Intel Arc B570: Two-minute review
The Intel Arc B570 is the kind of graphics card I desperately want to love, but my tech-addled PC gaming heart belongs to another.
I’m not talking about the recently-announced Nvidia RTX 50 series GPUs (though we’ll see about those in due time). No, I’ve fallen for the Intel Arc B580, easily one of the best graphics cards on the market thanks to its fantastic 1440p and 1080p gaming performance. And, unfortunately, its price is so good that it’s hard to really recommend the Arc B570 in good conscience.
To be fair, the Intel Arc B570’s $219 / £219 (around AU$350) MSRP arguably makes it the best cheap graphics card going right now simply by default. The next cheapest current-gen GPU (as of January 2025) from AMD (the Radeon RX 7600) and Nvidia (the GeForce RTX 4060) are roughly 20% to 25% more expensive, and it’s still $30 / £30 (about AU$90) cheaper than the Arc B580.
But the problem is that despite some impressive specs for a card this cheap, and solid 1080p performance, for just a little bit more you can get a far more future-proofed GPU that will let you game without compromise at a higher 1440p resolution if you go for the Arc B580. Of course, that’s assuming you can get that card at its normal retail price and not the jacked-up prices being charged online by profiteering retailers and third-party sellers.
But looking at the Arc B570 strictly on its merits, ignoring any external factors that are subject to change, and it’s undeniable that the Arc B570 is one of the best 1080p graphics cards you can buy, especially considering its price.
At this price price point, you really have to compare the Arc B570 against cards that are several years old, like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 1060 to really put things in perspective. For example, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 had a launch price $30 higher than the Arc B570, and even though I no longer have that card to compare Intel’s latest against in a head-to-head matchup like I’d like, it really wasn’t that good of a card to justify its price. Say what you will about the Arc B570, but in no universe can you say that you’re not getting your money’s worth with this GPU.
The heartbreak, then, is just that this card is simply overshadowed by its slightly more expensive sibling. If the Intel Arc B570 was priced at $199, it would be walking away with a definitive budget win. Hell, it still is, but with so little separating the B570 and the B580, pretty much every potential buyer is better off borrowing that extra bit of cash from a friend, sibling, parent, or even a stranger, and picking up the more powerful B580.
Intel Arc B570: Price & availability
- How much is it? Starting at $219 / £219 (around AU$350)
- When can you get it? You can get it from January 16, 2025
- Where is it available? You can get it in the US, UK, and Australia
The Intel Arc B570 goes on sale in the US, UK, and Australia on January 16, 2025, for $219 / £219 (around AU$350).
This puts it at just $30 / £30 (about AU$90) cheaper than the Intel Arc B580 released in December 2024. That said, it is a good deal cheaper than the competing AMD Radeon RX 7600 and Nvidia RTX 4060, both of which run at least 20% more expensive for roughly the same performance.
I’ll dig into the performance-per-dollar of this card in a bit, but I can tell you now that it’s one of the best you find on a modern GPU, but it still comes in a distant second to the Intel Arc B580, making it hard card to recommend unless you are seriously strapped for cash or the B580 is being scalped at too high a price.
Intel Arc B570: Specs
- 10GB VRAM is a nice-to-have feature
- Decently-sized memory bus
| Price | $219 / £219 (about AU$350) |
| Process Technology | TSMC N5 |
| Transistors (Billion) | 19.6 |
| Compute units | 18 |
| Shaders | 2,304 |
| AI/Matrix Cores | 144 |
| Ray Tracing Cores | 18 |
| Render Output Units | 80 |
| Texture Mapping Units | 144 |
| Boost Clock (MHz) | 2,500 |
| VRAM (GB) | 12 |
| VRAM Bus Width | 160 |
| VRAM Speed (Gbps) | 19 |
| Bandwidth (GB/s) | 380 |
| TDP (watts) | 150 |
| PCIe Interface | PCIe 4.0 x8 |
Intel Arc B570: Performance
- Great 1080p performance
- Doable 1440p (within reason)
- Arc B580 is way better for not a whole lot more money
Ultimately, what matters is performance, and the top-line numbers for the Intel Arc B570 are impressive for a card at its price point, but it is almost exclusively a 1080p graphics card unless you make a lot of compromises for 1440p resolution that frankly aren’t going to be worth it in the end.
In terms of creative workloads or AI, this isn’t the card for you. I’d simply go for the RTX 4060 if you’re really strapped for cash but need something more than a basic cheap gaming GPU.
It also has to be noted that its 1080p gaming performance isn’t going to match its more expensive competition on a lot of games, so if you’re looking for a graphics card that consistently gets you 60fps at 1080p on max settings without question, you might be better off with some of this card’s more expensive competitors.
That said, on average across the several games in my testing suite, including titles like Cyberpunk 2077, F1 2024, Total War: Warhammer III, and others, this card did manage an average 1080p fps of 60. with an average minimum fps of 34.
Of course, it played better on some games more than others, and some games you won’t be able to play at max settings for a playable frame rate (like Black Myth Wukong), but over the course of all the titles I played, it’s more than passable for 1080p, with the occasionally playable 1440p experience.
For its price, it’s genuinely excellent, especially for getting you a card capable of ray-traced gameplay, but for just a little bit more, you can get a lot better with the B580.
Should you buy the Intel Arc B570?
| Value | For the price, it’s hard to beat, but if you have any wiggle room in your budget, the B580 is a better option. | 4.5 / 5 |
| Specs & features | 10GB VRAM is great for this price. | 4 / 5 |
| Performance | This is strictly a 1080p graphics card, but there are better options for just a little more money. | 3.5 / 5 |
| Final Score | Given its price point, this is an excellent GPU, but for just a bit more investment, you can do a lot better, making this something I can only really recommend for those on a very thin budget. | 4 / 5 |
Buy the Intel Arc B570 if…
Don’t buy it if…
Also consider
How I tested the Intel Arc B570
- I spent about a week with the Intel Arc B570
- I used it primarily as a gaming GPU with some light creative work
- I ran the Arc B570 thgouh my revamped testing suite
I tested the Intel Arc B570 using my newly revamped testing suite, including the latest 3DMark tests like Steel Nomad and Solar Bay, as well as the newest gaming benchmarks like Black Myth Wukong and F1 2024.
I used the Arc B570 as my primary GPU on my work PC, using it for basic productivity, creative, and moderate gaming in the office.
I’ve been testing GPUs for TechRadar for more than two years now, and have extensively benchmarked all of the latest GPUs several times over, so I am well aware of where this card’s performance sits amongst its competition as well as how good of a value it is at its price point.
- Originally reviewed January 2025
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John.Loeffler@futurenet.com (John Loeffler)
