The Intel Arc B580 will soon arrive to take on the RTX 4060 in the entry-level GPU ring, and leaks imply it'll come out swinging. At least, that appears to be the case in terms of synthetic benchmarks, as early data suggests the graphics card could be up to 31% faster than Nvidia's contender.
I'll naturally be looking to fully test the Intel Arc B580 myself before giving it a place at the best graphics card table. However, if early benchmarks highlighted by leaker HXL are to be believed, the Battlemage GPU outpaces the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 in 3DMark Time Spy tests (via Videocardz). In screenshots shared to Chiphell, the blue team's $249 model pulls off 15,551 versus a lower 11,218 score provided by the green team's card.
The new Intel card supposedly also beats current gen Arc A770 and A750 cards by 10 to 19% respectively. That's a promising uplift for anyone looking to spend well under $300 on a capable GPU, but I would take any synthetic benchmarks with a grain of salt given they rarely paint a realistic performance picture. I fully expect the performance gaps to be much narrower during in-game frame rate tests, even if the B580 can successfully outpace the RTX 4060.
The main takeaway here is that the Arc B580 is looking pretty strong ahead of reviews. Keep in mind that Intel's new graphics card roster includes an even cheaper Arc B570 too, so we could be looking at two options that with similar performance to current gen models for less.
Should you buy an Intel Arc B580?
It's a pretty exciting time to be a budget gamer, and the Arc B580 should at least put some price pressure on Nvidia and AMD. The idea of being able to grab a new 12GB GPU for under $250 is frankly refreshing considering the start of the decade kicked off with over-inflated misery, but perhaps that's more a sign that the industry is healing rather than the blue team being extra generous.
If you do decide to grab an Arc B580 for $249 at launch, there are a couple of potential caveats I'd keep in mind. The first is that Intel's GPU debut got off to a pretty rocky start last year, resulting in performance-related driver issues that required a flow of steady updates. Alchemist cards are in a much better place now than at launch, but since Battlemage is a different architecture, similar hiccups are always a possibility.
The other biggie tied to Intel GPUs right now is AI upscaling. The Arc B580 and other Battlemage cards will have access to XeSS 2 and it's frame generation magic tricks, but with Nvidia DLSS going from strength to strength and outperforming even AMD's FSR consistently, there could be a significant frame rate gap between the RTX 4060 and new B560 with upscaling switched on. The green team's tools could make the difference between being able to comfortably play at 1440p or having to firmly stick with 1080p in new releases, translating to a more futureproofed experience.
Of course, if we're talking straight specs and native performance, the Arc B580 already has a lot going for it thanks to its 12GB GDDR6 VRAM. As time goes on, the 8GB included with the RTX 4060 could hold some builds back, especially if new releases end up munching more memory. There's a strong chance that the theoretical RTX 5060 will arrive alongside the RTX 5090 and its kin with some extra headroom, and if it ends up holding onto the 4060's $299 MSRP, it could be the better option.
All that aside, the Arc B580 is shaping up to be an exciting entry-level option, particularly if it can provide solid 1440p performance for much less than next-gen GPUs. I highly doubt that the blue team is ready to take on monsters like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 or even the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, but by focusing on the budget sector, Intel could win over every day players simply looking for an affordable way to play.
Looking for more upgrades? Swing by the best gaming CPU and best RAM for gaming. Alternatively, check out the best gaming handheld if you'd rather head outside.
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