Maxsun has recently launched two Intel Arc B580 graphics cards. Interestingly, another report via VideoCardz, indicates that the company is also preparing a third variant of the Battlemage GPU which will take advantage of the unused PCIe lanes in the x16 slot to provide bandwidth for two M.2 slots on the graphics card's PCB.
Our earlier report states that the Intel Arc B580 uses the PCIe 4.0 x8 lanes, leaving eight lanes unused which is adequate for two M.2 SSDs. The performance of the M.2 storage and the GPU shouldn't impact each other. But one would be interested to gauge its heat dissipation, especially during gaming.
Looking at its design, a tri-fan cooler iCraft B580, both of the slots are on the inner section of the PCB's edge, under the GPU's heatsink. Users may not have to take the card apart as the drives are held in a removable sleeve, directly behind the cooler. Power is provided directly from the GPU. This is only possible because the GPU does not utilise all the PCIe x16 lanes. AMD Radeon Pro SSG was the first to do this, as it integrated two M.2 PCIe 3.0 slots into its workstation card.
Since it appears to be using the B580 iCraft's design, the triple fan setup should be more than enough to cool the graphics card and the M.2 storage underneath.
There are benefits of having a GPU with onboard storage, one scenario would be in a DIY media server with a low-cost motherboard that has one M.2 2280 slot. Especially useful in compact builds. Alternatively, Maxsun also has a non-M2 slotted Maxsun B580 iCraft 12G for $259 and Arc B580 Milestone B580 12G for $249.
The Battlemage Intel Arc B580 and the B570 were recently announced. The B580 with 12GB VRAM has a launch price of $249, and the B570 with 10GB VRAM for $219. We expect that the addition of two M.2 ports will command a certain premium, though Maxsun will have to price accordingly.
