Intel Arc Pro B50: Small workstation and AI graphics card in the test lab
With 16 GB, the Intel Arc Pro B50 should beat Nvidia's RTX Pro A1000, especially in AI inference. Initial results from the test lab confirm this.
(Image: heise medien/Andreas Wodrich)
From today, Intel is making its Arc Pro B50 workstation graphics card attractive to potential customers. With its large 16 GB memory in the 400 euro price range, it should score particularly well with users of AI inferencing. Here, as well as in classic workstation tasks, it should clearly outperform the older Nvidia RTX A1000 with just 8 GB of RAM and the AMD Radeon Pro W7500.
The Arc Pro B50 from Intel is a compact two-slot card with a radial fan, which also fits into particularly flat mini-ITX systems thanks to its half-height. Partner cards in other formats will also be available at a later date.
We had already reported in detail on the announcement of the Arc Pro B50 at Computex. Unlike at the launch, Intel now wants to charge 349 US dollars for the entry-level cards of the new generation, instead of just 299 US dollars. In addition to a 40 percent increase in memory prices for the 16 GB GDDR6 RAM, this is also due to the uncertainties of US customs policy. As usual, there are also taxes and the exchange rate, so the final price will probably initially be just under 400 euros (~380 euros arithmetically) and the card will compete with the similarly priced Nvidia RTX A1000 and AMD Radeon Pro W7500.
Compared to its own predecessor, the Arc Pro A50, the card is said to be more than twice as fast, but also outperforms Nvidia's RTX A1000 with 8 GB. We can already confirm that it is faster than the A1000, but we will only publish more precise results with the test, which is still in progress.
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No c't test yet
Intel even sent us two samples of the Arc Pro B50. However, this was not entirely voluntary, as the first one reached us defective: One display output and the standby mode did not work as intended and after a while of troubleshooting, Intel sent us a second test sample, which only reached us on the morning of the cut-off day. As we (and Intel) could not estimate the extent to which the rest of the operation was affected by this defect, we decided not to publish any measured values that were recorded with the first sample. However, we did use the defective card for a few photos.
The second card, on the other hand, is running as expected and is currently completing our test course. However, we have not yet been able to record many measured values, but the SPECviewperf 2020 v3.1 has already run through. Here, the Arc Pro achieved a geometric mean of 54.3 points on our test system, while the A1000 was beaten with 38.6 points and a gap of 29 percent (conversely, the Intel card achieved a 41 percent lead).
The newer SPECviewperf 15, Blender and some AI tasks await the card. A run through 3DMark is also on the agenda.
As usual, we will also measure the power consumption and background noise.
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