Intel Arc B580 In High Demand As Retailers Sell Out Of Battlemage GPUs
The market for comparatively affordable GPUs is absolutely ravenous and proof of this is in the pudding. The pudding, in this case, is retailers selling out of their initial batches of Intel Arc B580 graphics cards in super-quick fashion. Some people will inevitably deem this a paper launch, though if you ask Intel, demand is indeed high, as one might expect for a capable $249 graphics card.
Of course, the real truth is probably somewhere in the middle. If you read our Arc B580 review, then you know we're pretty keen on Battlemage. While not flawless—sometimes issues creep up that you don't typically see with more mature architectures from AMD or NVIDIA—we were left very impressed with the card's strong performance and efficiency for its price class.
Only the 12GB cards could run the game in Ultra Nightmare mode, making the win even more impressive.
The value proposition is undoubtedly driving early sales. Take for example the above performance graph. The win is even bigger than represented, as the Arc 580 was tested in Ultra Nightmare mode, which requires more than 8GB of video RAM.
According to Intel, gamers can expect retailers to replenish their inventories on a weekly basis.
"Demand for Arc B580 graphics cards is high and many retailers have sold through their initial inventory. We expect weekly inventory replenishments of the Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition graphics card and are working with partners to ensure a steady availability of choices in the market,” Intel spokesperson Mark Anthony Ramirez said in a statement to The Verge.
That said, you can find Arc B580 variants in stock in the wild, though the only ones we're seeing are from marketplace sellers. These come with inflated price tags that obliterate the value proposition, taking away what makes Intel's latest GPU so compelling in the first place. For example, we're seeing numerous Arc B580 listings on Amazon priced at around $370 to over $400.
We don't recommend forking over that kind of dough for the B580. Even custom cards from Intel's partners shouldn't cost that much. To wit, B&H Photo lists Intel's own LE model at $259.99, an ASRock Arc B580 Challenger OC model at $269.99, and an ASRock B580 Steel Legend OC SKU at $279.99. Both of the ASRock models are available to preorder and are listed as "coming soon," which coincides with Intel's statement.
