Intel® Arc™ Graphics – Desktop Quick Start Guide

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Intel® Arc™ B-Series Graphics – Desktop Quick Start Guide

Thank you for choosing Intel Arc™ graphics. Designed to take your gaming and creation to the next level. Let’s Play!

Intel® Arc™ Graphics products leverage the latest in system technologies to deliver a great gaming and creation experience. To ensure you get the best experiences from Intel® Arc™ B-Series Desktop Graphics, a supported hardware configuration is required, and a few system BIOS settings are critical to configure.

System BIOS configuration can have a significant impact on your GPU performance.

System BIOS are designed to support configurations for a broad range of devices, and some default configurations may not be optimal for Intel® Arc™ B-Series Desktop Graphics. Please review the following guide and ensure your system has these options set correctly to get the best performance from your Intel® Arc™ Graphics card.

What’s in the box:

Intel B580 Limited Edition Graphics Card, support information, screen cloth, paper craft GPU, and stickers

System Requirements

Automatic System Support Detection Use the Intel® Driver and Support Assistant (Intel DSA) to automatically detect if your system is ready for Intel® Arc™ discrete graphics.

Download the Intel® Driver & Support Assistant.

Clearance

• Must have space for board dimensions of 272mm x 115mm x 44 mm
• One additional slot for clearance in front and behind the graphics card is recommended for better airflow.

Motherboard

• Full-size PCI Express 3.0 (or newer) x16 slot
• Resizable (Re-Size) BAR enabled

Power Supply

• 600 W power rating minimum with a PCIe 8-pin cable.

Driver installation

• 5GB of available disk space for driver installation.

Operating System

• Windows® 10 64-bit 20H2 or newer
• Windows 11* 64-bit
  • Confirm the Operating System is using the GPT partition type:
    • For Windows 11, this mode is configured by default.
    • For Windows 10, the partition type can be converted if installed with an MBR partition type.
    • Refer to the Microsoft Tool & Guide for more information.
• Ubuntu* 22.10

Supported Hardware Configurations

Resizable BAR or Smart Access Memory must be enabled for optimal performance in all applications using Intel® Arc™ B-Series Graphics. Platforms supported are listed below.

¹Refer to your system manufacturer's support page to confirm Resizable BAR support.
²GPU paired with an AMD Ryzen™ 8500G Processors will have reduced performance due to the CPU only supporting 4 lanes of PCIe Gen 4.

Additional information: Having an integrated graphics card or not (for example, an Intel® Core i9-13900KF processor) does not affect the functionality or availability of Resizable BAR. Refer to your motherboard manufacturer's support page to confirm Resizable BAR support.

Additional platforms/motherboards not listed below and with Resizable BAR / Smart Access Memory enabled may also support Intel® Arc™ B-Series graphics.

Steps to Enable Resizable BAR:

1. Enter the system’s BIOS/UEFI firmware configuration menu.
   1. Access Windows Settings. Click the Windows start menu and select Settings on the left panel. You may also use the Windows + I keyboard shortcut.
   2. For Windows 10: Select Update & Security.
   3. Select Recovery.
   4. Click Advanced startup.
   5. Select Restart now under Advanced Startup.
   6. Select Troubleshoot. In this window, select Advanced options, then UEFI Firmware Settings. The system will now enter the BIOS menu.
2. Compatibility Support Module (CSM) or Legacy Mode must be disabled, and UEFI boot mode must be Enabled.
3. Ensure the following settings are set to Enabled (or Auto if the Enabled option is not present):
   1. Above 4G Decoding
   2. Re-Size BAR Support
4. Use the Intel® Driver and Support Assistant (Intel DSA) to confirm that Resizable BAR is enabled on your system.

The Resizable BAR option may be described as Re-Size BAR, Smart Access Memory, or Clever Access Memory. Contact the system manufacturer for specific details.

Use your system’s latest motherboard firmware supporting Resizable BAR.

Refer to your system manufacturer's support page for further details.

Steps to enable ASPM – (Recommended)

The power consumption of Intel Arc Graphics cards (even during idle state) depends largely on the number of displays connected to the card and each display's resolution/refresh rate. Before starting, please confirm that the system is on the latest BIOS. For most supported configurations to achieve optimal power consumption, configure the BIOS as follows:

1. Allow OS-controlled ASPM by setting Native ASPM to Enabled.
2. Enable PCI Express root port ASPM and select L1 Substates.

Consult your motherboard manual or refer to your motherboard's manufacturer if you are unsure where to locate these settings. Different manufacturers may use different names for the same setting.

Also, configure Windows Power settings as follows:

1. Go to Start > System > Power & sleep.
2. Click on Additional power settings.
3. Select your preferred plan and click on Change plan settings.
4. Click on Change advanced power settings.
5. Look for PCI Express.
6. Click the '+' sign next to PCI Express to expand the options.
7. Click the '+' sign next to Link State Power Management to expand the options.
8. Select Maximum power savings as the setting using the drop-down menu.
9. Click Apply and then OK.

Display Configuration

FAQs

Q: What warranty is offered with Intel® Arc™ B-series Graphics?

A: Warranty terms vary by manufacturer; check with your manufacturer for warranty coverage.

For Intel® Arc™ B580 Limited Edition Graphics:

The Intel® Graphics Card three-year limited warranty applies to eligible Intel® Graphics Cards that are packaged in authentic Intel packaging and sold to end customers as stand-alone components. Intel® Graphics Cards contained within Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) systems are subject to OEM manufacturer warranties and generally are not supported directly by Intel. For more information, visit Intel® Arc Graphics Cards Three-Year Limited Warranty Terms and Conditions.

Q: My system/motherboard manufacturer has provided a firmware update enabling support for Resizable BAR, but I still cannot see the Resizable BAR option!

A: For some systems, you may need to first enable ‘Above 4G decoding’, save the configuration, and restart before the Resizable BAR option is shown.

Q: I am on a 10th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor. Does my motherboard support Resizable BAR?

A: Support for resizable BAR on 10th Gen platforms will vary. Please contact your system/motherboard manufacturer for specific support.

Q: Why do I need to enable Resizable BAR?

A: Resizable BAR must be enabled for optimal performance in all applications using Intel® Arc™ B-Series Graphics.

Q: How do I check if Resizable BAR has been enabled once I’ve installed my new Intel® Arc™ B-Series graphics card?

A: You can use Intel® Arc™ Control or the Intel® Driver & Support Assistant Tool.

Q: Is my Operating System boot mode configured correctly for Intel® Arc B-Series Graphics?

A: Ensure the operating system uses the UEFI boot mode & GPT partition style. For Windows, it is possible to switch firmware modes using the MBR2GPT tool. Compatibility Support Module (CSM) must be disabled, and UEFI boot mode must be enabled.

Q: What should I do if my system configuration is not listed?

There may be performance or stability issues for configurations not listed in this guide. We recommend updating your system to match one of the configurations listed for optimal performance with Intel® Arc™ Graphics.