Intel Arc B580 and B570 for Windows Gaming: Setup Requirements and Uncertain GPU Future

The honest answer is basically one company: Intel. The rest of the list comes with caveats, and those caveats explain why the discrete GPU market has stayed a two-horse race for so long.

What "GPU maker" actually means​

The phrase covers at least four different businesses, and BGR's piece moves between them. It helps to separate them:

• Chip designers who sell discrete PC GPUs. Nvidia, AMD and Intel design graphics chips for add-in cards. As BGR points out, none of them fabricates those chips itself in the usual sense. Foundries such as TSMC and Samsung do the manufacturing.
• Board partners. Companies such as ASRock, Gigabyte and Sparkle take the chip, add memory and power circuitry, bolt on a cooler and put their name on the box. BGR notes that EVGA used to be one of the best known before it left the graphics card business after its relationship with Nvidia went sour.
• Integrated GPU designers. Apple, Qualcomm, MediaTek and Arm all design graphics, but it ships inside a system-on-chip, not as a card you can buy.
• GPU IP licensors. Imagination Technologies licenses its PowerVR designs to other chipmakers. Its own site describes GPU IP as licensed graphics technology that manufacturers build into their own silicon.

Section summary: If you're shopping for a discrete card for a Windows desktop, the real third option is Intel Arc. The other names design GPUs, but they don't sell ones you can plug into a desktop.

Intel Arc: the only real third choice, with some drama​

BGR calls Intel the biggest alternative to Nvidia and AMD, and says it can't really compete with them. That's harsh, but it isn't unreasonable.

On paper, the second-generation Battlemage cards are good value. Intel announced the Arc B580 and B570 on December 3, 2024. The B580 has 12 GB of dedicated memory and the B570 has 10 GB. At launch, Intel listed the B580 Limited Edition from $249, on sale from December 13, 2024, and partner B570 cards from $219, on sale from January 16, 2025. Those were launch prices, not what you'll pay today. TweakTown summed up why the B580 caught on: it launched at $249 with 12GB of VRAM at a time when NVIDIA and AMD were still shipping budget cards with 8GB, and it sold well because of it.

Here's how the two consumer cards compare, using Intel's own spec sheet:

A spec table isn't a benchmark, of course. Intel's launch claims included "up to 32% better performance-per-dollar" against unnamed competitors, measured in Intel's own testing, so treat them as marketing.

Intel's professional line has grown too. On March 25, 2026, Intel announced the Arc Pro B70 and B65 workstation cards for professional graphics and AI inference. They offer up to 32 Xe-cores and 32 GB of VRAM. The Intel-branded B70 had a suggested starting price of $949, and B65 partner cards were due from mid-April 2026. Jon Peddie Research sees this as a strategic signal: the Pro launch confirmed that Intel viewed the workstation and local AI inference market as more viable than the hyper-competitive consumer gaming segment.

Why Arc buyers are still nervous​

BGR runs through Arc's rough history: a delayed 2022 launch, the earlier cancelled Larrabee project, more than a year of driver updates before performance was acceptable across enough games, and a debut into one of the weakest GPU markets in years. The first-generation cards are well documented. Jon Peddie Research notes that Intel launched the Arc A380 in June 2022, marking its first serious retail shipment of a discrete AIB in decades.

The bigger question now is the Nvidia partnership. In September 2025, Intel and Nvidia announced that Intel would build x86 PC system-on-chips with Nvidia RTX GPU chiplets, and that Nvidia would invest $5 billion in Intel common stock, subject to regulatory approval. BGR suggests those chips could eventually replace Intel's own integrated graphics. That's a reasonable guess, but the announcement itself doesn't say that. It also doesn't say Arc is ending.

Intel pushed back fast. In a statement to Tom's Hardware the day after the announcement, an Intel representative said: "We remain committed to our GPU roadmap. We'll be collaborating with NVIDIA to serve specific market segments, but we're also continuing to execute on our own path."

Since then, reporting has been less reassuring for gamers:

• Celestial cancellation reports. In April 2026, Tom's Hardware reported a leak from tipster Jaykihn claiming Intel canceled discrete gaming GPUs for Celestial a long time ago, and their fate hangs in the balance for even the next-gen Xe4 "Druid" architecture. The outlet stressed that the information was speculative and subject to change.
• The B770 went pro-only. VideoCardz reported that the rumoured B770 was expected this year, but Intel chose to limit this SKU to professional/workstation market.
• Executives say Arc still matters. VideoCardz, citing Tweakers, said Intel Client Computing Group general manager Alex Katouzian described GPUs as a "super important" part of the company's PC lineup. The same report noted there's still no successor to the B580 at the higher end of the desktop range.

So Intel is committed to Arc, which covers integrated graphics, workstation cards and data-centre parts, but not clearly to new discrete gaming cards. A Tom's Hardware reader made the same point: Intel didn't commit to any specific segments or products, only to the "Arc project". BGR adds that some owners of first-generation Alchemist cards, posting on the r/IntelArc subreddit, worry that games on newer engines aren't getting optimised. That's anecdotal, but it fits the wider mood.

Section summary: Arc cards exist, are sold today and offer real value. The worry isn't whether they work but how many more consumer generations Intel will make.

Setting up an Arc card: what Windows users need to check​

If the B580's price and memory still appeal, compatibility matters more with Arc than with Nvidia or AMD. Here's the checklist from Intel's desktop quick-start guide:

1. Slot: You need a full-size PCIe 3.0 or newer x16 slot. The B570 uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 connection, so older boards lose some bandwidth.
2. Operating system: B-series cards need Windows 10 64-bit version 22H2 or newer, Windows 11 64-bit, or Ubuntu 22.04 or newer. The older A-series cards accept Windows 10 20H2 or newer.
3. Resizable BAR: Intel says ReBAR, which AMD boards call Smart Access Memory, must be on for the best performance in every application. The setting may be named Re-Size BAR, Smart Access Memory or Clever Access Memory in your firmware.
4. UEFI boot: Turn off CSM (Compatibility Support Module) and use UEFI boot with a GPT disk. If Windows is installed on an MBR disk, Intel points to Microsoft's MBR2GPT tool to convert it.
5. Check the result: Intel Graphics Software or the Intel Driver & Support Assistant will show whether ReBAR is actually active.

Common problems Intel covers:

• The ReBAR option is missing after a BIOS update. On some boards you have to enable "Above 4G decoding," save and restart before the option appears.
• 10th Gen Intel Core systems. ReBAR support on these platforms varies. Ask your motherboard maker.
• Slow performance with a Ryzen 8500G. Intel warns performance will be lower because that CPU only provides four PCIe Gen 4 lanes.
• High idle power draw. Idle power depends heavily on how many monitors are connected and their resolution and refresh rate. Intel recommends enabling Native ASPM and PCIe root port ASPM with L1 Substates in the BIOS, then adjusting Windows power settings.

In my experience, most "my Arc card is slow" complaints come down to ReBAR being off. Check that first.

Moore Threads: the one to watch, not buy​

BGR's other candidate for a discrete card is Moore Threads, a Chinese company founded in 2020 that released its first consumer card in 2022. According to BGR, the MTT S80 was aimed at the domestic market. It lacked DirectX 11 support until 2023, only got DirectX 12 through a beta driver in 2024, and still runs a limited set of games. BGR cites recent benchmarks from a TechPowerUp forum moderator showing it well behind current-generation cards. It's an interesting development in the global GPU race, but not a realistic purchase for a Windows gamer in the West.

Apple, Qualcomm, MediaTek, Arm and Samsung: GPUs, but not cards​

This group designs plenty of GPUs, just not ones you can buy separately:

• Apple designs its own GPUs, but they're part of Apple silicon and stay inside Apple's machines.
• Qualcomm uses its own Adreno designs in Snapdragon chips, including the ones in Windows on Arm laptops.
• MediaTek, according to BGR, uses Arm's reference GPU designs.
• Samsung licenses AMD's RDNA graphics for its Exynos mobile chips, so it's really AMD in a different package.

BGR thinks none of them is likely to make desktop cards anytime soon, because integrated mobile chips are designed so differently from discrete boards. That seems right to me. Imagination is an interesting side note: its site promotes a DXD GPU with DirectX 11 and 12 support. But Imagination licenses designs to chipmakers and doesn't sell cards, so any Windows-capable PowerVR hardware would come from whoever licenses it.

Why Nvidia keeps winning​

BGR places Nvidia's dominance well before the AI boom. It says Nvidia has led graphics card shipments since 2006, the year it introduced CUDA, which opened its GPUs to general-purpose computing. BGR also mentions the 2018 SEC penalty over how Nvidia disclosed cryptocurrency-mining demand, and argues that AMD's ROCm, launched in 2016, hasn't matched CUDA's ecosystem or noticeably helped Radeon sales. AMD's market share, per BGR, is now below 10%.

That's the core problem for any newcomer. Building the silicon is only part of it; you also need years of drivers, developer tools and game optimisation. Intel shows how hard that is: good hardware, years of driver work, and it's still unclear whether it will stay in consumer gaming.

Bottom line​

• Buying a discrete card for Windows today? Your options are Nvidia, AMD or Intel Arc. The B580 and B570 are still sensible budget picks if your PC supports ReBAR and UEFI boot.
• Workstation or local AI buyer? Intel's Arc Pro B70 and B65 are where Intel is focusing now, and they're worth pricing against Nvidia's RTX Pro cards.
• Worried about Arc's future? That's reasonable for high-end gaming. But Intel has publicly committed to Arc overall, and the cards you can buy now work.

Is the GPU market really a two-horse race? For gamers it's close to it, with Intel as the third option that might not stick around.