Intel Arc B570 Review ft. ASRock

1. Introduction2. Meet the ASRock Arc B570 Challenger3. Testing Methodology4. Alan Wake II5. Black Myth: Wukong6. Cyberpunk 20777. Final Fantasy XVI8. Forza Horizon 59. Ghost of Tsushima10. Horizon Forbidden West11. The Last of Us Part 112. A Plague Tale: Requiem13. Senua's Saga: Hellblade 214. Starfield15. Total War: Warhammer III16. Performance Summary (12-Game Average)17. Cost Per Frame Analysis18. Ray Tracing: Alan Wake II19. Ray Tracing: Black Myth: Wukong20. Ray Tracing: Cyberpunk 207721. Ray Tracing: F1 2422. Ray Tracing: Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart23. Ray Tracing: Returnal24. Ray Tracing: Shadow of the Tomb Raider25. Ray Tracing: Star Wars Outlaws26. Ray Tracing Performance Summary27. Clock Speed28. GPU Temperatures29. Acoustics30. Power Draw: 1080p31. Power Draw: 1440p32. Power Draw: 2160p (4K)33. Performance per Watt: 1080p34. Performance per Watt: 1440p35. Performance per Watt: 2160p (4K)36. Total System Power Draw37. Closing Thoughts38. View All Pages

Kicking off the the start of a busy season for the GPU market, today we have assessed Intel's Arc B570 in the form of the ASRock Challenger model. Most of the focus around the launch of the Battlemage series has gone on the more expensive B580, with the B570 flying under the radar somewhat, but it turns out it is still a capable 1080p graphics card.

That said, I do think it would have generated a bit more excitement if the B570 had launched before the B580. Taken in isolation, this is a $220 graphics card that is trading blows with the likes of the RX 7600 and RTX 4060 while also offering more VRAM. Considering both of those competitors are a good chunk more expensive, at least in terms of MSRP, Intel is definitely coming out favourably in those comparisons,  which is great news for this market segment.

It's when we look at the B570 in relation to the B580, however, that things start to get murky. It turns out the B570 is 13% slower on average at 1080p, despite being just 12% cheaper and shipping with 2GB less VRAM. For me, that's just not enough of a difference for the B570 to etch out its own niche in this corner of the market. To be clear, it's not like the B570 is bad value – it's still very close to the top of our cost per frame chart – but I think with another $20 lopped off the price, it would make more sense relative to its faster and more expensive sibling.

Complicating things further is the fact that, right now, the B570 cannot be pre-ordered for less than £250 here in the UK, and that only worsens the value proposition for this card. RX 7600 can be found for just £230 at the time of writing, while RTX 4060 starts from about £255. Granted, both of those are only 8GB cards, but I firmly believe Intel must offer a decent discount relative to its competition to entice buyers, simply because it is still more of a risk to purchase a Battlemage GPU, but with UK pricing the way it is right now, that is not happening. I suspect prices are inflated due to the B580's lack of supply, with the B570 shifting upwards to fill the void, but we'd really need to see pricing drop a good £30-40 to give the B570 a fighting chance on this side of the Atlantic.

There are, of course, still a driver complaints but, in fairness to Intel, a number of issues – such as the erratic frametimes in F1 24 – have been fixed since my B580 review. Now, of the eighteen games tested, only three gave me real issues, and incidentally they are all games where I had ray tracing enabled. Of the twelve rasterised games benchmarked for this review, I did not run into any driver problems, so that is a welcome improvement.

Unfortunately, new issues have since come to light since however, with testing from Hardware Canucks and Hardware Unboxed revealing Battlemage performance can drop off significantly when paired with an older CPU. We've just upgraded to a new 9800X3D test system so I've not been able to test that for myself, but I did put the question to Intel and I've copied their response here: ‘We are aware of reports of performance sensitivity in some games when paired with older generation processors and we are investigating.'

Considering how far Alchemist GPUs have come since their introduction over two years ago, I remain confident that Intel can continue to improve Battlemage. Right now, however, I'm still not ready to fully recommend these GPUs given the issues laid out above. The B570 in particular would benefit from a price adjustment to help it step out from the B580's shadow, as it's otherwise a very solid entry-level GPU – and one that will hopefully get better with time.

A final mention to has to go to the ASRock Challenger model, though. In lieu of any reference – or Intel Limited Edition – design, we were sent this aftermarket card and it has proved highly impressive in my testing. It runs cool but is incredibly quiet, while also offering a compact design with a metal backplate. It's definitely one to keep an eye out for if you do end up shopping for a B570.

Intel's Arc B570 will be available at retail as of January 16th, with an MSRP of $219. In the UK it's up for pre-order starting at £250 HERE.

Discuss on our Facebook page HERE.

Pros

• Very competitive gaming performance vs the RX 7600 and RTX 4060.
• 10GB VRAM is great at the price-point.
• Ray tracing performance wipes the floor with the RX 7600 and matches the RX 7600 XT.
• Signs that some driver issues are getting ironed out.
• Efficiency has come on hugely since Alchemist.
• Very low power at less than 140W.
• ASRock Challenger models run very quiet and cool.

Cons

• Driver issues remain problematic for certain games.
• There are valid concerns around Battlemage performance scaling on older CPUs.
• Needs an extra $10 or $20 off the price to give it breathing room vs the B580.
• UK pricing is not favourable ahead of launch.
• Efficiency still lags behind the RTX 40-series.

KitGuru says: Taken in isolation, the B570 has all the makings of a solid entry-level GPU, and it's particularly pleasing to see the 10GB framebuffer in this market segment. However, it needs a more aggressive price to step out from the B580's shadow, while the pricing situation in the UK is even more problematic.

Become a Patron!