Arc B580 Steel Legend in the test: ASRock‘s white custom design is quiet 52 comments
After testing the Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition and thus the reference design, testing of custom designs is also permitted alongside the current market launch. Techconseil looked at the white ASRock Arc B580 Steel Legend, also available here, in terms of performance, volume and consumption.
Table of Contents ASRock’s white custom design is quiet. Arc B580: ASRock Steel Legend vs. Intel Limited Edition Test Results Clock Speeds Under Load Full HD Gaming Performance Volume and Temperatures Power Consumption Conclusion
Arc B580: ASRock Steel Legend vs. Intel Limited Edition
The ASRock Arc B580 Steel Legend is one of two custom models of the new Intel Arc B580 introduced by ASRock. It stands above the ASRock Arc B580 Challenger, is slightly larger, has three fans instead of two, opulent RGB lighting (side and fan), and officially higher clock speeds. And it’s white, while the Challenger is available in black.
Compared to the Intel Limited Edition, the Steel Legend is slightly longer, thicker and wider, but has the same display ports. There is a difference in power supply: two 8-pins are offered, which with PCIe would allow 375 watts. The Intel Limited Edition already has an 8-pin connection and therefore 225 watts on the TDP of 190 watts, while the “headroom” of the ASRock is correspondingly gigantic. There is no official information on ASRock’s TDP. The unknown upper limit can be increased up to 108 percent, the GPU frequency allows an offset of -300 to +1,000 MHz.
Intel Arc B580 limited edition (reference) and Steel Legend custom design in comparison
ASRock promises higher clock speeds ex factory: 2,800 instead of 2,670 MHz. The Intel Limited actually ran at 2,850 MHz during testing, so the ASRock should have an even higher frequency right out of the box. The PCB used for this is an in-house development, but it is also very short, so that the third fan, like the second in the limited edition, can blow air unhindered through the cooler.
The cooling system relies on four direct contact heat pipes embedded in a copper base plate. When idle, the fans stay still and manage to do so constantly compared to the Limited Edition test system – ASRock has designed the fan control better here. At 952 grams, the ASRock Steel Legend is also lightweight.
Public prices for the ASRock B580 Steel Legend currently start at 319 euros. It’s a little more than the Intel Limited Edition and 10 euros more than the Challenger.
Intel Arc B580 Feature
ASRock Arc B580 limited edition
Steel Legend board Intel ASRock PCB design length, width 27.5cm, 11.5cm 29.5cm, 13.0cm Power supply 1 × 8 pin 2 × 8 pin cooler design Limited edition, slot 2.0 Heatsink 2 .6 slots 4 heat pipes
Copper/aluminum radiator Weight 784 g 952 g Fan 2× 85 mm (axial) 3× 85 mm (axial) Fan off (2D) Yes* Yes Cycle
GPU Clock 2670 MHz 2800 MHz Memory 9504 MHz Memory Size 12 GB GDDR6 Power Consumption Standard TDP 190 watts unspecified Max. TDP 120 percent 108 percent Connections 3× DisplayPort 2.1 (see text)
1× HDMI 2.1 * In practice, the fan does not stay still permanently
Test results
The ASRock Arc B580 Steel Legend was tested in the same test system and test setup as the Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition. Full details about the test system and settings can be found in this same test.
Clock Speeds Under Load
The test editors’ first surprise came when they looked at the clock speeds under load: With 2,850 MHz in each of the games tested, the ASRock Steel Legend landed exactly where the Intel Limited Edition landed. In practice, none of the additional 130 MHz indicated in the data sheet is visible ex works.
Full HD gaming performance
Based on the same clock speeds, it’s no surprise that ASRock’s custom design is just as fast as the reference design given the measurement uncertainty. Techconseil has saved tests throughout the course; there are three representative results:
Volumes and temperatures
In terms of volume, the Steel Legend can even surpass the Limited Edition. There are two reasons for this:
The fans remain inactive at all times because the larger cooler is enough to dissipate the nearly 40 watts of unused power consumption without the GPU temperature rising too much. And the fan control is accordingly better designed. The noise level is even lower under load and is not characterized by a constant change in speed.
In short: In the editorial team’s test system, the ASRock Arc B580 runs quietly at all times with a maximum speed of 1,100 rpm.
However, the graphics card also runs cooler under load; the temperature rises only slightly at idle – precisely because the fans of the test system remain in the rest position.
Energy consumption
Unsurprisingly, the Limited Edition and the Steel Legend consume almost the same amount of power under load with the same clock speeds ex works. The ASRock is slightly higher on the Windows desktop, which – like the small difference under load – is probably due, among other things, to the RGB lighting.
Conclusion
The ASRock Arc B580 Steel Legend is not faster than the Limited Edition out of the box, but it is even quieter. On the one hand under load, where the fan speed is constant, and on the other hand on the Windows desktop, because the higher idle consumption of the Battlemage GPU can be dissipated quite effectively by the cooler. The white design, as well as the RGB lighting implemented via the three fans and the side, are real eye-catchers – if you like it. Of course, the Steel Legend is nowhere near as simple as Intel’s Limited Edition.
Initially, dealers are asking prices for the ASRock Arc B580 Steel Legend starting at 319 euros, which is a premium over the Intel Limited Edition. Ultimately, the choice comes down to personal preferences (cooling performance, RGB, color).
Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition (reference) and Steel Legend Custom Design in comparison
The full Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition test shows whether the Intel Arc B580 is generally an option or whether it should be an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4000 or a Radeon RX 7000:
Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition Test: Intel Kampfmagier vs. Nvidia GeForce RTX and AMD Radeon RX
Techconseil received the ASRock Arc B580 Steel Legend on loan from ASRock for testing. The graphics card was made available under NDA. The only requirement was the earliest possible publication date. The manufacturer had no influence on the test report and was not obliged to publish it.
Was this article interesting, useful, or both? The editorial team appreciates any support from Techoutil Pro and disabled ad blockers. Learn more about ads on Techconseil.
Themes: Arc Arc B580 Battlemage Intel Graphics Card Intel Arc B580 12 GB Release Intel Xe
An engineer by training, Alexandre shares his knowledge on GPU performance for gaming and creation.
