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Intel just officially announced two new Battlemage graphics cards, and entry-level PC enthusiasts are in for a treat. Not only is there a Arc B580 GPU with 12GB VRAM for $249, there's a 10GB Arc B570 for just $229. That's already a chunk cheaper than Nvidia and AMD's current budget offerings, so it's safe to say the blue team is up for a pricing war when they arrive on December 13 and January 16.
Armed with Intel's Xe2 Battlemage GPU, the upcoming best graphics card contenders will use the same architecture as the company's Lunar Lake CPUs. The difference is that these cards will boast double the graphics cores and the aforementioned 10GB and 12GB memory configurations. Naturally, these new options aren't remotely designed to take on the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 or even its mid-range underlings.
What cards like the Arc 580 can potentially do is bring the fight to the Nvidia Geforce RTX 4060. At least, that's what Intel's in-house benchmarks suggest, with the company claiming 10% faster speeds compared to Nvidia's cheapest 40-series contender. I did admittedly raise an eyebrow at the tests being based on 1440p gameplay when the 4060 was marketed as a 1080p card, but that doesn't matter when you're potentially getting a card that can hit 60fps with QHD settings enabled.
The Arc 580 specifically beats the RTX 4060 in games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Returnal - two of my personal benchmark choices that I view as intensive. However, there are wins to be found even on the Nvidia side of things, but the Lovelace card really just beats Intel's newcomer where frame rates are already exceptionally high. Put it this way, I'm not going to grumble about the Battlemage GPU only hitting 188fps in DOTA 2 versus 210fps, especially for $250.
I'm not exactly sure why, but the company's in-house benchmarks lack comparisons to the Intel Arc A770. Instead, we've got a chart demonstrating the A580's abilities against the cheaper Arc A750. For those curious about that contest, the new-gen card is seemingly 24% faster, which may help convince you it's worth buying over the Alchemist option with a $180 MSRP (good luck finding one for that price.)
Where things really get exciting is when it comes to ray tracing. I normally just write off fancy lighting effects with cheaper cards, but Forza Motorsports benchmarks suggest it'll run at 64fps with "High RT" settings enabled versus 57fps on RTX 4060. Weirdly, that figure does the opposite from what you'd expect when you switch ray tracing off, with Nvidia's card hitting 86fps compared to 77fps. Hmm.
As for model options, Intel is set to release a "limited edition" stock version with a dual fan setup, while plenty of custom vendors are set to whip up their own takes. Acer, ASRock, Gunnir, Maxsun, Onix, and Sparkle are all getting involved, so it'll be interesting to see what the custom treatment does to pricing.
I'm excited to see Intel have another go at taking on the big GPU dogs. It's safe to say the future of team blue graphics cards could hinge on the success of these entry-level darlings, especially since the company's CEO Pat Geisinger just retired effectively immediately off the back of a stock price drop.
Looking for more rig upgrades? Swing by the best gaming CPU and best RAM for gaming. Alternatively, stop by the best gaming handheld if you'd rather play PC games on the go.
