Intel Arc B570 review: get it while it’s hot

Intel’s new Arc B570 is a difficult GPU to evaluate. It’s hard to call it one of the best graphics cards when it wins by default. Not dissimilar to something like Nvidia’s RTX 4090 in the previous generation, the Arc B570 faces basically no competition. In this case, though, the class of one works in favor of the Arc B570 rather than working against it.

Clocking in at $219, the Arc B570 doesn’t face any current-gen competition from AMD or Nvidia. We never saw an RTX 4050, nor an RX 7500 XT to reach down to the sub-$250 price range, and I don’t have high hopes that we’ll see those options this generation, either.

Thankfully, the Arc B570 doesn’t earn its stripes on price alone. It’s a competent follow-up to the wildly popular Arc B580, and it gives PC gamers a much-needed option around $200 that doesn’t completely fall apart under scrutiny. It’s not without issues — driver problems still poke up, and older CPUs may struggle — but the Arc B570 is still a very compelling option for a budget gaming PC in 2025.

Intel Arc B570 specs

As the name and price implies, the Arc B570 is a slightly cut-down version of the Arc B580 that’s already available. There are 10% fewer cores across the board, a 6% reduction in clock speed, and 17% less memory, and those spec reductions scale almost perfectly with pricing. The Arc B570 is 12% lower in price compared to the Arc B580.

Normally, I don’t bust out the percentages this early on in a review, rather using this space to talk about architecture, but the specs are important here. Given that there aren’t any contenders to the Arc B570, the big question for a lot of shoppers will be if you should buy this graphics card or spend an extra $30 to get the Arc B580. There are still some clear comparisons to Nvidia’s RTX 4060 and AMD’s RX 7600, but both of those GPUs fall around the $300 mark — spending an extra $80 is significantly different than spending an extra $30.

The core reduction is what matters most here when looking at overall performance. Memory is an interesting point of contention, though. The Arc B570 only has a slight reduction in memory capacity, but that forces a thinner bus width, and therefore, reduces memory bandwidth significantly. The bandwidth is still higher than what you’ll get on 8GB GPUs like the RX 7600 and RTX 4060, but unlike those cards, Intel doesn’t include a pool of L3 cache to boost the effective bandwidth of the GPU.

That shouldn’t pose an issue in most games, but it’s something to note. We don’t see 10GB GPUs often, and understanding the memory subsystem is important. The Arc B570 is closer to an 8GB GPU than it is to the Arc B580 when it comes to the overall memory system. I would’ve liked to see 12GB on the Arc B570, as well, though given the very small difference in price between it and the Arc B580, I understand the design change.

1080p gaming performance

Starting at 1080p, the Arc B570 is near the bottom of the stack in overall performance, only beating out Intel’s own Arc A770 and A750 from the previous generation. It’s also the least expensive option, and by a fairly significant margin. AMD’s RX 7600 XT is 5% faster, but it’s also 50% more expensive at $330. The RTX 4060 is less extreme at only 36% more expensive, but it comes out just a mere 6% faster than the Arc B570.

The most apt comparison is Intel’s own GPU, though. The Arc B580 is 17% faster than the B570 and 14% more expensive. That means the Arc B580 is still the better value overall, but there are a few devils in the details here to touch on.

First, Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. As you can see from the results above, the Arc B570 gets clobbered in this game, and I’m not sure why. Intel says it might be a VRAM-related issue, which is possible. The 8GB RTX 4060 performance significantly better, for example, but it has higher effective bandwidth with a pool of L3 cache. The Arc B570 might be running into a bandwidth issue.

Thankfully, that’s the only game where I encountered a major issue. As you can see above, the Arc B570 manages a clear lead over the RTX 4060 in Cyberpunk 2077, Dying Light 2, and Red Dead Redemption 2. The Arc B580 is faster, unsurprisingly, but it’s astounding the performance Intel is able to deliver in these games considering the price of the Arc B570.

Returnal also shines particularly bright on this GPU, which isn’t a surprise given the performance of the Arc B580 in this game. Here, the Arc B570 is even nearing the performance of the $400 RTX 4060 Ti, which is downright impressive.

It’s not all upside, though. There are games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Forza Motorsport, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage where the Arc B570 just doesn’t make the cut against the competition. That’s where price works in favor of the Arc B570, though. You’re still getting above 60 frames per second (fps) in these games, which is completely playable. No, you’re not getting the performance of an RTX 4060 or RX 7600 XT, but you’ll also spending a whole $80 less.

There are also some games that you’ll struggle to play on such a low-performance GPU. Black Myth: Wukong with its cutting-edge use of Unreal Engine 5 is a prime example of that. Even with Intel’s XeSS upscaling, you’ll struggle to get playable performance without resorting to tools like Lossless Scaling. Those are the trade-offs you make with a $219 graphics card, though.

1440p gaming performance

As I saw with the Arc B580, Intel’s Battlemage architecture scales up better to higher resolutions, and the Arc B570 is no exception. You can see this flat line from the Arc B570 up to the RTX 4060, with Intel’s own Arc B580 and much more expensive AMD and Nvidia options breaking the stalemate.

Still, the story here doesn’t change much compared to 1080p. In Returnal, Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Forza Motorsport, the Arc B570 punches far above its weight class, at least compared to the price and performance of the competition.

Similarly, the Arc B570 loses in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Forza Motorsport, and Assassin’s Creed Mirage. As far as comparisons between GPUs go, the situation hasn’t changed much.

The real-world situation has changed, though. Although the B570 scales well up to 1440p, it’s falling short of the 60 fps mark in a number of games. Upscaling and settings tweaks can make up that difference, but whereas the Arc B580 is comfortable at 1440p, the Arc B570 will struggle. Memory issues become a largely concern, as well, particularly with recent demanding games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. 

There are some games where you can’t make up the gap, too, with Black Myth: Wukong and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered being prime examples. That really shouldn’t come as a surprise, though. Even $300 graphics cards are locked to 1080p in most cases, so the fact that the Arc B570 even puts up a fight is impressive.

4K gaming performance

The Arc B570 already struggles in some games at 1440p, so you really shouldn’t use it at 4K — that shouldn’t be surprising considering the price of this GPU. In an effort to show my work, however, you can see the 4K average for all of the games I tested above. Again, you can see the scaling of this graphics card at a higher resolution. Whereas is fell clearly short of the RTX 4060 on average at lower resolutions, Intel actually claims a small lead here.

Still, 4K isn’t really an option on the Arc B570. It’s a fine option if you’re playing less demanding games or indie titles, and it could make a good option for budget-focused home theater PC with a 4K TV. But for the latest games, you’ll want to focus on 1080p if you plan on picking up the Arc B570.

Ray tracing and XeSS

Despite the low price tag, the Arc B570 comes with dedicated ray tracing hardware, and it can run games that feature ray tracing will decent performance. Returnal is a good place to start, as it shows the best of what Intel’s latest GPU has to offer. Returnal doesn’t have a very demanding implementation of ray tracing, and due to that, the Arc B570 shows some solid performance, particularly at 1080p. You’re getting 70 fps with maxed-out settings, and barely breaking a sweat.

More demanding forms of ray tracing aren’t as favorable, and Cyberpunk 2077 is a good example of that. Intel has done great work to put pressure on Nvidia’s ray tracing prowess with its B-series graphics cards, but Nvidia still wins the day when pushing demanding forms of ray tracing like Cyberpunk 2077 offers.

Most games should perform near the level that Dying Light 2 demonstrates. You probably won’t get a locked 60 fps in games at 1080p with maxed-out ray tracing, and you especially won’t at higher resolutions. This comes down to the individual game, however. Titles like Resident Evil 4 have a very light tough when it comes to ray tracing, while Dragon Age: The Veilguard is more demanding. With the Arc B570, you’ll need to make some compromises depending on how demanding the game you’re playing is.

Intel wants you to use its XeSS upscaling to fill in the gaps, which is a fairly impressive upscaling utility. Unfortunately, Intel doesn’t have the same level of support for XeSS as Nvidia has for DLSS and AMD has for FSR; there will be some games where you’ll have to resort to a tool like a Lossless Scaling. Thankfully, Intel’s new XeSS 2 with frame generation is very impressive, and it works on the B570. You’ll just need patience as Intel broadens support for the feature.

A note on older CPUs

Most reviewers, myself included, test new graphics cards with a blistering fast CPU. In my case, I use the Ryzen 9 9950X. Although you can criticize this approach for being unrealistic — I mean, who would pair a $220 graphics card with a $600+ CPU? — it makes sense for GPU testing. By using a high-end chip, you can remove any potential PC bottlenecks and show case the “true” performance of the graphics card. It’s a way to provide an accurate view of how GPUs scale in relation to each other, and usually the best representation of what you should expect when choosing between different GPU options.

As HardwareUnboxed revealed with the Arc B580, however, Intel’s latest architecture is particularly sensitive to older CPU architectures. It’s so sensitive, in fact, that it can completely change the comparison between two graphics cards. You can see the full video above for specifics.

The issue isn’t as big of a deal on the Arc B570, especially considering how much less you’ll spend on it compared to something like the RTX 4060; Intel is still delivering a good value, even accounting for the performance delta with older, slower CPUs. Given the gap, though, it might be worth considering your whole PC build before making a purchase decision. After all, if you’re forced to upgrade your CPU alongside the new Arc B570, it might be worth pooling that money and just buying a more powerful graphics card.

Should you buy the Intel Arc B570?

As I mentioned at the top of this review, the Arc B570 wins by default. There aren’t any current-gen options to contest it, and the card absolutely blows away last-gen options around this price like the RTX 3050 and RX 6500 XT. So, yes, you should buy the Arc B570, but you should also be aware of its limitations.

Unlike the B580, which directly challenged the AMD and Nvidia competition on price and performance, the B570 takes a clear backseat for a much lower price. It comes with limits, particularly in those prestige AAA games like Black Myth: Wukong. Still, I’m happy that gamers on a budget have an option to score a GPU around $200 with Intel’s latest release — that’s something we haven’t seen for a while.