
Intel challenges NVIDIA with Arc Pro B60 and B50 graphics cards for AI
Intel is breaking into the market of graphics cards for artificial intelligence and releases new Arc Pro B60 and B50 graphics processors based on the Battlemage architecture. These graphics cards are specially designed for professional tasks and optimized for working with artificial intelligence models containing more than 70 billion parameters.
One of the most interesting features was the Battlematrix project, which allows combining up to 8 graphics processors. Such a configuration provides a total of 192 gigabytes of video memory. Which opens new opportunities for working with complex artificial intelligence models. And systems with just 2 B60 on one board will provide 48 gigabytes of memory.
The junior model B50 costs $299 and offers 16 gigabytes of GDDR6 type memory. Its computing power is 170 TOPS with energy consumption of only 70 watts. The flagship model B60 will cost $500. But for this price, the user gets 24 gigabytes of GDDR6 memory and performance of 197 TOPS.
Both graphics cards work with drivers for both Windows and Linux. This makes them a universal solution for developers and researchers working in different operating systems.
The release of these graphics cards shows the seriousness of Intel’s intentions to occupy its niche in the fast-growing market of hardware accelerators for artificial intelligence, where until recently NVIDIA’s solutions dominated. I think these new Intel products offer a decent price-to-performance ratio for tasks related to machine learning.