RX 5700 vs Arc A580: Which Graphics Card Should You Buy?

The RX 5700 and Arc A580 deliver almost the same average raster performance, so the deciding factors are features and platform: choose the Arc A580 if your PC supports Resizable BAR and you want ray tracing support, XeSS and AV1 encoding, and choose the RX 5700 if you have an older platform without Resizable BAR, play many older DirectX 11 games, or find one used for noticeably less. Neither card is a strong long-term buy in late 2026, but the A580 is the one that can still launch every new release.

Both cards have 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus and roughly similar power ratings. Under the hood they differ completely: the RX 5700 is a mature 2019 RDNA 1 design with no ray tracing hardware, while the A580 is a 2023 Intel Alchemist card with RT units and matrix engines but younger drivers.

Spec Table

The A580 has more shaders, more bandwidth and twice the L2 cache, yet it does not pull ahead in games. Intel’s first-generation Arc architecture needs more hardware to reach the same frame rates as AMD’s RDNA, which is why spec sheets overstate the A580’s advantage.

Frame Rates: Practically a Tie

TechPowerUp’s Arc A580 review measured the card at roughly RX 6600 level and about 8% behind the RX 5700 XT. The non-XT RX 5700 sits close to the RX 6600 in TechPowerUp’s relative performance data as well, so the two cards end up within a few percent of each other on average. Which one wins depends heavily on the game list:

• A580 leads more often in modern DirectX 12 and Vulkan titles and in games that scale with memory bandwidth.
• RX 5700 leads more often in DirectX 11 and older titles, and it is more consistent across a wide back catalog.

At 1080p high settings, both typically land somewhere around 60-90 FPS in mainstream modern games and around 45-60 FPS at 1440p, with heavier titles lower. These are rough ranges that vary with settings, CPU and game patches. Frame-time consistency on the A580 also depends on driver version, so keep Intel’s drivers current.

Features That Separate Them

Ray tracing and mandatory-RT games

The RX 5700 has no hardware ray tracing and lacks DirectX 12 Ultimate support. A growing list of games now require RT hardware, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Doom: The Dark Ages, and these will not run on it at all. The A580 supports hardware ray tracing; performance is modest, so expect light RT settings at 1080p with upscaling, but the important point is compatibility.

Upscaling

The A580 runs Intel XeSS in its XMX-accelerated mode, which looks better than the fallback mode other GPUs use, and newer XeSS releases add frame generation on Arc hardware in supported games. The RX 5700 relies on FSR 2 and FSR 3.x upscaling and FSR frame generation. AMD’s ML-based FSR 4.1 is available on RX 7000 and is planned for RX 6000 in 2027, but RDNA 1 cards like the RX 5700 are not included.

Media and display

The A580 includes hardware AV1 encoding, useful for streaming and recording at good quality and low bitrate, plus HDMI 2.1 and DisplayPort 2.0 outputs. The RX 5700 has HDMI 2.0b and DisplayPort 1.4a and no AV1 encoder.

The Resizable BAR Requirement

Arc cards depend on Resizable BAR. Without it, performance can drop sharply and stutter increases. Check your BIOS for “Re-Size BAR Support” or “Smart Access Memory” before choosing the A580. Typical support:

Arc A-series cards also idle at higher power unless ASPM options are enabled in BIOS and Windows power settings.

Power Supply Sizing and Case Fit

Board power is nearly the same: 180 W for the RX 5700 and 175 W for the A580. Using GPU TDP + CPU power + about 150 W:

• RX 5700 + 88 W CPU: 180 + 88 + 150 = about 418 W
• Arc A580 + 88 W CPU: 175 + 88 + 150 = about 413 W

A quality 450-550 W PSU covers either card. The RX 5700 needs a 6-pin and an 8-pin, the A580 two 8-pins; many budget PSUs have only one or two PCIe leads, so check before buying. The RX 5700 reference card is 268 mm long and 2 slots wide; A580 partner models vary, so measure your case.

Price Per Frame

With both cards at roughly equal performance (index 100):

• RX 5700 at launch: $349 / 100 = about $3.49 per performance point
• Arc A580 at launch: $180 / 100 = about $1.80 per performance point

The A580 launched at about half the RX 5700’s price for similar speed. On today’s used market, RX 5700 cards are commonly found around $100-$150, and A580 cards sit in a similar or slightly higher band, roughly $100-$150 used and a bit more for remaining new stock. With prices that close, buy based on platform and features rather than a small price difference.

Who Should Buy Which

If your budget allows a step up, the current Arc B570 and B580 offer more VRAM, better drivers and noticeably higher performance than either card, and they are the more future-proof Intel option.

Driver Support Outlook

Long-term support is worth weighing because both cards are older designs. In late 2025 AMD moved the RX 5000 and RX 6000 series to a separate maintenance driver branch. After feedback from users, AMD clarified that day-one game support, bug fixes and game optimizations would continue in that branch, but new features are aimed at RX 7000 and RX 9000 cards first. For an RX 5700 owner, that means the card keeps working with new releases that do not require ray tracing, but should not be expected to gain new capabilities.

Intel continues to ship regular drivers for both Arc A-series and B-series cards from a shared code base, and many of the improvements made for Battlemage also benefit Alchemist cards like the A580. Intel’s driver team has steadily improved DirectX 11 performance and frame pacing since the A-series launch, which is why the A580 looks better today than it did in early reviews of the Arc family. That said, Intel’s focus is naturally on its newer B-series cards and upcoming products.

On balance, the A580 has the better feature roadmap, while the RX 5700 has the more mature and predictable driver history. Neither should be bought expecting many more years of top-tier support.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is faster, the RX 5700 or the Arc A580?

On average they are within a few percent of each other. TechPowerUp’s data places the A580 near RX 6600 level, which is also where the RX 5700 lands. Newer DX12 games tend to favor the A580, older DX11 games the RX 5700.

Can the RX 5700 play games that need ray tracing?

No. It has no RT hardware and does not support DirectX 12 Ultimate. Titles that require ray tracing will refuse to launch.

Is the Arc A580 good without Resizable BAR?

No. Intel requires Resizable BAR for proper performance, and without it frame rates and frame pacing degrade significantly. On platforms that lack it, the RX 5700 is the better choice.

How much power do these cards need?

Both draw about 175-180 W. A quality 450-550 W PSU with two PCIe power leads is enough for either with a mainstream CPU.

Is 8 GB of VRAM enough for these cards?

At 1080p with medium-to-high textures, yes for most games. Some new releases need texture settings lowered to stay under 8 GB. Both cards are best treated as 1080p options today.