Intel Arc B580 could be the graphics card we’ve been waiting for

Rising from the proverbial ashes of Alchemist, Intel is back for another round with a fresh batch of dedicated graphics cards. Battlemage, productised as B Series, is a much-improved beast relative to its predecessor. It’s got a fresh architecture under its belt, providing improvements to performance and efficiency, and arrives on a road paved by hard-learned lessons that should deliver a more stable user experience.

Intel’s coming out swinging through this launch, with eyes on usurping GeForce RTX 4060 and Radeon RX 7600 as the de facto graphics cards for budget builders. With this in mind, the first B Series graphics card will start from just $250. Better still, it’s racing its way to store shelves with retail availability beginning from December 13.

Arc B580 & B570

Leading the charge for Intel Arc B Series is Arc B580, with Arc B570 arriving a month later on January 16, 2025. Each boasts Team Blue’s shiny and new BMG-G21 GPU built with the company’s Xe2 architecture. However, there are several key differences between the two graphics cards that are reminiscent of Arc A770 and A750.

Intel developed BMG-G21 using TSMC N5, the same process node AMD uses for its Navi 31 and 32 graphics compute dies. This shift from Arc A-Series’ designs on TSMC N6 provides room for generational boosts in efficiency and transistor density. On that point, Intel packs 19.6 billion transistors into the 272 mm² die, making for a much higher concentration albeit lower count overall to the 21.7 billion of its current flagship, DG-512.

Assessing Arc B580 and B570 specifications relative to A580 both excites and concerns me in equal measure. On the positive side, I’m happy to see a sizeable generational leap in graphics clock that’s just shy of 1GHz at best. In tandem with a larger frame buffer of either 12GB or 10GB, both cards appear more capable to meet the demands of today’s games than their predecessor. They’re not gluttons for watts either, with TBPs of ranging between 150-190W that a single PCIe eight-pin connector is more than capable of providing.

However, the respective switch to 192-bit and 160-bit memory interfaces on Arc B580 and B570 does sting given that A580 enjoys a wider 256-bit bus. This leaves Intel’s Arc B Series graphics cards with less memory bandwidth than its predecessor, being around 10-26% slower. It’s not all bad, though, as this still leaves them a cut above the measly 128-bit, sub-300GB/s, Radeon RX 7600 and GeForce RTX 4060 Series. This should give them a leg up at higher resolutions, particularly with ray tracing effects in play and cranked up texture quality.

I’m cautiously optimistic about the makeup of Arc B580 and B570, much as the former card seems like the better deal on paper with price taken into consideration. They seem readily able to compete with AMD and Nvidia’s current generation budget offerings, but Arc B Series graphics cards will soon need to contend with imminent RDNA 4 and GeForce RTX 50 Series successors too.

XeSS 2

Intel is wasting no time in updating its Xe feature suite, now mirroring AMD and Nvidia in both branding and function. Rather than it solely referring to an evolution of the existing XeSS technology, now dubbed XeSS-SR (Super Resolution), it encapsulates XeSS-FG (Frame Generation) as well as XeLL (Low Latency).

XeSS-SR performs as it has for the past several years, using an AI algorithm to upscale games from a lower resolution. However, Intel has updated the feature’s SDK to include support for both DirectX 11 and Vulkan APIs, increasing system compatibility over its DirectX 12-exclusive predecessor. Super Resolution remains brand-agnostic, meaning it’ll run on GeForce and Radeon graphics cards, as well as Arc.

Meanwhile, XeSS-FG is exclusive to Intel’s GPUs. According to the company, the current implementation of the feature requires XMX (Xe Matrix Extensions) but it would like to make it multi-vendor in the future.

In terms of modus operandi, XeSS-FG is most similar to DLSS Frame Generation on account of its use of AI during the rendering process. The feature first uses an ‘Optical Flow Reprojection’ algorithm to calculate what the eventual interpolated frame would look like, taking into account the direction of moving pixels. Combined with depth and motion vectors from the game engine, the generated frames are fed into a ‘Blend’ algorithm that mixes the best parts of each frame for the final image.

The final piece of the XeSS 2 puzzle is XeLL, aiming to reduce system latency for a more responsive gaming experience. It does this by forcing game engines to deprioritise game logic, draining the CPU render queue, allowing the GPU to draw and display frames to the screen much faster. While XeLL can run independently, it’s part and parcel of XeSS-FG to mitigate the increased latency that is inherent to introducing interpolated frames into any render queue.

Arc graphics cards will also soon have access to a driver-based ‘Low Latency Mode’, accessible via the new Intel Graphics Software control panel. It behaves similarly to XeLL and naturally requires no input from developers but can’t reduce latency to the same degree.

XeSS 2 is coming to existing and upcoming games, with notable inclusions such as Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, F1 24, Marvel Rivals, and more. I’m keen to see the entire feature set in action and glad Intel recognises their importance given its competition. Should XeSS 2 stick the landing, it’d exponentially increase the value of B Series graphics cards.

Performance

While we have some first-party benchmarks for Arc B580, Intel has kept its cards close to its chest on Arc B570 performance. Generally speaking, though, it’s safe to assume that the latter will be slightly behind its higher-spec sibling.

Intel claims Arc B580 is 24% faster on average than Arc A750 at 1440p using ‘Ultra’ settings. However, the company arrives at this conclusion combining results from both native rendering and while using XeSS. This makes it difficult to decipher the true generational differences between Battlemage and Alchemist.

Trimming Intel’s 47 game average, omitting the 20 XeSS examples, leaves us with 27 results and a 20% uplift. A respectable boost in performance, particularly given this is relative to Arc A750 and not A580.

Stepping outside of inter-generational comparisons, Intel boldly claims Arc B580 is up to 32% faster than GeForce RTX 4060 in rasterised rendering and up to 25% faster with ray tracing enabled.

Taking the same suite of 47 games, albeit with XeSS disabled, Arc B580 seemingly finds itself 10% ahead of GeForce RTX 4060 on average at 1440p. Intel’s champion doesn’t outright beat Nvidia’s in every game, of course, with some favouring one architecture over the other.

Of course, I’ll need to put these claims to the test in our benchmark suite before I can make any definitive judgements. For now, as with all first-party benchmarks, take these findings with a pinch of salt.

Price

Starting at $249, it’s clear that Intel hopes to win over budget gamers with Arc B580. While the company is producing a reference card that will anchor MSRP, it won’t give the $219 Arc B570 the same treatment. This leaves price adherence in the hands of partners like ASRock and Sparkle, but this probably won’t be an issue.

Given performance estimates for Arc B580, this feels like the most Intel could hope to charge for the card. On paper, it provides considerably better value than either of its main competitors, GeForce RTX 4060 or Radeon RX 7600. Although, this advantage only pertains in the here and now to competition that is now almost two years old. Arc B Series could find itself in a tricky position once more-affordable RDNA 4 and GeForce RTX 50 Series cards arrive, but it’s impossible to say with any certainty at this point in time.

Regardless, I hope Intel’s positioning of Arc B580 forces both AMD and Nvidia to reconsider their pricing plans for would-be Radeon RX 8600 and GeForce RTX 5060. I don’t want to live in a future where we’re still paying $270+ for graphics cards with such piddly memory bandwidth and buffers.

Conclusion

Following the tumultuous launch of Arc A Series, seeing B Series graphics card materialise at all is somewhat surprising to me. Now comes the real hard part, as Intel cannot afford another problematic debut. Given Nvidia’s seemingly unshakeable stranglehold on the market, I can’t help but root for the underdog. This space is in dire need of true competition, particularly on the lower end of the price spectrum, and B580 seems like the best chance we’ve had for a while.

I’ve more faith in Intel now than I did a few years ago, mainly thanks to the continued improvement of its driver stack. I highly doubt we’ll see another debacle akin to A Series manifest with B580, but the proof will be in the performance. With XeSS 2 backing Battlemage, this launch feels partly more prepared than the release of AMD’s RDNA 3. Don’t forget, it took almost a full-year before FSR 3 made its way into our hands.

Is Battlemage truly magic or all illusion? I’ll have final words on all matters B Series come release, so stay tuned for my Arc B580 review in the coming weeks.