You Should Probably Wait Before Buying an Intel B580

After a rough first-generation effort at a standalone GPU, Intel seems to have solved most of its problems, and undercut the competition by a significant margin. However, the timing is a little awkward, and buying the Intel B580 now could turn out to be a costly mistake.

The B580 Is A Great Deal

Make no mistake, the Intel B580 graphics card is an amazing deal. After years when budget GPUs were too expensive for the specifications they offered, Intel has given us a $250 card that will trade blows with the PS5 Pro and comfortably outpace the much more expensive RTX 4060 from Nvidia.

It has ample VRAM, giving it far more longevity than current 8GB cards, even ones with more horsepower, and it’s not a power guzzler either. However, price and performance weren’t why the previous generation of Intel GPUs were hard to recommend. Instead, it was the immature drivers which caused issues with older titles and, to a lesser extent, newer ones. There’s little point in buying a well-priced GPU with good performance if the games you want to play don’t work with it.

Intel GPUs also require resizable BAR to perform correctly, rather than it being an optional little boost as on other GPUs. The problem is that budget PC customers were least likely to have computers with motherboards new enough to have this feature at the time, but that’s less true now.

The truth is that this B580 has no competition at its current price, and it is the best deal in GPUs for that budget segment as I write this. So why would I want you to wait before pulling the trigger on one?

Intel’s Card Is Being Compared to Outgoing GPUs

One of the biggest issues is that the B580 is being viewed in the context of cards that have been out for years. The RTX 4060 has been out for a year and a half as of the B580’s launch, and Nvidia is poised to reveal its 50-series cards early in 2025 as per Tom’s Guide, and AMD has confirmed its RDNA cards are coming in 2025 as well. Usually, Nvidia reveals its high-end cards first. but there’s a chance they’ll reveal the whole series, especially given all the 50-series leaks.

So while the B580 is a great deal compared to an RTX 4060, who knows how it will compare to an RTX 5060, for example? Also, the very existence and release of the B580 is likely to spur Nvidia and AMD to offer better deals on their budget cards.

2025 Will be an Important Budget GPU Year

With three GPU makers offering solid silicon at the budget end of the spectrum, mainstream PC gamers are likely to be in for a good time in 2025. This is the year to leave 8GB of VRAM behind, and to definitely outpace current-gen console performance. That’s something the B580 will do for you today, and it has modern AI-powered features, such as AI-upscaling and frame generation. It’s just that the true competition hasn’t been revealed yet.

Who Should Buy a B580 Right Away?

While I think most people should wait to see what Nvidia and AMD’s answer is to the B580 before buying one, there are some folks who can confidently buy this card right now. If you already have a card that can limp along with current titles, or at least the titles you want to play, then wait and see.

However, if you are building a new budget system, then the B580 is the one to beat. Because you’re building a new system, you can ensure that it supports resizable BAR, and the money you save on the B580 itself can go towards a better CPU or more RAM, or a faster or larger SSD.

Anyone looking to do a $500-$750 build from now until the budget cards from Nvidia and AMD are released shouldn’t even be looking at something like an RTX 4060 or AMD RX 7600 unless those cards drop significantly below the B580’s price.

Actually, even then you should not be building any PC with only 8GB of VRAM, so scratch that. The 12GB B580’s only true alternative in the budget space is the 12GB RTX 3060, and the Intel card absolutely demolishes it in every way.

I can’t wait to see what the other big two GPU makers come up with to battle Intel in the budget GPU segment, but like everyone else, I will have to.