Back when Intel's Arc B580 graphics card launched about a year ago, it was one of the only options in town for folks who wanted a truly modern GPU for less than $300. Supply and demand apparently didn't balance out, however, because the B580 consistently sold for much more than its $249 list price for many months.
Now that Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5050 has arrived at a $249 MSRP (and you can find RX 9060 XT 8GB cards for well under $300), the B580 faces some stiff competition - and it's readily been available from stock for that same $249 of late.
This Black Friday season, however, RTX 5050 cards have dropped as low as $219, addressing one of our greatest complaints about that card's price-to-performance ratio. Is that enough to make the RTX 5050 a winner versus the B580?
Let's pit the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5050 vs Intel Arc B580 head-to-head and see which one is better positioned to win your gaming dollars.
Rasterization
Raster gaming performance
At 1080p, where most gamers shopping in this price class will likely play, you can barely fit a nanosheet transistor between the Arc B580 and the RTX 5050 for raster gaming performance across our 12-game test suite.
At 1440p, the Arc B580's 12GB of VRAM lets it shine, while the RTX 5050 falls significantly behind. The B580 also maintains a relatively strong standing at 4K while the RTX 5050 falls down the charts (even though we wouldn't recommend either of these cards for 4K gaming).
⭐ Winner: Arc B580, but check the games you like to play for performance pitfalls if possible
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