Intel gave consumers the first official look at its Battlemage graphics cards, also known as the Arc B-Series, with two cards called the Arc B580 and Arc B570 hitting the market soon. Intel stated that the Battlemage graphics cards will launch below the $300 price point, and the company compared the new cards to AMD's Radeon RX 7600 and Nvidia's RTX 4060 through various benchmarks.

Intel's Battlemage GPUs will be capable of utilizing ray tracing and AI-based upscaling via XeSS 2 for gaming at 1080p and 1440p. Powered by new AI-based engines called Intel Xe Matrix Extensions (XMX), the XeSS 2 upscaler has support for frame generation and low latency modes, which should increase frames per second (FPS) in supported titles. In addition, the Arc B-Series will include Intel's Xe2 architecture, aimed at delivering more efficient performance per core without as much overhead. Along with delivering affordable gaming performance, the Battlemage cards can be used in AI-based workloads.

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Although Intel released its Core Ultra 200S processors earlier in 2024, the tech giant is closing out the year with the launch of a new graphics card generation. According to Intel's press release, the Arc B580 will hit store shelves on Friday, December 13, with a starting MSRP of $249 for a limited edition GPU. A month later, on January 15, the Arc B570 will be released, starting at $219. The Arc B580 will have 12GB of GDDR6 video memory, and the Arc B570 will ship with 10GB of GDDR6 VRAM. Both Battlemage cards will have clock speeds of 2500 to 2670 MHz, and up to 19Gbps memory speed. Both Battlemage cards will only require a single 8-pin power supply connector and will have two fans for cooling to start. Intel stated that its add-in card partners Acer, AsRock, Gunnir, Maxsun, Onix, and Sparkle will also ship their takes on the B580 and B570, though prices will vary.

Intel Reveals Arc B-Series GPU Prices and Specifications

• Intel's Arc B-Series Graphics Cards, codenamed Battlemage, will launch on December 13 and January 15.
• The Arc B580 12GB will launch at $249, and the Arc B570 10GB will start at $219.
• The Battlemage cards will be compatible with Intel's XeSS 2 upscaling technology.
• The B580 and B570 will compete against the AMD Radeon RX 7600 and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060.

In terms of benchmarks, the Arc B580 was shown to improve upon the 1440p performance of the Arc A750 by about 24% on average. Intel also claimed that the B580's $249 price point makes it a more valuable alternative to the AMD Radeon RX 7600 and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060, both of which are also priced under $300.

Between the launch of the Battlemage GPUs and patent filings for future graphics card designs, Intel aims to fill the gaps on the budget side of PC gaming. How the Arc B-series cards will fare in the long run remains to be seen.