- Intel’s B580 and B570 GPUs are rumored for a December 12 launch
- Team Blue will supposedly reveal them next week on December 3
- Price rumors hint at $250 MSRP, but don’t get carried away with that idea
Intel’s next-gen Battlemage GPUs are going to be out next month, according to the latest rumor, which gives us a specific release date for the first time – December 12.
VideoCardz claims that the Arc B580 (which has been widely leaked) and B570 desktop graphics cards are in the pipeline, and will be on sale at the same time reviews will apparently be aired, on the mentioned December 12 date.
We will get an announcement from Intel before that, on December 3, according to information VideoCardz has obtained – take all this with a teaspoon of seasoning, naturally.
Intel will supposedly have its own reference boards (or limited edition Arc products, as it calls them) for these GPUs, which will emerge first, and custom graphics cards from third-party partners are going to launch the day after (December 13). This slightly staggered approach to launch is not uncommon these days in the graphics card world.
Meanwhile, fresh buzz on the pricing of the Arc B580 has also emerged, with the usual early retailer listings popping up – some of which are around the $250 mark from US outlets.
(Image credit: Acer, Intel)
Analysis: Maintain a keen sense of skepticism
Regarding the price leaks, these are notoriously flaky – and probably placeholder prices – so that part of the latest rumor dump must be regarded with even more caution than the release date-related spillage.
Assuming that the $250 rumor is close to ballpark for a moment, though, it’s coming in on the heavy side compared to the A580, which kicked off with an MSRP of $180 – and this has caused some fretting among some PC gamers out there.
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However, what we have to remember is that the B580 is a beefier model, at least if the rumored spec is right, particularly as it’ll purportedly come with 12GB of VRAM (up from 8GB with its predecessor), and seemingly a much faster boost clock. So, in that light, a price increase doesn’t look quite so bad – but with the specs and pricing being just speculation at this point, we’ll reserve judgement for now.
What we really want from Intel, though, is for Battlemage to bring in some truly affordable (sub-$200) GPUs. Although of course they should be coming down the line (fingers crossed).
There’s certainly a whole pile of evidence suggesting there’ll be a December launch for next-gen Battlemage desktop graphics cards, mind you, and it’s looking more and more likely that we could witness a new generation of Arc GPUs as soon as next week.
