After a long wait, reviews for the Intel Arc B580 have finally arrived, and it looks like the new Battlemage desktop graphics card is a solid choice for those on a budget. On average, this GPU outperforms both the RTX 4060 and RX 7600 by a nice margin. Moreover, Intel has improved its ray tracing capabilities, with the Arc B580 reportedly being faster than the RTX 4060 at 1080p; the performance gap widens to an impressive 28% at 1440p, as noted by TechPowerUp.
Power Consumption Insights
Now, let’s discuss the power usage of the Arc B580. Has Intel achieved significant improvements here as well?
The answer is yes! Intel has made some advancements compared to the previous generation Arc Alchemist cards, with the Arc B580 consuming less power than the Arc A580. However, it still can't quite compete with the RTX 4060 in terms of efficiency.
Digital Foundry reports that in A Plague Tale Requiem, the Arc B580 performs better than the RTX 4060 but uses notably more power. The RTX 4060 is the most efficient card in this scenario, drawing between 120 to 130 W. In contrast, the Arc B580 pulls the most power in this test, ranging from 160 to over 170 W.
Performance vs. Power
The Arc B580 also beats the RTX 4060 in Cyberpunk 2077 (non-ray tracing), but this comes at a higher power cost. While the RTX 4060 uses only 120-130 W, the Arc B580 varies from 150 to 170 W. In Alan Wake 2, the Arc B580 again consumes more power compared to the RTX 4060 without delivering any extra performance.
Linus Tech Tips also examined the Arc B580 and reached similar conclusions. The card has a Total Board Power (TBP) of 190 W, while the RTX 4060 sits at 116 W. It’s no shock that during F1 23, the Arc B580 appears to use about 186 W compared to the RTX 4060's 129 W, marking a difference of a significant 44%.
Final Thoughts
Intel has definitely improved the power consumption with the Arc B580 compared to the Arc A580. LTT shows that the Arc A580 uses 206 W, which is 11% more than the Arc B580.
In short, the Arc B580 Battlemage GPU is a commendable release from Intel with solid performance and impressive ray tracing features. Nevertheless, Intel still needs to work on matching the power efficiency of Nvidia’s products. Therefore, if power consumption isn’t a concern for you and you’re after a budget-friendly GPU with more than 8 GB of RAM, the Arc B580 is definitely worth considering.
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