I initially found this website two years ago after getting daily migraines and bloodshot eyes using an Nvidia RTX 3060 card. I took it out of my PC and used my built in AMD iGPU and all of a sudden, the headaches became more infrequent. Later on I read some good reports about Intel Arc cards here, so decided to buy a cheap A380 as a test. It worked even better than the iGPU, and have had no issues since.

Now the next iteration of Intel's ARC GPUs have been released (Arc B580 but with more to come), and was hoping to hear some reports on them.

This first GPU is out of stock everywhere, otherwise I would've picked one up. Hopefully I can acquire one in January and will report back on my findings. In the meantime, if anyone tries it, feel free to share your thoughts.

    lennylevino what is your PC specs and Windows build? That's good to know the a380 is good for you. I read that the latest b580 has native older directX support too? Unsure if that's 100% true or if it's a good thing. I know a770 for example can run older dx versions but only under a emulation

        lennylevino Hopefully I can acquire one in January

        I am wonder that A380 was in good list! If b580 is good, its very good 4060 analog !

            jordan

            My specs are:

            AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
            32GB DDR4
            Gigabyte a520m Elite

            I'm on Windows 10 LTSC (1809).

            Not sure regarding DirectX.

                simplex

                Yes! Should even be better than the 4060 due to 12GB VRAM.

                Rumors say there might be a B770 as well. Lets see.

                  lennylevino AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
                  32GB DDR4

                  Which DDR4 memory you use? could you write exact models and freqs…?

                  Just curious, one mate told me he got strain after 5600g to 5700g switching… with same equipment.

                      Don't hold your breath for the A770.

                      I have been meaning to talk about ARC cards - I find all ARC implementations to be among the best for my eyes of all modern chips. And the LE implementations are the best of the ARC - for me at least, with a small sample size. I have two cards currently: A770 Challenger 16GB ASROCk, and A750 LE Intel. I find the Intel card a little better, but within the margin of "I want it to be better" error.

                      My B580 is on backorder, most of them are. I'll have an LE in January to test.

                        simplex

                        They're called Crucial BallistiX, and are white in color.

                        Just curious, one mate told me he got strain after 5600g to 5700g switching…

                        Is he using the built-in GPU?

                            Gurm

                            Glad to hear. I couldn't find the LE version for the A380 so I have an ASRock. No issues at all.

                            Hope the B580 gets in stock soon.

                              lennylevino Crucial BallistiX

                              Could you please send screenshots of Memory and SPD tabs in CPU-Z…? I found in my "safe" workstations, RAM volume and freq matters

                              lennylevino Is he using the built-in GPU

                              Yep. He use integrated grapfics, and noticed strain after 5700g purchasing. He bought 2 pcs and they both strain his PC: vega7 is OK, vega8 is strainfull

                                    simplex

                                    From HWInfo:

                                    Module Part Number: BLS16G4D26BFSC.16FD
                                    Memory Speed: 1333.3 MHz (DDR4-2666 / PC4-21300)

                                    Yep. He use integrated grapfics, and noticed strain after 5700g purchasing. He bought 2 pcs and they both strain his PC: vega7 is OK, vega8 is strainfull

                                    Ok, maybe try installing an Intel Arc GPU and remove the old AMD graphics drivers.

                                        lennylevino Memory Speed: 1333.3 MHz (DDR4-2666 / PC4-21300)

                                        that is good finding! my is 3200mhz and 1.35V, that could be issue coz in 2133mhz and 1.2V mode it seems much-much better. Your memory work in default DDR4 voltage = 1.2V

                                          a month later

                                          Hey everyone, it seems like the B580 is sold out everywhere however, I did find the following one at a store nearby that I could purchase and try for 30 days. It's called:

                                          "Sparkle Intel Arc B580 Titan Overclocked Dual Fan 12B GDDR6 PCIe 4.0 Graphics Card

                                          https://www.microcenter.com/product/688703/sparkle-intel-arc-b580-titan-overclocked-dual-fan-12b-gddr6-pcie-40-graphics-card#tab-reviews-bm

                                          Do you all think this one could be just as effective as any of the others or should I wait for the Limited Edition one? I'm hoping to try Windows 11 with this one to see if it feels better than the A750 Limited Edition.

                                            10 days later

                                            lennylevino I haven't found a comfortable setup using it with any monitor or operating system, unfortunately. Also, my specific card doesn't seem to handle connecting to 4K monitors and just flickers on and off, even with the drivers updated.

                                            The B580 was more consistent. I tried that one as well with a number of 1080p/2K/4K monitors, along with Windows 10 21H2, 22H2, and Windows 11 and I had varying results that were better in terms of symptoms, but still was mostly unusable. At this point, I'm convinced that, at least for me, I have to keep trying random combinations of things to find that magic setup. I'm getting closer and closer after each test 🙂

                                                4 days later

                                                whystrainwhy

                                                I have similar problems with ARC A770 on my motherboard, which is based on the Z390 chipset. In Windows 10/11, I often see artifacts and flickering.

                                                An example of flickering and artifacts on the screen: https://dropmefiles.com/qIZKZ.

                                                But the cause of my problem might be different from yours. My motherboard's BIOS (2019) didn’t support Intel Arc, so to solve the issue, I had to update to the latest BIOS version. This completely eliminated the artifacts and flickering. But the most interesting thing is that this is the proof that the motherboard's BIOS can affect the display, even when it comes to a discrete graphics card.

                                                For my eyes, the most comfortable image when using Windows and ARC A770 was achieved with Windows 10 22H2 19045.5371, Intel(R) UHD Graphics driver v.32.0.101.6129.

                                                Although I am currently working more with Intel UHD 48EUs (i5-12450h), as it seems slightly more comfortable to me than the Intel ARC A770.

                                                  whystrainwhy

                                                  Sorry to hear that. Have you tried playing around with the settings in Intel Graphics Command Center?

                                                  Here's what works for me:

                                                  Connector: HDMI
                                                  Quantization Range: Limited
                                                  Color Depth: BPC_8

                                                  I'm using a native 8-bit VA panel (no FRC).

                                                      jordan

                                                      I haven't had a chance to install it yet (been traveling). But hopefully will be able to next week.

                                                        I have mine setup but still experience eyestrain/headaches but it is far less than my 1060 GTX I had previously. Of note, in looking at a dithering image, I don’t seem to see any (there are bands not a smooth gradient).

                                                        I am using the HDMI port with a Limited RGB setting via the Intel Command Center (which appears to be the default).

                                                        For testing purposes, I picked up a MSI 710 GT off an Amazon and trying that with Limited RGB via the Nvidia Controls. Eyestrain there to but far less than other video cards. When looking at a dithering test image, it’s smooth not banded so some dithering may be happening.

                                                        These plug into a Dell 24 inch monitor that doesn’t have DisplayPort options.

                                                        I just removed the ICC profile as someone else had mentioned that an ICC manipulates colors so I need to retest the Battlemage once I recover from the vestibular migraine from today’s testing of the 710 GT.

                                                          dev