Intel just stole Nvidia’s lunch money with the Arc B570

Intel just released one of the best graphics cards you can buy — the Arc B570. As you can read in my Intel Arc B570 review, it delivers solid gaming performance at 1080p, and at a price we haven’t seen in years. But it faces some stiff competition from Nvidia in the form of the RTX 4060.

I put the two budget GPUs on the test bench to see how they hold up in a variety of games, and I’ll walk you through the results I gathered. Although both cards are excellent options under $300, Intel’s new Arc B570 is hard to argue with considering how much less expensive it is than the Nvidia competition.

Specs and pricing

Price is the name of the game when looking at the Arc B570 against the RTX 4060. The Arc B570 clocks in at just $220, while Nvidia’s RTX 4060 is $300. That’s a pretty significant gap in pricing — $80, or a 36% increase in price —  which would normally indicate a large gap in performance. That’s not the case here, though. The RTX 4060 and Arc B570, when looking at raw performance, are surprisingly competitive with each other.

Specs-wise, there are only three things that are important: power, process, and VRAM — damn you, alliteration. For process, both GPUs use TSMC, but Nvidia uses a slightly smaller node. It’s more efficient, and you can see that play out in the rated power draw. The RTX 4060 sips down 115W while the Arc B570 can climb up to 150W; though both cards still use a single 8-pin power connector.

VRAM marks a big departure, though it’s not as significant as the specs would suggest. The Arc B570 comes with 10GB and a wider memory bus, while the RTX 4060 comes with 8GB and a thinner bus. Straight win for Intel, right? Not exactly. Although the Arc B570 comes with higher capacity, it actually comes with lower effective bandwidth.

The RTX 4060 includes a small pool of L3 cache to improve memory bandwidth. This is what AMD would refer to as an Infinity Cache. The Arc B570 has no such cache, so while Intel’s GPU comes with higher capacity, the RTX 4060 and Arc B570 are largely similar when it comes to the real-world gaming experience. You should treat both as 8GB graphics cards, and the implications that come along with that capacity in demanding games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

That’s where the price of the Arc B570 is a big asset. You’ll need to make compromises in VRAM-heavy games regardless of the GPU you choose out of these two, but those compromises are easier to justify for a $220 graphics card compared to a $300 one.

Gaming performance

Onto the benchmarks. Both the RTX 4060 and Arc B570 are squarely focused on 1080p gaming performance. They may have enough grunt to scale up to 1440p in some lighter titles, but if you want the ideal experience, stick with 1080p and a high refresh rate gaming monitor. With either GPU, you’re comfortably getting above 60 frames per second (fps) in most games, short of demanding titles like Black Myth: Wukong that will require some upscaling assistance.

There really isn’t a consistent trend among the games I tested, however. Overall, the RTX 4060 comes out slightly ahead with a 6% lead on average, but remember that it’s also 36% more expensive. From a value standpoint, there’s no doubt that Intel wins this battle with the Arc B570.

Nuance is important here, though. As you can see from games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Black Myth: Wukong, and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, the Arc B570 inexplicably drops the ball in some games. The RTX 4060 has a couple of those games, too, notably Red Dead Redemption 2 and Returnal, though the drops aren’t as extreme.

The important thing here is that both the RTX 4060 and Arc B570 are reaching playable, and sometimes even great, performance in these demanding games at 1080p, and with maxed-out settings. Passing that bar puts more emphasis on value; in many of these games, spending up for the RTX 4060 won’t lead to a noticeably better experience. There’s one exception to that, however, and it’s Black Myth: Wukong. 

This is a good example of a cutting-edge PC experience where Nvidia holds up much better than Intel does. Given the slightly lower performance of the Arc B570, I suspect newer games will push it harder, and you’ll be forced to compromise more quickly than you’ll have to with the RTX 4060. The question of if those compromises are worth an extra $80? Well, I’ll leave that up to you.

Ray tracing performance

Both the RTX 4060 and Arc B570 are capable of playing games with ray tracing, particularly at 1080p with some upscaling assistance. Nvidia usually runs away with ray tracing performance, but that’s actually not the case here. The Arc B570 and RTX 4060 posted almost identical results, short of Returnal, where the Arc B570 actually shot ahead.

Ray tracing is totally on the table for both GPUs, and the Arc B570 holds up really well. However, we’re starting to see more games with full-on path tracing, such as Black Myth: Wukong and Alan Wake 2, and in those titles, Nvidia still holds an edge. In fairness, I don’t think either of these GPUs are great for full path tracing, but you’ll have a better chance at turning up all of the visual bells and whistles on Nvidia’s GPU.

DLSS and XeSS

With this class of GPU, you’ll need to resort to some performance-enhancing features from time-to-time. For Intel, that’s XeSS. It’s an AI-driven upscaling utility that’s available in a wide swath of games, and Intel just revealed its XeSS 2 update, which adds frame generation into the mix. XeSS 2 works really well, but it has one big problem. At the time of writing, it’s only available in one game.

Nvidia offers DLSS 3 for the RTX 4060, which also offers AI-assisted upscaling and frame generation. Nvidia doesn’t hold an edge on quality or performance — XeSS and DLSS are largely similar — but it holds a significant lead in support. DLSS is available in over 500 games, and close to 200 of those support Frame Generation through DLSS 3.

It’s a huge boost to the RTX 4060, especially for those games like Alan Wake 2 where the RTX 4060 doesn’t quite meet the mark. XeSS 2 is a competent competitor, but Intel really needs to broaden support before it’ll be a big selling point of the Arc B570.

The value angle

Value is the name of the game at this price point, and Intel is delivering that value with the Arc B570. It’s an excellent option for PC gamers who are just dipping their toe in the water. Maybe you want to squad up with some friends in Marvel Rivals, or finally experience what grand strategy games like Crusaders King 3 have to offer on PC. The Arc B570 can deliver that experience, and do so at a price that really hasn’t been touched in a few years.

However, you’ll need to make some compromises when it comes to those prestige gaming experiences like Black Myth: Wukong. In those titles, the RTX 4060 shines, not only with higher performance, but also DLSS 3. You’re spending the extra $80 to enable those experiences when they pop up, and not to get higher performance in every game across the board.

Because of that, the Intel Arc B570 wins the day for me. It delivers one hell of a value, and it’s an easy recommendation for someone strapped for cash and looking for a modern GPU. The RTX 4060 makes sense for some, but it’s more of a stepping stone into Nvidia’s more expensive options than a workhorse like the Arc B570 is.