Intel unveils new Arc A580 GPU for 1080p gaming

DIMAPUR — After weeks of speculation, Intel has officially unveiled its Arc A580 graphics card, marking the tech giant’s entry into the competitive entry-level gaming market. The A580 is poised to cater to the needs of gamers and content creators on a tight budget, with its blend of powerful features and competitive pricing.

Intel has announced collaborations with three manufacturing partners for the A580 GPU. The models include the ASRock Intel Arc A580 Challenger 8GB OC, GUNNIR Intel Arc A580 Index 8G (dual-fan) and Photon 8G OC (triple fan, coming soon), and SPARKLE Intel Arc A580 ORC OC Edition.

Intel’s press release emphasised the A580’s position within the Arc lineup, describing it as offering “advanced gaming performance at 1080p high settings on popular modern games, high frame rates on esports titles, and a comprehensive set of media capabilities.”

According to Intel, the new Arc A580 GPU is positioned between the high-performance A750 and A770 GPUs and the budget-friendly A380 GPUs. While the A580 sits between the A380 and A750, its hardware specs align more closely with the latter. Boasting 8 GB of GDDR6 VRAM across a 256-bit bus interface with up to 512 GB/s bandwidth, the A580 stands out with its 24 Xe-cores, 384 EUs, and 3072 ALUs. The A580 has a 1700 MHz base clock that goes up to a maximum boost speed of 2400 MHz.

Intel claims that the A580 GPU is capable of handling the latest games at 1080p High settings. Titles like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales run at over 60 FPS natively on the A580. The GPU’s AI capabilities, coupled with Intel Xe Super Sampling (XeSS), offer a substantial performance uplift, as demonstrated by a 46% boost in frame rates on games like Remnant II.

The company claims that the A580 GPU is not only a gaming powerhouse but also a versatile solution for content creators and AI workloads. With features such as AV1 video encoding hardware, AI acceleration through XMX engines, and the streaming studio within Arc Control software, the A580 enables a wide range of possibilities, including AI-generated art.

The A580 is priced at $179, making it a more affordable option than its predecessor, the A750, which has an average street price of around $190.

The A580 will compete directly against Nvidia’s RTX 3050 and 3060, as well as AMD’s RX 6600. Real-world benchmark scores are eagerly awaited to determine how the A580 stacks up against these established offerings.