Intel Arc B580 Battlemage Unboxing & Preview

[Fouquin]

I'm looking for two things in Intel's newest dGPUs:

- consistent driver/software support

They've been releasing drivers nearly every week for two years... I don't even have all the versions saved and my folder of Arc drivers has 33 versions in it, 19 are WHQL, and there have been 6 more game ready and beta driver released since October 7th. If any brand has consistent driver support at this point, it's Intel. They have not slowed down at all.

Also, they should bring frame generation asap to their product, otherwise the RTX 4060 will still be the evident winner and buy.

Bottom of the first page of the article you are commenting on...

"Intel is also introducing new software technologies today, including the XeSS 2 upscaling technology, and XeSS Frame Generation—an AI-based framerate doubling technology that's closer in form to DLSS 3 than it is to FSR 3 Frame Generation."

 

[usiname]

They've been releasing drivers nearly every week for two years... I don't even have all the versions saved and my folder of Arc drivers has 33 versions in it, 19 are WHQL, and there have been 6 more game ready and beta driver released since October 7th. If any brand has consistent driver support at this point, it's Intel. They have not slowed down at all.



Bottom of the first page of the article you are commenting on...

"Intel is also introducing new software technologies today, including the XeSS 2 upscaling technology, and XeSS Frame Generation—an AI-based framerate doubling technology that's closer in form to DLSS 3 than it is to FSR 3 Frame Generation."

In the same time, I update drivers once or twice per year and never have problems with the new or existing games. In the same time, every new released game is sh*t show for Arc

 

[phints]

Looks like Intel has the pricing correct, the VRAM correct, the simple 2-slot design correct. Let's just get those drivers dialed in and we have a great entry GPU.

 

[Fouquin]

In the same time, I update drivers once or twice per year and never have problems with the new or existing games. In the same time, every new released game is sh*t show for Arc

I haven't updated the drivers on Arc since July and games are running fine. I archive old versions just in case they break something, and they tend to delete beta versions from their webpage after a few weeks so I like to have them saved somewhere. The only game that was a shit show on Arc was Starfield, and that game wasn't worth the hassle of even getting running in the end.

 

[usiname]

I haven't updated the drivers on Arc since July and games are running fine. I archive old versions just in case they break something, and they tend to delete beta versions from their webpage after a few weeks so I like to have them saved somewhere. The only game that was a shit show on Arc was Starfield, and that game wasn't worth the hassle of even getting running in the end.

"running fine" is very objective, yet considering it has lower performance than 3060 in the new games tested by TPU and many times close to 3050 performance is not "running fine" for me.

 

[Fouquin]

"running fine" is very objective, yet considering it has lower performance than 3060 in the new games tested by TPU and many times close to 3050 performance is not "running fine" for me.

You must have read a different review, because the one posted on the 27th of November shows A770 equal to a 4060 8GB in 1440p, which is where it has been for a year now.

 

[GoldenX]

But if it was an AMD GPU article, the trashing would be epic, as usual.

You know, if AMD ever attempted to offer decent pricing for the inferior feature set they offer, this wouldn't happen.

They've been releasing drivers nearly every week for two years... I don't even have all the versions saved and my folder of Arc drivers has 33 versions in it, 19 are WHQL, and there have been 6 more game ready and beta driver released since October 7th. If any brand has consistent driver support at this point, it's Intel. They have not slowed down at all.

Only for ARC cards, the rest of "Xe1" lost driver support in 2022. Even pre ARC dedicated GPUs (Iris Xe MAX) never got the new D3D11 driver, or any fix for Vulkan, and run a seriously outdated D3D12 driver too. Intel has to really show they can consistently make a driver for the entire stack with Xe2, and not half-cook it just for the press.
There's also the issue with Alchemist drivers refusing to install at all and having to try 50 different things to get them working.

Happy to see a real memory amount for 250 USD, no more 8GB jokes, now let's hope Intel didn't fire half their driver division before release (like AMD did).

 

[usiname]

You must have read a different review, because the one posted on the 27th of November shows A770 equal to a 4060 8GB in 1440p, which is where it has been for a year now.

1440p again... Why don't you look at the 4k? Maybe 8k?
Anyway this is exactly my point, now open the review section select "Game Testing" and see the last 5, 10, 20 new tested games, the one with title "35 GPUs Tested" and see how A770 is on average between 3050 and 3060. Maybe they will release new driver that will fix the performance or maybe no, like they didn't fix anything for "A Plague Tale Requiem" which is 2022 game and still A770 is terrible

Intel: "Pray for better tomorrow"

 

[Fouquin]

1440p again... Why don't you look at the 4k? Maybe 8k?

Because never in the history of ever has the Arc series been targeting 4K or 8K? Because it's painfully obvious to everyone, except maybe you, that 4K is an entirely unrealistic expectation of the hardware.

see how A770 is on average between 3050 and 3060

Wow even at 4K that's still wrong. Incredible.

 

[Neo_Morpheus]

You know, if AMD ever attempted to offer decent pricing for the inferior feature set they offer, this wouldn't happen.

They had and your comment simply reinforces mine.

 

[bgx]

Because never in the history of ever has the Arc series been targeting 4K or 8K? Because it's painfully obvious to everyone, except maybe you, that 4K is an entirely unrealistic expectation of the hardware.



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I am pretty sure he was ironic.

A770 vs competition is:
weak in 1080p
better in 1440p
good in 4K....

but at 4K, newer titles are unplayable.

1440p, i would say A770 is reasonable, as long as you dont put all the option on epic.

To be fair, i checked silent hill 2 and stalker 2.
There, indeed, Arc is bad.... but so is the competition. 4060 and the like are all not good enough there, even at 1080p, so the point is moot.

Important to notice that the game setting tested is "Epic", which seems totally unlikely to be used for this class of GPU.
So these particular tests are actually not appropriate for A770 and this class of GPUs.
These tests are made for higher end cards, I would suggest not to test these class of GPUs which such setting resulting in ~30FPS.

 

[Fouquin]

Only for ARC cards, the rest of "Xe1" lost driver support in 2022.

They did? Intel still lists support in the latest beta driver.

There's also the issue with Alchemist drivers refusing to install at all and having to try 50 different things to get them working.

I have never experienced this over the past two years. I'm sure it can happen, but it's nothing I've seen as a daily user.

 

[usiname]

Because never in the history of ever has the Arc series been targeting 4K or 8K? Because it's painfully obvious to everyone, except maybe you, that 4K is an entirely unrealistic expectation of the hardware.



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Wow even at 4K that's still wrong. Incredible.

You can't get the sarcasm, I will say it for you, its not for 4k, its not even for 1440p, this card is too slow.
By the way, what from "new games" in the section "Game Testing" you can't get also? Seeing how delusional you are, I am sure that you now will cherry pick 1-2 games from this section.

 

[Fouquin]

I am sure that you now will cherry pick 1-2 games from this section.

You literally just did that with A Plague Tale. Like, three posts above. Look in the mirror, friend.

 

[Wasteland]

They've been releasing drivers nearly every week for two years... I don't even have all the versions saved and my folder of Arc drivers has 33 versions in it, 19 are WHQL, and there have been 6 more game ready and beta driver released since October 7th. If any brand has consistent driver support at this point, it's Intel. They have not slowed down at all.

I may have phrased my point poorly. The intent wasn't to suggest that Intel isn't providing driver updates. I was referring to the consistency with which the drivers support easy and functional use of a wide range of software (e.g. games). Intel has certainly made an effort, and I credit them for it, but Alchemist never quite surmounted its reputation as a janky/inconsistent product whose primary appeal is to tinkerers or enthusiasts with a spare GPU.

Maybe Alchemist is better now; I hope Battlemage will be better still.

 

[usiname]

You literally just did that with A Plague Tale. Like, three posts above. Look in the mirror, friend.

I told you that Intel's drivers are sh*t show on the new games and showed you example for game that never was fixed, how many of the new games won't ever get fix? You refuse to watch the new tested games so there is no point to continue this, keep stay in self-deception, believing intel's drivers are top notch

 

[GoldenX]

They did? Intel still lists support in the latest beta driver.

Check the changelog PDFs, only Xe1.5 stuff gets any development, has been like that for years now.
It's supported in the same sense as Maxwell is.

They had and your comment simply reinforces mine.

What was the MSRP of the 7600 again? A card that failed to offer a performance boost over RDNA2? Same for the 7600XT, 7700XT, etc. 0.95x the NVIDIA price with a worse product is not good for the consumer, if you refuse to say it, that's on you.

RDNA3 has been the worst product release AMD did, and that's counting the unstable RDNA1.

 

[Fouquin]

but Alchemist never quite surmounted its reputation as a janky/inconsistent product whose primary appeal is to tinkerers or enthusiasts with a spare GPU.

Because the majority of people haven't looked any farther than maybe the GN revisit from February 2023, not even the 2024 version, and base their opinion around that.

You refuse to watch the new tested games so there is no point to continue this, keep stay in self-deception, believing intel's drivers are top notch

I went and looked and found the top 5 results were mostly at or above 30FPS before using FSR/XeSS at 1440p so I didn't think you really were going to dig in your heels on that hill, because it looks generally fine? I also never said Intel's drivers were top notch, I said they were not as bad as they used to be. Don't put words in my mouth.

At 1440p we have...
STALKER2: 30.1 FPS (4060 @ 34.7 FPS)
DA:TV (benchmark utility): 37.1 FPS (4060 @ 37.2 FPS)
COD:BO6: 44 FPS (4060 @ 49 FPS)
SH2:R (RT off): 23.5 FPS (4060 @ 26.3 FPS)
SH2:R (RT on): 21 FPS (4060 @ 23.5 FPS)
GoW:R: 24.1 FPS (4060 @ 48.8 FPS) *Intel addressed this first week of October with 6083 drivers, so ~32 FPS within the first driver cycle
WH:SM2: 39.8 FPS (4060 @ 41.9FPS)

Yeah that looks about right. Not far off the 4060, right where it was last time I checked. A couple hiccups that are fixed by the next driver cycle, and the majority supported on day 1. These are also at maximum possible detail settings, which again was never really a possibility except at 1080p, and not utilizing any other tricks like XeSS.

 

[AcE]

Not bad, it looks good on paper at least and Frame Gen was needed and they introduced it. All we have to see next is if the promises are real (the performance numbers) and the efficiency. The price is okay, for now, but in general I would say this gpu is two years too late it should have been competing with Ada and RDNA3 not with their successors which it now will. And those will be much better than this I think.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

I think I hurt some feelings...so so so sorry. However, I have zero faith in Intel GPUs and their drivers. Do ya'll really think Intel is seriously invested in this space? I don't think so. Looks to me like an attempt at a quick cash grab that backfired.

I guess we didn't learn from last time - specs mean nothing.

Intel has invested billions into their dGPU attempts, losing money the whole way. If they weren’t serious, there would be no BM at all. They’d have cut this loose a long time ago if they were just in it for the short term. Even with all the cost cutting going on, the Arc program has so far survived.

 

[Ser_g11]

Will your tests include Stalker2 when the card is released?
Up:
I have very specific expectations from REAL tests, even in their tests Intel uses different versions of the driver?

 

[W1zzard]

Will your tests include Stalker2 when the card is released?

yes

 

[usiname]

Because the majority of people haven't looked any farther than maybe the GN revisit from February 2023, not even the 2024 version, and base their opinion around that.



I went and looked and found the top 5 results were mostly at or above 30FPS before using FSR/XeSS at 1440p so I didn't think you really were going to dig in your heels on that hill, because it looks generally fine? I also never said Intel's drivers were top notch, I said they were not as bad as they used to be. Don't put words in my mouth.

At 1440p we have...
STALKER2: 30.1 FPS (4060 @ 34.7 FPS)
DA:TV (benchmark utility): 37.1 FPS (4060 @ 37.2 FPS)
COD:BO6: 44 FPS (4060 @ 49 FPS)
SH2:R (RT off): 23.5 FPS (4060 @ 26.3 FPS)
SH2:R (RT on): 21 FPS (4060 @ 23.5 FPS)
GoW:R: 24.1 FPS (4060 @ 48.8 FPS) *Intel addressed this first week of October with 6083 drivers, so ~32 FPS within the first driver cycle
WH:SM2: 39.8 FPS (4060 @ 41.9FPS)

Yeah that looks about right. Not far off the 4060, right where it was last time I checked. A couple hiccups that are fixed by the next driver cycle, and the majority supported on day 1. These are also at maximum possible detail settings, which again was never really a possibility except at 1080p, and not utilizing any other tricks like XeSS.

Who fooled you that 4060 is 1440p card? Its 1080p card just like A770, just like rx7600. If you hate yourself and want to punish yourself with ~30fps its your problem

 

[AcE]

Who fooled you that 4060 is 1440p card? Its 1080p card just like A770, just like rx7600. If you hate yourself and want to punish yourself with ~30fps its your problem

I would say 4060 is a 1440p card with limitations, older games or always with DLSS/frame gen used.

 

[Upgrayedd]

For a 4090 owner, ideal is 120+ FPS. There's a list of games you will certainly struggle running this smoothly.

As a gamer, north of 80fps is when it starts to feel ideal. 95+ feels great.
I find my fps needs are game based and not hardware based.