Info HWUB: Intel Arc A580 vs. Radeon RX 6600 vs. GeForce RTX 3050

[Heartbreaker]

HWUB reviews the new A580. Unfortunately tested before Starfield Driver update, so that drags down performance as does TLOU. when the exclude those two, performance is similar to RX6600 and significantly better than RTX3050. But it consumes MUCH more power and doesn't get a recommendation (needs REBAR, Power Consumption, inconsistent performance). No surprise he recommends the RX6600 here.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Can't disagree with him about recommending the 6600. ARC is too hands on for most users. That probably includes half or more of his audience.

I expect it will still trail in both Last of Us and Starfield after the driver update. My A750 while it plays Starfield okay now, would likely sit between the 6600 and 3050 in that title. In some areas of the game it would likely fall behind the lowly 3050. Hopefully the driver team can optimize more, and/or another game patch will help.

For any DIYer with a little fire in their belly though. The A750 for $190 right now is a good deal. Particularly if some 1440 gaming and the use of ray tracing and upscaling in some games are part of the plan.

 

[BFG10K]

If nothing else, hopefully it'll help to push down low-end pricing.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

It's overpriced, and the tech press are treating it like a 6600 competitor due to that. Should have priced it at $149 where it utterly merks everything. Shifting the MSRP on the A310 $75, A380 $99. A580 $149. A750 $199. The other cards hit those prices frequently anyways. Now you have a $200 and under stack that matches up really well vs AMD. Nvidia has abandoned that market. Content with fleecing the shoppers that still buy their worst of the worst out of brand loyalty or recognition.

Intel is taking away the wrong lessons from AMD.
1. Overprice the card at launch
2. Sabotages reviews
3. Sits on shelves
4. Lower price to what it should have been in the first place
5. Too late, many shoppers already scratched it off the list
6. Profit = 404

 

[igor_kavinski]

They should do early bird sales. Sell off the initial lot at below MSRP (even $25 less would be enticing), making sure that the cards go to unique addresses and limit it to one card per buyer. Then they can let the latter batches rot on shelves for however long they want. At least some deserving gamers will get an economical upgrade that way.

 

[Thunder 57]

They should do early bird sales. Sell off the initial lot at below MSRP (even $25 less would be enticing), making sure that the cards go to unique addresses and limit it to one card per buyer. Then they can let the latter batches rot on shelves for however long they want. At least some deserving gamers will get an economical upgrade that way.

How would Intel enforce the one per address without a mail in rebate, which is hardly enticing?

 

[VirtualLarry]

How would Intel enforce the one per address without a mail in rebate, which is hardly enticing?

Intel really should consider doing an ebate on the A580.

 

[igor_kavinski]

How would Intel enforce the one per address without a mail in rebate, which is hardly enticing?

They already have an online store for their silly merchandise. They could use that to good effect.

 

[coercitiv]

Intel can't let go of the fact that their chips could have performed like this given better drivers and probably a few better design decisions too. The compute potential is there, but the cards only reach it in a few games.



I hope Battlemage is a mature design and they can position their cards appropriately given their die size. Driver team seems to be on track. This should also allow them to offer competitive pricing and power efficiency.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Let me paint you a picture. The A580 shows up with a $149 MSRP. Reviewers pit it directly against RX 6400 and 6500 XT, GTX 1650 and 1630 instead of RX 6600. In every one of the games below you would want to call the authorities to report a murder. Flex tape couldn't fix the damage.

Callisto Protocol
Dead Space
Dying Light 2
The Spiderman series
Atomic Heart
Guardians of the Galaxy
Watch Dogs Legions
Plague Tale Requiem
Baldur's Gate 3
Hitman 3
Cyberpunk 2077
Gotham Knights
Hogwarts Legacy
Jedi Survivor
God of War
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

The above are just the games I am aware of where ARC is the most performant vs competition. Add some light ray tracing in the games above that support it, and ARC walks away from similarly priced AMD GPUs.

That's the good. The bad and the ugly are The Last of Us and Starfield. I don't own The last of Us yet, so I can't test if the latest driver has a nice uplift. Starfield is getting there. On the A750 it is fully playable now, at least for me. I see some other owners stating it is still nerfed on their systems. It is also quite the boneheaded move to not have the A580 drivers sorted for these games at launch. ARC crew has to execute better than that. This was a big opportunity spoiled by the driver issues and MSRP.

GN's A580 review was on point. He hit all the same points we did here. TPU's review shows it in the best light. I don't agree with w1z listing the used market as a negative however. Ragged out mining cards are not just apples to oranges. It's rotten apples to oranges.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Man did they blow it on the MSRP. Latest TPU poll has the A580 as the last picked vs other new and used cards. It's crazy the percentage of respondents that would gamble on an old ragged out 1080ti for $170 over it too. Talk about being on the wrong side of the bathtub curve.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/what-would-you-buy.314670/