If you were to tell me that Intel would be killing it in the GPU space a year ago, I would be hesitant to believe you. The first-gen A-series GPUs were good but not mind-blowing and Intel didn't have many answers for AMD or Nvidia yet. Fast-forward a couple of years and with countless firmware revisions under its belt, Intel launched Battlemage in late 2024. The Intel Arc B580 and Arc B570 are already available and appear to be selling well. This is great news for the company and the wider community who have had to endure the result of a duopoly lasting decades. Although Intel may be losing the CPU fight, it's making strides in the GPU space.
Battlemage is off to a roaring start
If you're an Intel fan standing on the sidelines, watching the Core Ultra Inferno, you'd struggle to see the ray of light from Battlemage. Putting the B580 and B570 through their paces with our suite of game tests, we found both graphics cards to perform well at 1080p and 1440p, with even the Intel Arc B580 handling Cyberpunk 2077 at 4K and RT Ultra, though the FPS was bouncing around up to 40. It's a testament to how well Intel's hardware and software have matured since Intel Arc launched in 2022. The driver is rock-solid for most PC games, though some outliers require attention.
Intel's push into the affordable GPU market segment saw the company make some big headlines, offering gamers excellent value with Battlemage GPUs for less than $250. The B580 costs $250 yet manages to pack a punch at 1440p with the latest PC games. Undercutting AMD and Nvidia at launch, though actual prices will depend on how many low-life scalpers manage to get their paws on stock, allowed Intel to carve itself a slice of the market. Throw in the Intel Arc B570, a 1080p and 1440p GPU for $219, and you've got some serious competition for both established tech giants.
Intel was so pleased with its Battlemage sales that it's reportedly making a 24GB version
Is Intel becoming a new household name for GPUs?
Nvidia has been riding the artificial intelligence wave by offering impressive tools and features that push its GPUs further than what's possible through hardware improvements alone. DLSS is incredible when paired with ray tracing and other advanced visual features. The RTX 50 series is set to take this further by using more powerful AI cores and boosting frame generation, touting RTX 4090 performance on the RTX 5070, which costs less than half the price. At $549, it's a good deal for those pushing 1440p and 4K gaming hard, but it's not true performance and is still quite the price tag.
You could purchase two B580 GPUs for the price of just one RTX 5070. Nvidia isn't alone with this price gouging, seeing the RTX %090 launch at $1,999. AMD is also guilty of increasing its GPU prices accordingly. The duopoly allowed the two giants to ride the crypto and lockdown waves, enjoying incredible demand for their graphics cards. The early 2020s was the best period to be a GPU manufacturer. Gamers were left behind and are still unable to purchase mid-range to flagship hardware due to cost, and this is something Intel is working on with its B-series GPUs.
How Intel could tackle AMD and Nvidia
Intel has an uphill battle ahead of itself within the GPU market. Nvidia has a foothold in the space with most of the market share that even AMD with its decades of experience continues to struggle to take on the Green Eye. According to the most recent Steam hardware survey, which provides a rough idea of the popularity of components and brands within the PC industry, Nvidia holds around 75%. AMD is second at 16% and Intel has just 8%. Most of Intel's GPU coverage within this survey is integrated GPUs on its processors, so there's ample room for growth.
The A-series Arc GPUs were decent enough to draw attention and make some sales but they fell short of what AMD and Nvidia offered. Intel timed the launch of the B-series well, getting ahead of CES 2025 with some excellent affordable GPUs. This is something PC gamers have been demanding for years and while AMD didn't price its GPUs quite as high as Nvidia, it wasn't undercutting the competition enough to offer consumers real value. Enter Intel with its Arc B580 GPU for just $249. For $250, you get a graphics card that can handle 1080p and 1440p.
Intel hasn't launched a 4K GPU yet and the company is positioned to do so now with the B-series out in the wild. Although billed as a 1440p GPU, the B580 can handle 4K gaming with settings set conservatively and XeSS enabled. Will we see such an offering from Intel? I'm not sure, but Battlemage appears to be selling well enough for Intel to continue taking its discrete GPU arm seriously. The company said as much during CES 2025, noting the company will stay in the game against AMD and Nvidia. It has been said Intel plans to launch a 24 GB GPU sometime this year.
VRAM is an issue with many of the GPUs launching, especially at their inflated prices. While AMD is finally pivoting from its original software-based FSR to AI computing, Intel already jumped onto this wagon with XeSS and is further developing its technologies to help provide its GPUs an edge without sending the TDP of its cards into space. I'm excited to see what Intel has to bring next and having a viable third player in the GPU game is excellent for PC gamers.
3 reasons Intel Arc GPUs will be a sleeper hit for budget gaming PCs
Intel is the one to watch in the GPU scene.