Between AMD’s forthcoming RX 9000 and NVIDIA’s RTX 50, Intel is trying to carve out a niche for itself. At the end of 2024, the brand launched an entry/mid-range Arc B580. Despite its official price tag of $250, the card offered a good amount of VRAM with its 12GB of GDDR6. Quickly, the blue team’s partners came up with their own designs, including Sparkle, which is now back with an Arc B580 Guardian!
Arc B580 Guardian: a new custom version from Sparkle!
With this card, the brand is offering us a card in the same vein as its original Titan. It has a blue casing with grey fan blades. However, the heatsink is much smaller. As you can see, it loses a fan, significantly reducing the length of the card. Its length has been reduced from 315 mm to 242 mm. On the other hand, the thickness remains quite acceptable, taking up slightly more than two slots.
At the rear, the backplate is also perforated. However, the opening is very narrow compared to other cards. What’s more, the backplate has a ‘B’-shaped moulding, reminiscent of Intel’s board series.
Unlike the Titan model, this Guardian version complies with Intel’s original specifications. The operating frequency is boosted to 2670 MHz, the original frequency. The same goes for the TDP, which remains at 190W, Intel’s original values.
As far as connectivity is concerned, this model has three DisplayPort 2.1 outputs coupled with an HDMI 2.1. When it comes to the power supply, the 12V-2×6/12VHPWR is out, replaced by a single 8-pin PCIe. So there’s no risk of the card magically going up in smoke.
Here’s the Sparkle product sheet!