Intel’s new Arc B580 graphics card has caught attention with its decent performance, low price, and the inclusion of 12 GB of video memory on a 192-bit bus. But, it seems there are even more interesting versions out there.
Over on Twitter, user Tomasz Gawroński reported spotting a shipping document with two entries for Battlemage G21 graphics cards (known as Arc B580) marked with the intriguing term “clamshell.” This isn’t about seafood, but rather a method of attaching GDDR6 memory modules to the graphics card to double the VRAM capacity.
Intel preparing B580/B570 in clamshell configuration ?
32GB/20gb vram or am i delusional ? Killer AI card ? pic.twitter.com/d9u7tuCzBq— Tomasz Gawroński (@GawroskiT) December 14, 2024
All GDDR6 modules have a 32-bit data bus. However, they can operate in 16-bit mode—all the memory content remains accessible, just at a lower speed. Intel Arc B580 memory controllers have a 32-bit width, and each can connect to two GDDR6 modules—this is what clamshell is.
With a total of six controllers, Intel’s largest Battlemage GPU currently has a 192-bit bus and comes with 12 GB of GDDR6. The total potential video memory capacity in clamshell mode is 24 GB. Such a card would be more effective in AI tasks that require a lot of memory.
Typically, this type of connection is used on professional workstation graphics cards, and also on NVIDIA RTX 4060 Ti with 16 GB. The regular version with 8 GB has four GDDR6 modules and a 128-bit bus. The 16 GB version got eight modules (four on each side of the PCB), but since there are no more available controllers, they are connected in this way.
Perhaps, Intel Arc B580 with 24 GB may never hit the market, as Intel might keep them for data centers and AI companies. But it would be interesting to check out the performance of such a graphics card in everyday tasks.
Source: PC Gamer
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