AMD Instinct MI300 vs Intel Arc A580 Comparison

The Verdict

The AMD Instinct MI300 and Intel Arc A580 are fundamentally different products with almost no overlap in purpose. The Instinct MI300 is a data center accelerator with no display outputs and no consumer graphics API support, while the Arc A580 is an active consumer graphics card with DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4 support. The database shows the Arc A580 holds an 87th percentile ranking among all GPUs, while the Instinct MI300 sits at the 50th percentile with no recorded benchmark scores. Users requiring a rendering or gaming card should select the Arc A580; users requiring a compute accelerator with massive memory capacity should select the Instinct MI300. The Arc A580 is the only one of the two with an active production status, and its nearest rivals in the database include the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT, which it trails by 1.1 percent, and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE, which it leads by 0.7 percent.

Architecture Differences

The two chips come from different architectural families and process nodes. The Instinct MI300 uses the CDNA 3.0 architecture on a 5 nm process at TSMC, while the Arc A580 uses the Xe-HPG architecture on a 6 nm process at TSMC. The MI300 chip, named Aqua Vanjaram, contains 153,000 million transistors on a 1017 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 150.4M per mm². The Arc A580 chip, named DG2-512, contains 21,700 million transistors on a 406 mm² die, yielding a density of 53.4M per mm². The MI300 has more than seven times the transistor count and a die more than twice as large.

The MI300 uses HBM3 memory with a 8192-bit bus, while the Arc A580 uses GDDR6 with a 256-bit bus. The MI300 has no ROPs, no ray tracing cores, and no DirectX, OpenGL, or Vulkan API support. The Arc A580 has 96 ROPs, 24 ray tracing cores, and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The MI300 is a compute-only accelerator with no display outputs; the Arc A580 provides 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0 outputs. The Arc A580 is a dual-slot card with a 175 W TDP and a 450 W suggested PSU, whereas the MI300 has a 600 W TDP and a 1000 W suggested PSU. Both use 2x 8-pin power connectors.

Where Each One Wins

The Arc A580 wins in every consumer-facing category. It has an active production status, a successor named Battlemage, and a predecessor in Xe Graphics. Its benchmark results include a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2229, a Geekbench OpenCL score of 91657, and a Geekbench Vulkan score of 79381, giving an average benchmark score of 57756. Its nearest rivals bracket it closely: the AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM scores 58085 (0.6 percent ahead), the Intel Arc A570M scores 58239 (0.8 percent ahead), the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT scores 58392 (1.1 percent ahead), and the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE scores 57367 (0.7 percent behind). The Arc A580 also delivers a pixel rate of 192.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 384.0 GTexel/s, with FP32 performance of 12.29 TFLOPS and FP16 performance of 24.58 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio.

The Instinct MI300 wins in raw compute scale. Its FP32 performance is 47.87 TFLOPS, which is about 3.9 times the Arc A580's 12.29 TFLOPS. Its FP16 performance is also 47.87 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio, compared to the Arc A580's 24.58 TFLOPS at 2:1. The MI300 has 128 GB of HBM3 memory with 5.32 TB/s of bandwidth, versus 8 GB of GDDR6 with 512.0 GB/s on the Arc A580. The MI300's texture rate is 1,496.0 GTexel/s versus 384.0 GTexel/s on the Arc A580. The MI300 has 14,080 shading units and 880 TMUs, while the Arc A580 has 3,072 shading units and 192 TMUs. The MI300 also uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while the Arc A580 uses PCIe 4.0 x16.

FAQ

Q: Which card has higher FP32 compute performance?

A: The AMD Instinct MI300 delivers 47.87 TFLOPS of FP32, which is roughly 3.9 times the Arc A580's 12.29 TFLOPS.

Q: Does the Instinct MI300 support DirectX or Vulkan?

A: No. The MI300 has no API support for DirectX, OpenGL, or Vulkan. The Arc A580 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference?

A: The Instinct MI300 has 128 GB of HBM3 memory on a 8192-bit bus, while the Arc A580 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus. Memory bandwidth is 5.32 TB/s versus 512.0 GB/s.

Q: How does the Arc A580 compare to its nearest rivals in the database?

A: The Arc A580's average benchmark score is 57756. It trails the AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM by 0.6 percent, the Intel Arc A570M by 0.8 percent, and the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT by 1.1 percent, while leading the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE by 0.7 percent.

Q: Which card has display outputs?

A: Only the Intel Arc A580 has display outputs, with 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0. The Instinct MI300 has no outputs.

Q: What are the power requirements?

A: The Instinct MI300 has a 600 W TDP and a suggested PSU of 1000 W. The Arc A580 has a 175 W TDP and a suggested PSU of 450 W. Both use 2x 8-pin power connectors.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains no direct head-to-head benchmark results between the two products, and the Instinct MI300 has no recorded benchmark scores. The comparison therefore rests on architectural specifications and the Arc A580's recorded benchmarks. The most significant wins for the Instinct MI300 are in compute throughput and memory capacity. Its FP32 output of 47.87 TFLOPS is 3.9 times the Arc A580's 12.29 TFLOPS. Its FP16 output of 47.87 TFLOPS at 1:1 is 1.95 times the Arc A580's 24.58 TFLOPS at 2:1. Its texture rate of 1,496.0 GTexel/s is 3.9 times the Arc A580's 384.0 GTexel/s. Memory bandwidth of 5.32 TB/s is 10.4 times the Arc A580's 512.0 GB/s, and memory capacity of 128 GB is 16 times the Arc A580's 8 GB.

The Arc A580 wins in areas that the MI300 does not address at all. The MI300 has a pixel rate of 0 MPixel/s, while the Arc A580 delivers 192.0 GPixel/s. The MI300 has no ROPs, while the Arc A580 has 96. The MI300 has no ray tracing cores, while the Arc A580 has 24. The Arc A580's benchmark scores place it at the 87th percentile among all GPUs, with an average score of 57756. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2229, its Geekbench OpenCL score is 91657, and its Geekbench Vulkan score is 79381. The MI300 sits at the 50th percentile with an average benchmark score of 0.

The Arc A580 also leads in clock speeds. Its base clock is 1700 MHz and its boost clock is 2000 MHz, versus the MI300's 1000 MHz base and 1700 MHz boost. The Arc A580's memory clock is 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective, while the MI300's memory clock is 1300 MHz with 5.2 Gbps effective. The Arc A580 was released on 2023-10-09, while the MI300 was released on 2023-01-03. The Arc A580 has a successor (Battlemage) and a predecessor (Xe Graphics), while the MI300's predecessor is Radeon Instinct and its successor is not recorded.

Specification Differences

The following fields differ between the two products:

• Shading units: MI300 has 14,080; Arc A580 has 3,072.
• TMUs: MI300 has 880; Arc A580 has 192.
• ROPs: MI300 has 0; Arc A580 has 96.
• Ray tracing cores: MI300 has none; Arc A580 has 24.
• Pixel rate: MI300 is 0 MPixel/s; Arc A580 is 192.0 GPixel/s.
• Texture rate: MI300 is 1,496.0 GTexel/s; Arc A580 is 384.0 GTexel/s.
• FP32: MI300 is 47.87 TFLOPS; Arc A580 is 12.29 TFLOPS.
• FP16: MI300 is 47.87 TFLOPS (1:1); Arc A580 is 24.58 TFLOPS (2:1).
• Process node: MI300 is 5 nm; Arc A580 is 6 nm.
• Transistors: MI300 has 153,000 million; Arc A580 has 21,700 million.
• Die size: MI300 is 1017 mm²; Arc A580 is 406 mm².
• Transistor density: MI300 is 150.4M / mm²; Arc A580 is 53.4M / mm².
• Base clock: MI300 is 1000 MHz; Arc A580 is 1700 MHz.
• Boost clock: MI300 is 1700 MHz; Arc A580 is 2000 MHz.
• Memory clock: MI300 is 1300 MHz 5.2 Gbps effective; Arc A580 is 2000 MHz 16 Gbps effective.
• Memory size: MI300 is 128 GB HBM3; Arc A580 is 8 GB GDDR6.
• Memory bus width: MI300 is 8192 bit; Arc A580 is 256 bit.
• Memory bandwidth: MI300 is 5.32 TB/s; Arc A580 is 512.0 GB/s.
• TDP: MI300 is 600 W; Arc A580 is 175 W.
• Suggested PSU: MI300 is 1000 W; Arc A580 is 450 W.
• Bus interface: MI300 is PCIe 5.0 x16; Arc A580 is PCIe 4.0 x16.
• Display outputs: MI300 has no outputs; Arc A580 has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0.
• API support: MI300 has N/A for DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan; Arc A580 has DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.
• Slot width: MI300 is not recorded; Arc A580 is dual-slot.
• Production status: MI300 is not recorded; Arc A580 is active.
• Release date: MI300 is 2023-01-03; Arc A580 is 2023-10-09.
• Predecessor: MI300 is Radeon Instinct; Arc A580 is Xe Graphics.
• Successor: MI300 is not recorded; Arc A580 is Battlemage.
• Dimensions: MI300 is 267 mm long and 111 mm tall; Arc A580 dimensions are not recorded.
• Percentile: MI300 is at the 50th percentile; Arc A580 is at the 87th percentile.
• Average benchmark score: MI300 is 0; Arc A580 is 57756.