Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition desktop GPU review: Intel's answer to AMD Radeon RX and Nvidia GeForce RTX

The Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition is a clear recommendation for budget-conscious gamers who want to play in Full HD resolution and use modern features. Despite minor weaknesses, especially in terms of power consumption in idle mode, it offers an excellent overall package in its price class. For 1,080p gaming and occasional 1,440p, the card is a real enrichment in the GPU market and shows that Intel is a serious competitor to Nvidia and AMD in the entry-level class.

The performance of the Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition is better than that of the first-generation Intel Arc graphics cards for the most part. However, we were not completely spared from problems. If Intel keeps up with its previous efforts in terms of driver adjustments, it should be possible to eliminate most of the problems. You can get the Intel Arc B580 from AsRock for a price of 319 euros. You shouldn't spend more at the moment if price-performance is an important point of criticism. The Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition tested here costs more than 400 euros, which is no longer appropriate in terms of performance.

The price of the in-house model is significantly higher than the RRP, which is why you should also take a look at the partner models.

The Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition leaves a positive impression at first glance. The simple, modern design with clear lines and high-quality workmanship shows that Intel also wants to meet the high demands of the mid-range in terms of appearance. The casing is made of robust plastic with aluminum elements, which ensures a good balance between stability and weight. The card feels high-quality and durable. The soft-touch surfaces are certainly a pleasure to touch, although the durability of the material must first be proven. The Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition impresses with its timeless design, great material quality, and excellent workmanship, as well as a sophisticated cooling system. Its compact design and diverse connection options make it an attractive choice for various PC setups. From the very first impression, it is clear that Intel has not only focused on performance with this GPU but also on an appealing user experience.

The test system consists of an Intel Core i9-14900K on an Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Hero Mainboard with 32 GB DDR5 RAM. We use the Lian Li O11 Dynamic EVO case, which is closed for all performance tests. We installed the test graphics card on our open bench table to measure the volume. The processor and power supply are in passive mode for the duration of the volume measurement, so that only the volume of the graphics card can be determined.

The performance yield of the Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition is quite promising and compared to the 1st generation Arc graphics cards, the Battlemage GPU has an easy game. In a performance comparison, it can even beat the Intel Arc A770 which we have compared here as an on-board partner card from Acer. The two main competitors in terms of current pricing (Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 and AMD Radeon RX 7600) can also outperform our test sample. However, the Intel Arc B580 bites its teeth out against the performance of an AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT. Even an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti cannot be beaten, even though our test sample is only a single-digit percentage behind.

Professional applications require special graphics cards to perform the tasks in the best possible way. AMD and Nvidia have special graphics card series in their portfolio that are optimized for these tasks thanks to specially optimized drivers. Intel does not yet have such graphics cards in its portfolio. Nevertheless, conventional consumer graphics cards can also be used for rendering tasks. The results of the SPECviewperf show a clear performance gain of 22 percent compared to the Intel Arc A580. Compared to Nvidia, the Intel Arc B580 achieves the performance of a GeForce RTX 4060. AMD is known to perform excellently in this discipline. Even an AMD Radeon RX 7600 can outperform our test sample by a whopping 64 percentage points. For use in a productive environment, however, we recommend the use of a special workstation graphics card in order to achieve the best possible performance.

The Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition is primarily aimed at gamers who require smooth frame rates in Full HD (1,080p). The new Battlemage graphics card from Intel basically achieves this, although the performance of the latest games demands a lot from the graphics card. The use of the 12 GB VRAM is good and during our tests, we could always see that it was being used. More and more games require more than 8 GB of VRAM, even in 1,080p, which benefits the Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition. If the VRAM is no longer sufficient, the frame rates drop dramatically. Here, Intel has a huge advantage over the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 or the AMD Radeon RX 7600. Meanwhile, the competitors have more VRAM, for example with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti or the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT, which are also significantly more expensive.

In the performance class that Intel is targeting here with the Arc B580 Limited Edition, the graphics card delivers impressive performance. In most cases, the performance of the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti cannot quite be matched, but that is not a bad thing.

However, the Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition is not without its problems. We had sporadic crashes in some games, which sent us back to the desktop. Fortunately, this problem was only rarely the case and we were able to continue the benchmarks after restarting the game. Other games cannot utilize the performance of the graphics card, as can be seen in the example of Uncharted Legacy of Thieves Collection. The comparison with Intel graphics cards based on the Alchemist architecture shows that this is not a fundamental problem with Arc graphics cards. We assume that Intel will make improvements here in future driver updates.