Design: Is This the Sweet Spot for Intel’s Graphics Card?
On specs alone, the Intel Arc A580 graphics card seems rather boring than inspiring: with three-quarters of the hardware resources of the Intel Arc A770, the A580 is just a moderately slower version on paper. However, the price at half that of the A770 makes it stand out.
Test Setup
The system I used to test the graphics cards includes an Intel Core i9-12900K processor running at stock frequency on an Asus ROG Maximus Z690 Hero motherboard, cooled by a Corsair Hydro Series H100X 240mm liquid cooler. The system has 32GB of Corsair Vengeance memory clocked at 5,600 MHz and a 1TB Corsair MP600 Pro NVMe 4.0 SSD for primary storage. The power supply is a Corsair HX1500i 80 Plus Platinum unit rated at 1,500 watts, and the operating system is Windows 11 Pro with all the latest updates installed.
Synthetic Performance Tests
Synthetic testing showed that the Arc A580 graphics card easily outperforms its lower-priced competitors like the Radeon RX 6600 and GeForce RTX 3050. Although these tests do not reflect real-world outcomes, they suggest that the A580 will have no trouble with these two cards.
AAA Gaming Tests
Games that support ray tracing prove that the Arc A580 graphics card and Intel’s line of graphics cards, in general, excel in this aspect. However, when transitioning to games that do not support ray tracing, things look less impressive for the A580.
Older Games Testing
Testing revealed that the Arc A580 graphics card performs slightly better in older games, and overall gaming seems more stable. Although performance still falls short of expectations in some cases, games can be played smoothly with an experience of 61 frames per second.
Power Consumption and Heat of the Arc A580 Card
A Kill-A-Watt energy meter is used to measure the overall power consumption of the graphics card testing system. This provides a relative accurate idea of how one card’s power consumption compares to another.
Conclusion: The First True Competitor for Arc
The Asrock Intel Arc A580 Challenger 8GB OC is undoubtedly not the fastest graphics card we’ve tested, but we are impressed nonetheless. Performance results vary significantly from game to game, and while the A580 managed to challenge the AMD Radeon RX 7600 and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 and RTX 4060 in some areas, it never decisively outperformed them.
Nonetheless, before you dismiss the Arc A580 as a clear loser, consider the price difference between these cards. The RX 7600 has a suggested retail price (MSRP) of $269, and the RTX 3060 and 4060 are slightly higher at $289 and $299, respectively. Priced at $179.99, the Challenger 8GB OC is nearly $100 cheaper than the least expensive of the three, while delivering performance well above half.
Certainly, this win isn’t substantial enough for us to recommend the Arc A580 if you can buy a Radeon RX 7600 or GeForce RTX 4060; far from it. But if you are looking for the best new graphics card you can get for under $200, Asrock may be the winner here at the end of 2023 – and it deserves the Editor’s Choice award for budget cards in a market that suffers from a lack of options at the lower end and high graphics card prices. A message to AMD and Nvidia: it’s time to bring out some new low-end model cards!
Specifications
Asrock Intel Arc A580 Challenger 8GB OC
Power of the board or TDP: 185
Length of the card: 10.7
Width of the card: Dual
DisplayPort outputs: 3
Base speed of the card: 1700
Amount of graphics memory: 8
Type of graphics memory: GDDR6
Graphics processor: Intel Arc A580
HDMI outputs: 1
Number of fans: 2
Power connectors: 2 8-pin
Source: https://me.pcmag.com/en/graphics-cards/21273/asrock-intel-arc-a580-challenger-8gb-oc
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