Intel Launches New Arc B-Series Graphics Cards
IT News Online Staff
2024-12-04
Intel has announced the new Intel Arc B-Series graphics cards (code-named Battlemage). The Intel Arc B580 and B570 GPUs offer best-in-class value for performance at price points that are accessible to most gamers, deliver modern gaming features and are engineered to accelerate AI workloads. The included Intel Xe Matrix Extensions (XMX) AI engines power the newly introduced XeSS 2, comprised of three technologies that together increase performance, visual fluidity and responsiveness.
"The new Intel Arc B-Series GPUs are the perfect upgrades for gamers. They deliver leading performance-per-dollar and great 1440p gaming experiences with XeSS 2, second-generation ray tracing engines and XMX AI engines. We're delighted to be joined by more partners than ever so that gamers have more choice in finding their perfect design," said Vivian Lien, vice president and general manager of Client Graphics, Intel.
The Intel Arc B-Series GPUs use Intel's latest Xe2 architecture, optimized to deliver improved efficiency and higher performance per core with less software overhead. Second-generation Xe-cores deliver the solid compute capabilities required for modern workloads and include high-performance XMX AI engines. New Xe-cores are supported by more capable ray tracing units, better mesh shading performance and improved support of key graphics functions to significantly increase performance efficiency with the latest game engines.
XeSS 2 now includes three technologies: XeSS Super Resolution, XeSS Frame Generation and Xe Low Latency. XeSS Super Resolution is the key technology that underpinned first-generation XeSS, which has offered AI-based upscaling for more than two years and now supports more than 150 games. New AI-powered XeSS Frame Generation adds interpolated frames using optical flow and motion vector reprojection to provide higher fluidity gaming. And new Xe Low Latency integrates with the game engine to provide faster response to gamers' inputs. With all three technologies activated, XeSS 2 is capable of increasing the frames-per-second output by up to 3.9x to deliver high performance in demanding AAA games.
Intel's graphics intellectual property (IP) enables modern graphics experiences at scale for a range of devices, including graphics cards, laptops and handhelds. Intel Arc B-series GPUs benefit from a mature software environment thanks to continuing investments across Intel's graphics portfolio.
Compared with the previous generation, the Intel Arc B-Series GPUs offer 70 percent better performance per Xe-core and 50 percent more performance per watt. The B580 GPU, when compared to the Intel Arc A750 GPU, is on average 24 percent faster at 1440p with some games up to 78 percent faster. When compared to the competition, the Intel Arc B580 GPU offers up to 32 percent better performance-per-dollar.
With 12 GB of dedicated GPU memory for the Intel Arc B580 and 10 GB for the Intel Arc B570, gamers can expect high-performance gaming at 1440p ultra quality settings, enhanced by AI-powered XeSS 2 technologies.
New Intel Graphics Software provides access to display settings including color and scaling modes and variable refresh rate (VRR) support. 3D graphics settings include a frames-per-second limiter and a driver-level low-latency mode. Performance controls include basic and advanced overclocking and metrics powered by the widely adopted open source PresentMon, which now includes support for frame generation and latency measurements.
Features of the Intel Arc B-Series GPUs:
- Powerful Media Engines: Intel's Xe Media engine with twin multi-format transcoders (MFX) is designed to support faster, higher-quality creation and playback of multimedia (video). The GPUs also include expansive hardware encode and decode codec support, such as AV1, H.265 including 4:2:2 10-bit, H.264 and VP9.
- Support for AI Playground: Intel's all-in-one, easy-to-use free AI starter application is designed to run generative AI workloads locally to allow users to easily perform text-to-image generation, photo editing and upscaling, and customize chatbots with their own data.
- Game On Driver Support: Intel Arc B-Series GPUs will continue to receive optimized software and performance for the most popular games on launch day.
Availability
The Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition graphics card and models from add-in board partners Acer, ASRock, GUNNIR, ONIX Technology, MAXSUN and Sparkle will be available starting Dec. 13 from $249.
Intel Arc B570 graphics cards from the same add-in board partners will be available starting Jan. 16, 2025, from $219.
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