even at such a stage within the present graphics era (the GeForce RTX 5090 and RTX 5080 might be revealed actually tonight, at CES 2025), there’s something engaging about that proposition.
It helps, clearly, that the B580 isn’t competing with the RTX 5090 or 5080, which can little doubt value about the identical as the quantity of Fabergé eggs you’d have to crack to make an unpleasantly sharp wedding ceremony cake. As a substitute, and regardless of Intel’s suggestion that it’s a 1440p machine, the B580 is way more of a 1080p-bopping RTX 4060 rival. Right here within the UK, its pricing vary is kind of useless even with Nvidia’s GPU, with the most cost effective beginning at £270 and Intel’s personal Restricted Version (on check right here) costing £300. Stateside, it’s even cheaper, with the Restricted Version solely asking for $260 when most RTX 4060 fashions are sticking round $300.
That minus-forty {dollars} additionally occurs to pay for 4GB extra VRAM than the 4060, the B580 packing 12GB of GDDR6. It nonetheless requires Resizeable BAR to work correctly, however the Battlemage structure targets a number of weaknesses of Alchemist as nicely, tuning up its ray tracing cores and now not relating to DirectX 9 video games with such a glance of revulsion and concern. Which all sounds pretty – lord is aware of the world may do with extra cheap-ish GPUs that aren’t, like AMD’s Radeon 7600, sort of pointless.
Intel Arc B580 assessment: 1440p benchmarks
Within the precise working of video games, nevertheless, getting essentially the most out the Arc B580 isn’t so simple as slapping on ReBAR. First, at Intel’s most popular rez of 2560×1440, it managed solely a considerably decent-ish exhibiting when paired with the RPS check rig’s Core i5-11600K. Apart from modest, single-digit framerate benefits in Metro Exodus and F1 2022, it performs close to sufficient identically to the almost two-year-old RTX 4060, even with all that bonus reminiscence.
Factor is, I’ve been eager to replace our GPU benchmark course of for ages, what with most of those video games both being outmoded by sequels or getting about as lengthy within the tooth because the i5-11600K itself. I subsequently determined to cease placing it off and check out a refreshed system, with newer video games and a PC primarily based across the Core i9-13900K. Much less of a representative-of-the-masses CPU, maybe, however one which must be much less liable to bottlenecking than the outdated i5.
With this youthful, quicker processor to play off, the B580 turned its drawing efficiency towards the RTX 4060 right into a clear sweep victory:
Take a look at it, taking pictures up from 3fps behind in Shadow of the Tomb Raider (granted, with completely different anti-aliasing) to 12fps forward. And in Metro Exodus, the RTX 4060 didn’t profit in any respect from the CPU improve, however the Arc B580 claimed one other 5fps.
In contrast to the Radeon 7600, and for that matter most AMD GPUs, the B580 may give Nvidia a run for his or her cash on ray tracing. Working Cyberpunk 2077 on the upgraded rig with Psycho-level RT results and max-quality upscaling, the Arc B580 averaged 39fps with XeSS – useless even with the RTX 4060 utilizing DLSS. Flicking on Extremely-quality ray tracing in Metro Exodus additionally noticed the Arc B850 preserve its lead, scoring 52fps to the RTX 4060’s 43fps. And that was with none upscaling assist in any respect.
Intel Arc B580 assessment: 1080p benchmarks
I’m nonetheless undecided that the Arc B580 is the 1440p cut price that Intel say it’s – it’s clearly succesful at that decision, however it’s additionally simply scraping 60fps in newer video games, and for simply an additional £70 or so would get the a lot faster RTX 4060 Ti. Down at 1080p, then again, it’s all clean crusing, even when the RTX 4060 is usually quicker on the outdated check rig.
With the Core i9-13900K, although, it’s one other win for Battlemage, pulling a number of double-digit leads over the RTX 4060 and solely falling barely behind in Murderer’s Creed Mirage.
Once more, there wasn’t a lot daylight between the 2 within the ray-traced Cyberpunk 2077 check – the Arc B580 received 58fps, the RTX 4060 received 59fps – and with Extremely RT enabled in Metro Exodus, Intel’s GPU remained quicker, averaging 149fps to the GeForce’s 142fps. Since F1 2024’s Extremely Excessive preset additionally permits ray tracing by default, it too exhibits that the Arc B580 can face up to the added pressure with out buckling.
There’s a number of great things right here, even when you’re not actively part-shopping, and simply need to see one thing chip away on the one-party state that’s modern graphics playing cards. Nvidia is now not the one producer that may do ray tracing nicely, and may now not declare undisputedly to make the quickest sub-£300 card of the present era – at native rez, anyway. Even the RTX 4060’s glorious energy effectivity doesn’t go unchallenged: the Arc B580 would look like the loser right here, with its 190W energy draw score and 600W PSU requirement dwarfing that of the 4060’s 115W score and 550W requirement. In follow, although, the very best I recorded the B580 drawing was simply 118W, beating the 126W I noticed on the 4060. This Restricted Version mannequin runs cooler as nicely, usually staying round 63°c beneath load; its Nvidia rival flicked round 69-74°c vary.
Like I say, great things. Nonetheless, the Arc B580’s reliance on CPU brawn additionally implies that private perspective applies way more keenly than it might to the standard bar graph comparisons. Does this card do nicely to leverage newer CPU tech to eke out a efficiency benefit, or is it in actual fact yoked to the most recent, most costly chips in such a approach that renders it a non-starter to these on older PCs?
Truthfully, I feel it’s a little bit of each. Conserving in thoughts that cheaper graphics playing cards are inclined to naturally discover their approach into in any other case ageing desktops, it’s undoubtedly not excellent for the Arc B580’s greatest capabilities to be so intently linked the improve of one other, comparatively costly element. On the similar time, it’s not like there’s a stone-carved requirement for the latest Core i9. My earlier CPU testing means that the i9-13900K isn’t truly that a lot quicker than the mid-range Core i5-13600K, which is itself solely marginally quicker than the Core i5-12600K, which is three generations outdated at this level. In different phrases, the Arc B580 may lose out in an older PC setup, however anybody who’s up to date in the previous couple of years will in all probability be advantageous.
It isn’t simply ray tracing the place Intel is catching up, both. It’s at the moment solely launched and purposeful in F1 24, however XeSS 2 – the most recent model of their DLSS-like upscaling tech – gives one other device for the Arc B580 to crank up its framerates. To this point, XeSS 2 seems like a match for DLSS on common visible high quality – fairly the achievement, contemplating AMD FSR has been attempting and failing for years – and its new body era element additionally does a powerful job of replicating DLSS 3’s AI-generated smoothness enhance. Beating it, even. That 45fps at 1440p turned 80fps with XeSS 2 on, whereas at 1080p it lept from 56fps to 102fps, in each circumstances rising above the respective 57fps and 77fps that the RTX 4060 produced with DLSS 3.
Once more, AMD have tried one thing very comparable with FSR 3, however XeSS 2 appears to supply better-looking outcomes with out including as a lot enter lag. I’d be eager to check out XeSS 2 in one thing twitchier than a gamepad-controlled racer, however what F1 24 exhibits up to now is encouraging.
The catch, thoughts, is that DLSS 3 has had an enormous head begin on recreation assist, at the moment being out there in over 100 video games and with dozens extra on the best way. It’s exhausting to see XeSS 2 catching up, ever, which implies that DLSS 3 stays a extra worthwhile function – and that worth is transferred to the GPUs that assist it, together with the RTX 4060.
As such, the Arc B580 doesn’t fairly make the RTX 4060 out of date. Nvidia will probably preserve first dibs on doing that themselves, with the inevitable RTX 5060. The GeForce can be a safer wager for 1080p rigs which can be nonetheless utilizing the CPUs of yesteryear, as the truth that it doesn’t profit as a lot from newer chips tells us that it additionally received’t lose out as a lot with older chips.
Conversely, for all-new builds (or PCs which were freshened up exterior the GPU), the Arc B580 is a legit various. Arguably the higher one, in actual fact, when you can stay with out a extra broadly out there flavour of body gen. Moreover fixing Alchemist’s ray tracing weak point and usually stabilising all the pieces – I’ve skilled not one of the crashing that I did with the Arc A750 – the Battlemage structure has produced a pleasantly peppy, inexpensive GPU that’s greater than sufficient for slick 1080p. And it doesn’t even want twenty driver updates to get there.
This assessment relies on a retail unit supplied by the producer.
