A real surprise – Intel Arc Pro B50 in the test and big workstation duel under 450 euros

1 - Introduction, unboxing and technical data 2 - Test system and equipment 3 - Teardown: PCB, topology and components 4 - Teardown: Cooling solution 5 - Teardown: Material analysis and ASTM TIM testing 6 - Autodesk AutoCAD 7 - Autodesk Inventor Pro 8 - PTC Creo 9 - Dassault Systèmes Solidworks 10 - Autodesk Maya 11 - SPECviewperf 15 (2025) 12 - Adobe Photoshop 26.10 13 - Adobe After Effects 2025 14 - Adobe Premiere Pro 25.41 15 - AI Benchmarks (AI Vision, Image, Text) 16 - Rendering 17 - Temperatues, clock rates, power draw and fan speed 18 - Summary and conclusion

PugetBench for Premiere Pro is a practical benchmark tool that measures the performance of workstations in typical Adobe Premiere Pro workflows. The aim is to record the actual performance during import, editing, effects and export and thus create a basis for comparing different hardware configurations. Of particular relevance here is the mapping of GPU-accelerated effects and the measurement of encoding and decoding performance, as these often represent the biggest bottleneck in video production.

A significant part of the benchmark focuses on export performance, as this is crucial for productivity in practice. In order to emphasize the influence of encoding as much as possible, Puget Systems relies on a special setup: The source material is a DNxHR LB clip with 480×270 pixels, which is scaled on a UHD timeline (3840×2160). DNxHR LB is a very simple codec for processing; at the same time, there is no platform with hardware decoding support for this codec. This ensures that decoding is not the limiting factor, but that encoding is the bottleneck during export.

To prevent modern codecs such as H.264 or HEVC from becoming “too smart” due to their efficient compression algorithms with repeating pixel patterns and thus unintentionally achieving better results, a fractal noise image in PNG format is also superimposed on the clip. It is important to note that this is not the fractal noise effect from Premiere itself, but a prepared image that is applied to the clip. This ensures that each pixel is unique and that there are no redundancies in the encoding.

With this setup, the benchmark can very clearly capture the encoding performance of Premiere Pro in various codecs such as H.264, HEVC or DNxHR. In addition, it tests GPU-accelerated effects so that differences in real-time preview and rendering are also visible. The results provide a direct comparison of which hardware is best suited to which workflow. This makes the benchmark a valuable tool both for users who want to optimize their systems and for IT departments that need to select hardware for creative teams.

To evaluate the performance of a system when exporting to different codecs, the benchmark is designed to make the encoding part of a rendering as much of a bottleneck as possible. To achieve this, one uses a DNxHR LB 480×270 source clip scaled to a UHD (3840×2160) timeline. DNxHR LB is a very simple codec to process (especially at this low resolution) and does not support hardware decoding on any platform, making it a good base codec. To ensure each pixel is unique and codecs like H.264 or HEVC don’t get too “smart”, one also applies a simple fractal noise image in PNG format (NOT the fractal noise effect) to the clip to ensure there are no repeated pixels.

• H.264 50Mbps 8-bit UHD, H.264 50Mbps 8-bit (software encoding) UHD
• HEVC 50Mbps 8-bit UHD, HEVC 60Mbps 10-bit UHD, HEVC 50Mbps 8-bit (software encoding) UHD, HEVC 60Mbps 10-bit (software encoding) UHD
• DNxHR LB UHD, DNxHR SQ UHD,,DNxHR HQX UHD
• ProRes 422 Proxy UHD, ProRes 422HQ UHD, ProRes 4444 UHD.

For the processing tests, the benchmark uses a wide range of codecs in different resolutions and creates a timeline in the native resolution of the clip. It then exports each timeline to DNxHR LB in HD (1920×1080) resolution. This is where the hardware decoding support comes into play. The benchmark results from this method are very consistent and accurately reflect the relative performance between systems when working with different codecs.

• 4K H.264 150Mbps 4:2:0 8-bit, 4K HEVC 100Mbps 4:2:2 10-bit, 8K HEVC 100Mbps 4:2:0 8-bit,
• 4K ProRes 422 Proxy, 4K ProRes 422
• 4K DNxHR LB, 4K DNxHR SQ
• 4K Cinema RAW Light ST
• 4K ARRIRAW
• 5K Sony X-OCN
• 4K RED, 8K RED

The final category of tests looks at performance for GPU-accelerated effects. Many of the effects in Premiere Pro are relatively easy to process individually, so even a low-end GPU will not be taxed if only a single instance is applied. To address this, the benchmark applies each effect four to forty times, depending on the requirements. Again, a DNxHR LB UHD (3840×2160) clip is used as the basis and exported to DNxHR LB HD (1920×1080) – just like the “4K DNxHR LB” processing test. The difference is that the following effects are also applied for each test:

• Lumetri Color x40
• Gaussian Blur x40
• Sharpen x40,
• VR Digital Glitch x20, VR De-Noise x4.

Overall Score

The Intel Arc Pro B50 is clearly ahead in the overall result with 85,302 points. The RTX A1000 follows with 72,170 points, while the Radeon Pro W7500 achieves 68,497 points. Intel thus clearly sets itself apart from both competitors, which indicates a good overall integration of GPU acceleration and codec pipelines.

LongGOP Score

The LongGOP test measures the export performance for highly compressed formats such as H.264 or HEVC, which work across frames and are demanding in terms of decoding and re-encoding. The Radeon Pro W7500 is ahead here with 115 points, followed by the Arc Pro B50 with 102 points and the RTX A1000 with 91.7 points. AMD thus shows that its hardware has an advantage for highly compressed material in export.

Intraframe Score

Intraframe codecs such as ProRes or DNxHR encode each frame individually. They are easier to decode, but put a greater strain on the bandwidth during export. The Arc Pro B50 dominates here with 103 points, NVIDIA is well behind with 87.6 points and AMD is even lower with 82.6 points. Intel is therefore the best choice for workflows with intraframe-based editing formats.

Raw Score

RAW formats such as RED or BRAW generate very high data rates and put a strain on both the GPU and the memory connection. Here too, Intel is clearly ahead with 137 points. NVIDIA follows with 116 points, AMD is well behind with 77.5 points. The Arc Pro B50 is particularly strong in high-end productions with RAW material.

GPU Effects Score

The GPU Effects Score measures the performance of GPU-accelerated effects, such as color corrections, transitions or complex filters. Intel and NVIDIA are practically on a par here with 36.6 points and 35.8 points respectively. AMD falls behind with 30 points. This shows that both Intel and NVIDIA have similar strengths in GPU-based effects, while AMD lags behind.

Conclusion

Premiere Pro 25.41 confirms a clear picture: Intel confidently leads the field in the overall score, especially with strong results in intraframe and RAW codecs as well as stable GPU effect performance. AMD is only convincing in the LongGOP segment, while NVIDIA presents itself solidly, but without real top values. The Arc Pro B50 is therefore the strongest choice for classic editing and export workflows with intraframe or RAW material. Those who primarily process LongGOP material can also achieve advantages with the W7500, while NVIDIA positions itself as a stable mid-range option.