The PC graphics card market has for years been a lopsided duopoly, with Nvidia the undisputed king and Advanced Micro Devices stuck in second place. Intel (INTC +5.42%) jumped in the ring in late 2022 with its Arc Alchemist graphics cards, bringing much-needed alternatives for consumers.
Unfortunately, Intel stumbled out of the gate. While the company's A750 and A770 graphics cards were capable pieces of hardware, the software drivers were a mess. Some older games didn't work at all or suffered from uneven performance, and a bevy of bugs made the product a no-go for many PC gamers shopping for a new graphics card. Intel failed to gain any meaningful market share or disrupt the market in any way.
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Trying again with Battlemage
Intel has greatly improved its software over the past few years with a steady stream of updates, putting its graphics card business on much more stable ground. While some may have expected Intel to give up on the graphics card market, especially after a difficult year that ended with the departure of the CEO, the company is back for round two with Battlemage, the code name for its B-series Arc graphics cards.
Intel announced two new graphics cards earlier this month, with both squarely aimed at the high-volume midrange portion of the market. The B570 will be available in January and will be priced at just $219, while the more powerful B580 is on sale now for $249. Intel has made some major architectural changes that promise to bring substantial improvements in performance and efficiency.
The first reviews of the B580 graphics card are promising. Notably, Tom's Hardware called it "the new $249 GPU champion" in its review of the higher-end card. The B580 generally beats Nvidia's RTX 4060 and AMD's 7600 XT in both rasterization and ray tracing, and it costs less than both options.
There were some lingering software issues here and there throughout Tom's Hardware's testing, but the reviewers did note that the software situation had improved and that there were no game-crashing bugs this time around. "The good news is that Battlemage looks more promising than its predecessor," concludes the mostly positive review.
Becoming a major player in the gaming GPU market would not only create a new revenue stream for Intel, but it could also help the company sell more CPUs as it battles AMD. With Intel struggling against multiple headwinds, the company could use a win.
A bit late to the party
While Intel's new graphics cards look like solid products that have a greater chance of winning meaningful market share, the timing is problematic. It took Intel more than two years to launch a follow-up, and while the B580 looks great compared to Nvidia and AMD graphics cards on the market today, those graphics cards have been around for a while. Both Nvidia and AMD are expected to launch next-generation products in the coming months that could erode Intel's value proposition.
Nvidia is rumored to be announcing its RTX 5000 series graphics cards soon, while AMD is likely to reveal its RX 8000 series early next year as well. Intel could catch a break if both companies focus on high-end graphics cards first and leave midrange updates for later, or if they aren't all that aggressive on price. But either way, the B570 and B580 will likely be getting some new competition sometime next year.
Intel's second effort at breaking into the graphics card market looks promising, but the company will need to convince consumers that it won't abandon the market and that software issues won't be a nightmare this time around. We'll see if the company can pull it off.
