ASUS Launches Arc Pro B70 Packing 32GB VRAM To Tackle AI Workloads
ASUS is taking aim at the local AI market with a new workstation graphics card built around Intel's BMG-31 GPU silicon. Called the UGen Arc Pro B70, the partner model from ASUS packs 32GB of ECC GDDR6 memory, giving developers and businesses more breathing room to run large AI models locally without relying entirely on cloud services. It arrives seven months after Intel unveiled both the Arc Pro B70 and B65.
The beefy memory capacity is the main attraction here. Large language models can consume gobs of VRAM, particularly when handling long prompts or multiple tasks. ASUS is positioning its new card as a solution for users who want to run demanding AI workloads on their own hardware, a potentially cost-saving move compared to tapping cloud-based solutions.
The UGen Arc Pro B70 leverages Intel's Xe2 architecture with 32 Xe cores and 256 XMX AI engines on board. ASUS rates its AI performance at up to 367 TOPS for INT8 workloads, while the 32GB of GDDR6 memory includes error-correcting code (ECC) to help detect and correct certain memory errors. Additionally, there is room to grow by deploying multi-card configurations.
"A single ASUS UGen B70 supports most models under 27 billion parameters and enables a context window of up to 128K tokens with Llama 3.1 8B, scaling to 64GB in dual-card configurations and 128GB in quad configurations to meet the AI deployment needs of SMBs and large enterprises," ASUS states.
ASUS also touts support for a range of AI software, including vLLM, llama.cpp, Ollama, PyTorch, OpenVINO, and oneAPI. That software compatibility matters for developers looking beyond NVIDIA's CUDA ecosystem when building local AI systems.
The major caveat is pricing. While ASUS doesn't mention pricing or availability in its global press release, a regional announcement spills the details—the ASUS UGen Intel Arc Pro B70 32GB is available in Germany and Austria for €1,799, and in Switzerland for CHF 1,799.
That's about in line with current pricing in the US. While available options are slim, we found an ASRock Arc Pro B70 for $2,120.68 at Best Buy (via Beach Audio Inc) and Intel's own-brand Arc Pro B70 on sale for $1,699.99 (down from $1,999.99) at Micro Center.
