Intel's Arc B580 graphics card was meant to be a massive hit among mainstream PC gamers, offering excellent value at $250. So much so that we even hailed it as the best value GPU in our day-one review published a month ago. However, as reports began to surface indicating that the graphics card's impressive performance was limited to newer CPUs, we knew it was time for a retest.We've gathered a ton of new benchmark data for you, some of this was already explored briefly on YouTube, diving into the B580's overhead issues that cause performance to suffer in CPU-limited gaming scenarios. Our testing revealed that the Arc B580 performed significantly worse than the RTX 4060 in games like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 when paired with either a Ryzen 7 9800X3D or a Ryzen 5 2600. With the latter, average frame rates dropped to just 31 FPS, while 1% lows dipped to 25 FPS making the game nearly unplayable.That said, the issues appeared to be limited to some titles. In many other games, the Arc B580's performance aligned with expectations. For instance, it delivers playable frame rates in games like Alan Wake 2, Doom Eternal, Horizon: Forbidden West, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 when paired with an older Core i5-9600K chip.It's important to note that all Arc graphics cards require ReBAR and Smart Access Memory (SAM) support. For this reason, Intel recommends using 10th-gen Core CPUs or newer, or AMD Ryzen 3000 series CPUs or newer. However, in our tests, ReBAR was backported and enabled on the systems, suggesting the issue lies elsewhere.Test System SpecsUpon realizing that the Arc B580 doesn't perform as well with a slower CPU, such as the Ryzen 5 5600, it became obvious that a re-review was in order. To address this, we've added Ryzen 5 5600 results to our original Arc B580 review data.This updated analysis includes not just the Intel B580, but also the RTX 4060, Radeon 7600, and Radeon 7600 XT. All of these GPUs were retested using the Ryzen 5 5600, allowing us to compare this data to the original results gathered with the 9800X3D.CPUAMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D AMD Ryzen 5 5600MotherboardGigabyte X670E Master (BIOS F33f - ReBAR enabled) MSI MPG X570S Carbon MAX WiFi (BIOS 7D52v1B1 - ReBAR enabled)MemoryG.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6000 [CL30-38-38-96] G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB DDR4-3600 [CL14-15-15-35]ATX CaseAntec Flux ProPower SupplyKolink Regulator Gold ATX 3.0 1200WStorageTeamGroup T-Force A440 M.2 PCIe Gen4 NVMe SSD 4TBOperating SystemWindows 11 24H2Display DriverNvidia GeForce Game Ready 566.14 WHQL AMD Radeon Adrenalin 24.12.1 Intel Arc 32.0.101.6449_101.6256 WHQL CertifiedOn top of that, we spent several days collecting a fresh set of results using the same 12 games. This time, we tested with lower-quality presets mostly medium settings and also compiled a 1440p quality upscaling data set. These results are particularly interesting, and we'll delve into them after reviewing the initial re-review data. Let's get into itGaming BenchmarksThe good news is that the performance issue is likely to occur only in very CPU-demanding games, and thankfully, that is indeed the case. We will skip over many examples where performance or scaling remains unchanged when using the Ryzen 5 5600, but here are a few notable cases.A Plague Tale RequiemTesting with A Plague Tale: Requiem shows a minor performance decline for the B580 at 1080p 3% for the average frame rate and 8% for the 1% lows. The hit to the 1% lows is slightly concerning, as the RX 7600 and RTX 4060 saw no such decline, but since they were slower to begin with, it's not a major issue. At 1440p, the B580 remains much faster than its GeForce and Radeon competitors and shows no performance impact with the 5600, which is an excellent result.Dragon AgeFor Dragon Age, there was no performance hit at all. The B580 delivered identical performance using either the Ryzen 5 5600 or Ryzen 7 7800X3D, and this was true at both 1080p and 1440p.Dying Light 2In Dying Light 2, performance dropped only slightly, with a 4% decrease in the average frame rate and an 8% reduction in 1% lows when pairing the B580 with the 5600. While not massive, this is less than ideal, especially given that Radeon and GeForce GPUs experienced no performance loss.Star Wars Jedi: SurvivorStar Wars Jedi: Survivor showed no performance difference when running the B580 on the 5600 compared to the 9800X3D. This might not hold true for all areas of the game, but in the section used for GPU testing, the results were consistent.The Last of Us Part IThe performance in The Last of Us Part I is more concerning. Previously, with the 9800X3D, the B580 averaged 75 FPS at 1080p. However, with the slower 5600, this dropped to 53 FPS a significant 29% reduction. Although slower CPUs can reduce frame rates, the alarming part is that the RTX 4060 experienced only a 6% drop, and the RX 7600 just 5%. At 1440p, this issue appears to resolve itself, as the lower frame rates reduce the CPU bottleneck. However, enabling upscaling might bring back the problem, something we'll explore shortly.StarfieldStarfield already suffered from poor performance on the Arc GPUs, with severe frame-time issues. A further 10% reduction when using the 5600 is unfortunate, but given the baseline performance was already poor, not much is lost here.War ThunderThe War Thunder results in DirectX 11 mode are eye-opening. Using the 9800X3D, the B580 achieved an impressive 255 FPS. Switching to the Ryzen 5 5600 dropped this to 155 FPS a massive 39% decrease. Interestingly, the Radeon GPUs also saw substantial declines (e.g., 36% for the RX 7600), but the RTX 4060 experienced only a 5% drop in average frame rate, although its 1% lows were hit by 20%.Historically, Radeon GPUs have shown overhead issues with older APIs like DX11 and DX10, while GeForce GPUs have generally performed well with DX11, albeit sometimes struggling with DX12 titles. Even at 1440p, the B580 and Radeon GPUs exhibited declines with the 5600, while the RTX 4060 remained unaffected.Cyberpunk 2077In Cyberpunk 2077, the B580 struggled when paired with the 5600, with the average frame rate dropping by 18% and 1% lows by 24%. The 1% lows were already low with the 9800X3D, making this decline more noticeable. Radeon and GeForce GPUs, however, showed no performance impact. At 1440p, the problem seems to diminish due to the lower frame rates, but enabling upscaling would likely bring it back something we'll investigate soon.Hogwarts LegacyThe B580 also faltered in Hogwarts Legacy when using the 5600. The 1% lows suffered a 38% decline, while the RTX 4060 saw an 18% drop. At 1440p, the B580 appeared to recover, but this was likely due to reduced CPU load from lower frame rates.Star Wars OutlawsIn Star Wars Outlaws, the B580 dropped from 40 FPS with the 9800X3D to 34 FPS with the 5600 a 15% decline. Meanwhile, the RX 7600 and RTX 4060 showed no performance loss.Space Marine 2In Space Marine 2, the B580's average frame rate dropped from 62 FPS with the 9800X3D to 53 FPS with the 5600 a 15% decrease. Similar to War Thunder, the RTX 4060 exhibited minimal performance loss, while Radeon GPUs like the RX 7600 saw more substantial declines, such as a 17% drop with the 5600.Spider-Man RemasteredSpider-Man Remastered was particularly problematic for the B580. At 1080p, performance dropped by a staggering 50%, while the RTX 4060 saw only a 13% reduction and the RX 7600 just 5%. These issues persisted for the B580 even at 1440p.12 Game Performance AverageHere's a look at the 12-game average data, and the results look concerning for the B580. It shows an 18% performance reduction when paired with a slower CPU. This is particularly disappointing, as the RTX 4060 only saw a 4% drop, and the RX 7600 just a 6% drop.Essentially, the B580 goes from being faster than both the RTX 4060 and RX 7600 when paired with the 9800X3D to noticeably slower than both when paired with the Ryzen 5 5600.The performance hit at 1440p is significantly lower, as the lower frame rates reduce the impact of the CPU bottleneck. Here, the B580 experiences just a 9% drop. However, this is still worse than the RX 7600, which saw a 4% reduction, and the RTX 4060, which experienced no performance drop at all.For context, when using the 9800X3D, the B580 was 14% faster than the 4060, but with both GPUs paired to the Ryzen 5 5600, the B580 is only 4% faster. This shift has a noticeable impact on the value proposition of the B580.Cost Per FrameLooking at the updated cost-per-frame graph, the Intel Arc B580 is now 17% better value than the Radeon RX 7600, compared to 21% previously. While this isn't a dramatic shift, it's important to note that this comparison uses the more favorable 1440p data, which largely masks the B580's overhead issues.With that in mind, let's move on to a more compelling and real-world data set.The Big Re-Test: Medium Quality 1440p Upscaling ComparisonThe following data set could easily stand alone as its own article, given the scope of the testing involved. However, our goal is to make this re-review as comprehensive as possible, so let's dive in. For this analysis, we've tested the Arc B580, RTX 4060, and RX 7600 using both the 9800X3D and Ryzen 5 5600 at 1080p, 1440p, and 1440p with quality upscaling across all 12 games.Medium: Star Wars Jedi: SurvivorFirst, we have Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, tested using the medium quality preset. With the 9800X3D, the B580 achieves an average of 97 FPS, dropping slightly to 89 FPS with the 5600. This appears to be a typical CPU bottleneck, and as previously observed, this title doesn't seem to present specific issues for the B580, at least in the area we tested.At 1440p, some interesting trends emerge. At native 1440p, the B580 outperforms the RX 7600 and RTX 4060 regardless of the CPU used. However, when enabling quality upscaling at 1440p, we see higher frame rates than at native 1080p. As a result, the Radeon and GeForce GPUs are able to match the B580, delivering around 90 FPS with the Ryzen 5 5600.Medium: A Plague Tale: RequiemUsing the medium preset, A Plague Tale: Requiem reveals some interesting results. When paired with the 9800X3D, the B580 performs impressively, beating the RTX 4060 by a 16% margin at 1080p. However, when paired with the Ryzen 5 5600, the B580 falls 2% behind in average frame rate and 11% in 1% lows.At 1440p, the scenario changes for a few reasons. First, the RTX 4060 and RX 7600 can no longer achieve 60 FPS, causing their performance to drop. Meanwhile, the B580 hits 71 FPS on the 5600, remaining below the CPU cap but still outperforming the RTX 4060 by 27%, a significant advantage.However, enabling the resolution optimizer since this title doesn't support FSR or XeSS dramatically boosts the B580's frame rate to 113 FPS with the 9800X3D, making it 66% faster than the RTX 4060. When using the 5600, the B580 caps at 80 FPS, which is 18% faster than the RTX 4060. While still an impressive result, it's less remarkable compared to what we initially observed with the 9800X3D.Medium: Cyberpunk 2077Testing Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty with the medium preset significantly reduces CPU load due to the crowd density being lowered from "high" to "low." This benefits the B580, which now performs well at 1080p, even when paired with the Ryzen 5 5600.At 1440p, the B580 looks even better. However, enabling quality upscaling reduces its margin. To further analyze, we manually adjusted the crowd density back to "high" while keeping the other medium preset settings unchanged.Medium: Cyberpunk 2077 (High Crowd)With the higher crowd density, the B580's performance changes significantly, particularly when using the Ryzen 5 5600. Previously achieving 99 FPS, the frame rate drops to 82 FPS under the increased CPU load. In contrast, the Radeon and GeForce GPUs show virtually no change in performance.At 1440p, the additional CPU load reduces the B580's advantage. While it was 17% faster than the RTX 4060 with the 9800X3D, it's now only 5% faster with the 5600. Enabling quality upscaling pushes the RTX 4060 ahead of the B580, with the latter suffering a 20% drop in 1% lows.Medium: Dying Light 2No significant issues were observed for the B580 in Dying Light 2 Stay Human when using the high preset, and this remains true with the medium preset. The B580 outperforms both the RTX 4060 and RX 7600, even when paired with the Ryzen 5 5600. At 1440p, this trend continues, even with upscaling enabled.Medium: Dragon Age: The VeilguardIn Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the B580 lags slightly at 1080p, but this isn't due to CPU limitations, as both the 9800X3D and 5600 produce identical results. At 1440p, the B580 experiences a smaller performance drop compared to its competitors, allowing it to match the RTX 4060. However, it falls slightly behind with upscaling enabled. Overall, the results for the B580 appear reasonable.Medium: Marvel's Spider-Man RemasteredAs seen in earlier testing, Spider-Man Remastered is a challenging title for the B580. Dropping from the "very high" preset to "high," the B580 delivers 160 FPS with the 9800X3D, outperforming the RTX 4060 by 13% in average frame rate and 42% over the RX 7600.Switching to the Ryzen 5 5600, the B580's performance drops to 82 FPS. While still playable, this represents a 26% deficit compared to the RTX 4060 and a 20% deficit compared to the RX 7600.At 1440p, the B580 continues to excel with the 9800X3D but only matches the RX 7600 when paired with the 5600, making it 16% slower than the RTX 4060. With upscaling enabled, the B580's performance worsens further, becoming 27% slower than the RTX 4060 and 21% slower than the RX 7600. Although the performance is still playable, the reduced value is concerning.Medium: Hogwarts LegacyIn Hogwarts Legacy, the B580 previously matched the RTX 4060 at 1080p with the high preset and the 9800X3D. However, with the older medium preset, the B580 falls behind, limiting performance to 106 FPS, which, while excellent overall, impacts its value.At native 1440p, the B580 matches the RX 7600 and slightly outpaces the RTX 4060 when using either CPU. However, enabling upscaling significantly impacts the B580's performance, as its overhead becomes a bottleneck.Medium: Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2In Space Marine 2, using the ultra preset, the B580 struggled, and dialing down to medium only improves performance slightly. With the 9800X3D, the frame rate increases by 6%, reaching 66 FPS, and by 8% with the 5600. However, the Radeon and GeForce GPUs remain much faster, regardless of CPU.At 1440p, performance with the medium preset mirrors the ultra preset, and the B580 fares poorly when paired with the 5600. With upscaling at 1440p, the B580 is 25% slower than the RTX 4060. Interestingly, the RX 7600 also experiences a 10% performance drop with the 5600, whereas the RTX 4060 remains unaffected.Medium: The Last of Us Part ISwitching to the medium preset, The Last of Us Part I shows strong performance from the B580 when paired with the 9800X3D, achieving 120 FPS on average. With the 5600, performance remains good, though 1% lows slip slightly.At native 1440p, the B580 dominates, outpacing the RTX 4060 and RX 7600 by a wide margin, rendering over 80 FPS compared to around 60 FPS for the other GPUs. However, with upscaling, the B580 gains little due to overhead limitations, even with the 9800X3D. As a result, the RX 7600 and RTX 4060 close the gap, offering similar performance with the 5600.Medium: Star Wars OutlawsResults for Star Wars Outlaws are fairly typical. The B580 performs well, even with the Ryzen 5 5600. At native 1440p, the B580 outpaces both the RTX 4060 and RX 7600. However, enabling upscaling allows the RTX 4060 to pull ahead, as it sees a 59% performance boost compared to 36% for the B580 and 34% for the RX 7600.Medium: StarfieldIn Starfield, the B580 continues to struggle. Even with the medium preset, 1% low performance is weaker than expected relative to the average frame rate, which is comparable to the RX 7600.At 1440p, the B580 remains similar to the RX 7600 in average frame rate but suffers from weaker 1% lows.High: War ThunderLastly, we have War Thunder, tested using both DX11 and DX12, which yielded some very interesting results. Starting with the DX11 1080p data, we see significant differences between the 9800X3D and Ryzen 5 5600 configurations. With the 9800X3D, the B580 outperforms both the RTX 4060 and RX 7600 in terms of average frame rate, although it only matches the 1% lows of the Radeon GPU.Switching to the Ryzen 5 5600 brings notable changes. The RTX 4060 experiences a 25% performance drop, which aligns with expectations given the slower CPU. However, the RX 7600 sees an even steeper decline, losing 41% of its performance. The B580, unfortunately, fares the worst, with its frame rate dropping by 52% to 184 FPS. While this is still a very playable performance, the relative decline compared to its competitors is concerning.At 1440p, the data becomes even more surprising. Using the 9800X3D, the B580 dominates the RTX 4060, which appears to suffer from a bandwidth issue, making the B580 almost 50% faster. It also outpaces the RX 7600 by over 20%.However, when paired with the Ryzen 5 5600, the situation reverses entirely. The RTX 4060 becomes the fastest GPU by a significant margin, and the RX 7600 also outperforms the B580, especially in terms of 1% lows. Enabling upscaling further widens the gap, as it provides no benefit for the B580, while the RTX 4060 gains an 18% boost and the RX 7600 gains 7%. This raises the question of whether DirectX 12, listed as a Beta API option by the developer, could improve the situation for the B580.High: War Thunder (DX12)Switching to DX12 dramatically changes the results. At 1080p, the RTX 4060 becomes far more competitive when paired with the 9800X3D, and all three GPUs perform significantly better with the Ryzen 5 5600.At 1440p, the B580 and RTX 4060 perform neck and neck regardless of the CPU used. However, the RTX 4060 shows slightly more headroom with the 9800X3D, which is expected since it performed best at 1080p. Interestingly, the use of a low-level API like DX12 helps alleviate the B580's overhead issues, as it should, although similar improvements haven't always been consistent across other games.Average 1080p PerformanceHere's a look at the average performance across the 12 games tested at 1080p. With the 9800X3D, the B580 is 2% faster than the RTX 4060 and 10% faster than the RX 7600. While this is decent, it's not a substantial lead.However, with the Ryzen 5 5600, the situation becomes less favorable. The B580 is now 8% slower than the RTX 4060 and roughly matches the RX 7600, though with weaker 1% lows.Average 1440p PerformanceAt 1440p, the data shows mixed results. Starting with native resolution testing, the B580 significantly outperforms the RTX 4060 and RX 7600 when paired with the 9800X3D. This advantage diminishes with the Ryzen 5 5600, as the slower CPU introduces more CPU-limited scenarios, which is expected.However, the 1440p upscaling data highlights some concerning trends. With the 9800X3D, the B580 still holds a slight edge over the RTX 4060. But when paired with the Ryzen 5 5600, the B580's performance falters. It now only matches the RX 7600 and falls 9% behind the RTX 4060.If we calculate the cost per frame based on the 1440p upscaling data with the Ryzen 5 5600, the B580 ends up being just 9% better value than both the RTX 4060 and RX 7600. This drops further to 5% better value than the RX 7600 if it's priced at $250, which is currently achievable in some markets.What We LearnedAll this new data changes the narrative significantly, but let's start by discussing how these updated results using the Ryzen 5 5600 compare to the initial review data with the Ryzen 7 9800X3D.Based on the original review data, the B580 was 21% better value than the Radeon RX 7600 at 1440p and 27% better than the RTX 4060, when paired with the 9800X3D. However, with the 5600, these margins have shifted. The Intel Arc B580 is now 17% better value than the Radeon GPU and 20% better than the GeForce GPU still respectable but notably diminished.It's important to note that this data represents more of a best-case scenario, particularly when paired with a slower CPU. This is because ultra-quality settings often resulted in frame rates hovering around or below 60 FPS. If you're willing to lower quality settings and enable upscaling, the value of the B580 decreases even further, as demonstrated in the data.For instance, when considering the more real-world 1440p upscaling data, the B580 struggles, offering less than 10% better value over the GeForce and Radeon competition. This is far from sufficient, given the compromises inherent to an Arc GPU. In our opinion, Arc GPUs need to offer at least 20% better value to justify those trade-offs.We've also been working on a 50-game benchmark comparison between the B580 and RTX 4060. Originally scheduled for release this week, we've had to revise that content in light of the overhead issue, but it will be available soon. From our initial findings, even when using the 9800X3D, the Arc B580 doesn't stack up nearly as well against the RTX 4060 in a broader range of games as it does in this 12-game sample.For example, the review data using the 9800X3D at 1440p showed the B580 to be, on average, 14% faster than the RTX 4060 a strong result. However, expanding testing to 50 games reduced the margin to just 5%. Even when removing outliers, the lead was only 7%, half of what we reported in the day-one review. When paired with a CPU like the Ryzen 5 5600, the B580 will likely fall behind the RTX 4060, as seen in the upscaling data.What Does This Mean for Intel's Arc B580?For most users indeed, almost all users the value proposition of the B580 isn't as strong as it initially appeared. Additional factors must now be considered. For example, to fully benefit from the B580, you'll need a relatively modern and reasonably powerful CPU. Anything slower than the Ryzen 5 5600, and the recommendation shifts firmly to a Radeon or GeForce GPU instead.That said, the suitability of the B580 will depend on the specific games you play and how you play them. As a general rule, the overhead issue makes the B580 a poor choice for systems with older or weaker CPUs, which undermines its appeal as a budget-friendly, entry-level GPU. Furthermore, even for users not currently playing CPU-intensive games, there's the possibility they will in the future. In such cases, the B580 could necessitate a CPU upgrade sooner than a Radeon or GeForce GPU would, allowing you to delay that expense.For the Arc B580 to maintain the excitement we initially had for it, it really needs to be paired with a Ryzen 5 7600, Core i5-13600K, or a better CPU. Using the B580 with slower CPUs significantly diminishes its value and, depending on the games you play, could completely negate it.Intel is aware of these findings and is actively investigating the issue. Beyond that, we don't have any official updates. It's possible that a future driver update could address this problem, but as noted in our initial assessment, we're not particularly optimistic about a swift resolution. This is based purely on intuition and a rudimentary understanding of the complexity of the issue.One thing is certain: if you can't purchase the Arc B580 for $250 or less, you're better off with the Radeon RX 7600. Alternatively, explore the second-hand market you might find a great deal on a Radeon 6700 XT.Shopping Shortcuts:Intel Arc B580 on AmazonAMD Radeon RX 7600 on AmazonNvidia GeForce RTX 5070 on Amazon (soon)Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti on Amazon (soon)AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT on AmazonAMD Radeon RX 7900 XT on Amazon