Intel has officially announced its latest desktop graphics cards, the Arc B580 and Arc B570, which will start shipping on December 13th and January 16th, respectively. Dubbed the "Battlemage" series, these budget-friendly options promise to deliver best-in-class performance per dollar, making them an attractive choice for gamers on a budget.

The Arc B580 and B570 are based on the same Xe2 GPU architecture found in Intel's Lunar Lake laptop chips, but with significant upgrades, including more than double the graphics cores, up to 12GB of dedicated video memory, and up to 190W of power. According to Intel's benchmarks, the B580 slightly outperforms Nvidia's $299 RTX 4060 and AMD's $269 RX 7600 in certain games at 1440p and ultra settings.

Intel claims the B580 runs 10 percent faster on average than the RTX 4060 in a range of games, including Cyberpunk 2077, Hogwarts Legacy, Returnal, and The Witcher 3, when paired with Intel's Core i9-14900K CPU. However, the Nvidia card still holds its ground in certain titles, such as Starfield, Gears 5, and Assassin's Creed games. The B580's performance advantage may depend on the specific game and settings used.

In comparison to Intel's previous-gen A750, which originally retailed for $289 but can now be found for $180, the new B580 card runs 24 percent faster on average, according to Intel. However, this performance boost may also depend on the game and settings used. Intel's XeSS AI upscaling technology, which is enabled in many of the benchmark tests, may also play a role in the performance differences.

One area where the B580 shines is in memory-constrained situations, thanks to its 12GB of video memory, compared to the 8GB found in the RTX 4060. In Forza Motorsport, for example, the B580 wins out when ray tracing is enabled, despite being outperformed by the Nvidia card in other scenarios.

Intel will offer its own Arc B580 Limited Edition card, featuring two fans, a single 8-pin power connector, and "whisper quiet" performance. Other manufacturers, including Acer, ASRock, Gunnir, Sparkle, Maxsun, and Onix, will also sell their own versions of the card.

While the Arc B580 and B570 offer competitive performance at a lower price point than their Nvidia and AMD counterparts, it remains to be seen whether Intel can sustain a foothold in the GPU market. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger recently hinted that the company's discrete graphics card business may be on the chopping block, casting uncertainty over the future of Intel's GPU efforts.

In related news, Intel is also announcing upgrades to its XeSS technology, a resolution and frame rate enhancing competitor to Nvidia DLSS and AMD FSR. The new XeSS 2 now offers frame generation, which can substantially increase frame rates by imagining new frames between existing ones, as well as a Xe Low Latency mode that can eliminate the penalty of using frame generation. XeSS 2 will be supported in a range of games, including F1 24, Marvel Rivals, and Assassin's Creed Shadows, among others.

As the GPU market continues to evolve, Intel's latest offerings will likely face stiff competition from established players Nvidia and AMD. However, with its focus on budget-friendly options and generous video memory, Intel may be able to carve out a niche for itself in the market. Only time will tell if the Arc B580 and B570 will be enough to make a lasting impact.