From CNET: Intel debuted its Xe2 graphics architecture in August as part of the Core Ultra 200V series -- Lunar Lake -- mobile CPUs. Now it's incorporating the architecture into a new generation of its Arc discrete desktop graphics, the B series, with hardware and software updates that might help it gain a little more traction than the A series did.
The company's positioning the $249 B580 and $219 B570 as 1440p cards, with more than 8GB memory to be able to handle ray tracing, and relying on its XeSS 2 upscaling and optimization technology -- it adds frame generation (XeSS-FG), along the lines of Nvidia's DLSS 3 optical flow acceleration and AMD's Fluid Motion Frames -- for improved performance and a low-latency capability.
There was a lot to like about the first generation of the Arc cards (I tested the A750), but it takes a lot of rolling the rock uphill to dislodge Nvidia -- even AMD recently decided to give up competing on the high end. Intel claims better performance per dollar than the AMD Radeon RX 7600 and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 on average, but it also takes more than that to nudge people from their buying or recommending ruts.
There will be a B580 Limited Edition, Intel's in-house reference design, along with B570 models from third-parties, notably Acer (in the Nitro line) and ASRock (the Steel Legend and Challenger lines) among a handful of others. The cards are designed for low-power-PSU systems, with rated board power requirements of under 200 watts.
View: Full Article
