The Intel Arc B570 is here, and Intel’s latest foray into the graphics card space has been met with mixed reviews. While the recently released B580 continues to sell out thanks to its low price, reviewers of the lesser B570 seem to be saying to cough up the extra $30.
Intel launched its latest foray into gaming GPUs in 2022, with the Arc Alchemist series, headlined by the A770. These weren’t worthy of joining the best graphics cards, but did provide a decent budget option during a relatively expensive time in PC gaming. Now it’s back with Battlemage, which has – so far – been universally praised for its major leaps in performance and stability between generations.
However, reviewers are noting that even with the 10GB of VRAM and super low price of the Intel B570, it might just not be enough. Especially when the B580 costs $249.99, versus the $219.99 of the B570.
Club386 rated it 2.5/5 stars, concluding that if the new card’s price was just a touch lower, they’d be able to recommend the B570 for budget builders. However, the B580’s prowess for under $250 is more than enough to ignore the weaker option this time around.
This said the card has been praised by reviewers for its own abilities. Its 10GB VRAM allocation gives it a 2GB advantage over Nvidia RTX 4060 and AMD RX 7600, which sees Intel’s budget option trading blows with its rivals. Gamer’s Nexus found that at 1080p, combined with a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, in Resident Evil 4 Remake the Intel option bested both alternative cards.
The video shows that Sparkle’s B570 Guardian hit an average of 110 fps in RE4R, while the RX 7600 reference card managed 108.5. Further down, Nvidia’s RTX 4060 hits 107.9 fps. The 12GB RTX 3060 Ti bested them all, with 122.2 fps.
Gamers Nexus also tested the GPU on lower-end systems. The B580 was reported to have issues with older processors like the Intel 12400. Here, they found the issue didn’t persist, making this a solid release for those scrimping and saving for a PC build.
ETA Prime, another YouTuber who focuses on mini PCs, retro machines, and low-end gaming, claimed it’s “the best budget graphics [card] you can get.” Here, they demonstrated the B570 running Doom Eternal at Ultra, 1440p, combined with an i7 14700K, hitting a maximum of 160fps. However, it should be noted that the game plays particularly well on almost anything.
The Linus Tech Tips adjacent channel, Short Circuit, deemed the card’s pricing to be the deciding factor, however. Again, with that minor $30 difference between both B570 and B580, it seems the consensus is to save and stick with the more powerful option.
We’ll be making up our own minds about Intel’s latest cards in the coming weeks, but for now our testing capacity is being put to use with certain rival manufacturer’s more powerful, upcoming GPU offerings.
Intel is having an odd time of it at the moment. Its success in the GPU market is a different story to its processor market. Once makers of the best gaming CPUs, their last few generations have been inundated by issues like underperformance or frying themselves in the PC. It’s going to be an interesting year for the company, to see if it can turn its fortunes around.
