AMD Instinct MI300A vs Intel Arc B580 Comparison

The Verdict

The recorded data presents two radically different accelerators with almost no overlap in intended use. The AMD Instinct MI300A is a compute-oriented accelerator module with no display outputs, a 750 W power envelope, and 128 GB of HBM3 memory. The Intel Arc B580 is a consumer graphics card with a 190 W power envelope, 12 GB of GDDR6 memory, and full display outputs. The database contains no shared benchmark scores between the two, and the MI300A has no recorded benchmark results at all, so direct performance comparison is impossible. The Arc B580 has a measurable performance profile, with an average benchmark score of 23021 and a percentile ranking of 68 against all GPUs. The MI300A shows a percentile of 50 with an average score of 0, which reflects the absence of recorded gaming or graphics workloads rather than a performance deficiency. For graphics workloads, the Arc B580 is the only one of the two with recorded data, so any analysis of measured performance must center on it. For large-scale compute and high-bandwidth memory tasks, the MI300A provides specifications that the Arc B580 cannot match, but those advantages are not reflected in benchmark scores in this database.

Architecture Differences

The AMD Instinct MI300A uses the CDNA 3.0 architecture on a chip named Aqua Vanjaram, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The Intel Arc B580 uses the Xe2-HPG architecture on the BMG-G21 chip, also built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. Both devices share the same process node and foundry, but the physical scale differs enormously. The MI300A packs 153,000 million transistors on a 1017 mm² die, producing a transistor density of 150.4 million transistors per mm². The Arc B580 contains 19,600 million transistors on a 272 mm² die, with a density of 72.1 million transistors per mm². The MI300A has more than seven times the transistor count and nearly four times the die area.

Memory architecture also diverges sharply. The MI300A uses 128 GB of HBM3 on an 8192-bit bus, delivering 5.32 TB/s of bandwidth. The Arc B580 uses 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 456.0 GB/s. That is a bandwidth difference of more than an order of magnitude. The MI300A's memory clock is listed at 1300 MHz with 5.2 Gbps effective, while the Arc B580 runs its memory at 2375 MHz with 19 Gbps effective. The MI300A has 14592 shading units and 912 texture mapping units but no ROPs, resulting in a pixel rate of 0 MPixel/s. The Arc B580 has 2560 shading units, 160 TMUs, 80 ROPs, and 20 ray tracing cores, with a pixel rate of 213.6 GPixel/s. The MI300A's compute output is 61.29 TFLOPS of FP32 and a texture rate of 1,915.2 GTexel/s, while the Arc B580 delivers 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32, 27.34 TFLOPS of FP16 at a 2:1 ratio, and a texture rate of 427.2 GTexel/s.

Clock behavior differs as well. The MI300A has a base clock of 1000 MHz and a boost clock of 2100 MHz. The Arc B580 runs at a fixed 2670 MHz for both base and boost. The MI300A uses a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface, while the Arc B580 uses PCIe 4.0 x8. The MI300A is an OAM module with no power connectors and no display outputs, and it is not compatible with DirectX, OpenGL, or Vulkan per the recorded API data. The Arc B580 is a dual-slot card, 272 mm long, 115 mm high, and 45 mm wide, with a single 8-pin power connector, a suggested PSU of 450 W, and display outputs including 1x HDMI 2.1a and 3x DisplayPort 2.1. It supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains no head-to-head benchmark entries between the MI300A and the Arc B580, and the MI300A has no individual benchmark scores recorded. The Arc B580, by contrast, has ten recorded benchmark results. Its highest score comes from Geekbench Vulkan at 109672, followed by Geekbench OpenCL at 92821. In Passmark tests, the Arc B580 scores 15748 in G3D, 7729 in GPU Compute, 709 in G2D, 183 in DirectX 9, 128 in DirectX 11, and 76 in both DirectX 10 and DirectX 12. In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, it scores 3068.

The Arc B580's average benchmark score of 23021 places it in the 68th percentile among all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals, based on average score, are the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP at 23061 (0.2% higher), the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 at 23172 (0.7% higher), the NVIDIA P106-100 at 23249 (1% higher), and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 at 22895 (0.6% lower). The Arc B580 sits within a tight 1% band around all four rivals, indicating that its aggregate performance is essentially neutral against these cards. The MI300A has no nearest rivals listed and cannot be placed in a comparative performance band.

Because the MI300A lacks recorded benchmark scores, the head-to-head analysis must rely on architectural specifications. The MI300A offers 4.48 times the FP32 throughput of the Arc B580 (61.29 TFLOPS versus 13.67 TFLOPS) and 11.67 times the memory bandwidth (5.32 TB/s versus 456.0 GB/s). The MI300A also has 5.7 times the shading units (14592 versus 2560) and 5.7 times the texture units (912 versus 160). The Arc B580, however, has 80 ROPs and a 213.6 GPixel/s pixel rate, while the MI300A has zero ROPs and a zero pixel rate, confirming that the MI300A is not designed for rasterized graphics output. The Arc B580 also has 20 ray tracing cores, which the MI300A does not list at all.

FAQ

Q: Which device has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The Intel Arc B580 has an average benchmark score of 23021 across its recorded tests. The AMD Instinct MI300A has an average score of 0 because no benchmark scores are recorded for it in the database.

Q: How does the Arc B580 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B580's average score of 23021 is 0.2% below the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP, 0.6% above the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, 0.7% below the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, and 1% below the NVIDIA P106-100.

Q: Which device has more memory bandwidth?

A: The AMD Instinct MI300A has 5.32 TB/s of bandwidth from 128 GB of HBM3 on an 8192-bit bus. The Intel Arc B580 has 456.0 GB/s from 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus.

Q: Can the MI300A output video to a display?

A: No. The MI300A has no display outputs and a pixel rate of 0 MPixel/s. The Arc B580 has 1x HDMI 2.1a and 3x DisplayPort 2.1 outputs.

Q: What is the power requirement for each device?

A: The MI300A has a TDP of 750 W and a suggested PSU of 1150 W. The Arc B580 has a TDP of 190 W and a suggested PSU of 450 W.

Q: Which device supports ray tracing?

A: The Intel Arc B580 has 20 ray tracing cores. The AMD Instinct MI300A lists no ray tracing cores in the database.

Q: What APIs does each device support?

A: The Arc B580 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The MI300A lists N/A for DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan.

Where Each One Wins

The Intel Arc B580 wins in every measurable benchmark category because it is the only one of the two devices with recorded benchmark data. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 3068, Geekbench Vulkan score of 109672, and Passmark G3D score of 15748 establish a concrete performance profile for gaming and general graphics workloads. The Arc B580 also wins on features relevant to consumer use: it has 80 ROPs, 20 ray tracing cores, a 213.6 GPixel/s pixel rate, and full display outputs. Its 12 GB of GDDR6 memory and 456.0 GB/s bandwidth are paired with a 190 W TDP and a dual-slot form factor, making it suitable for a standard desktop system. Its percentile ranking of 68 places it above the median of all GPUs in the database, and its average score of 23021 puts it within 1% of the RTX 2080, RTX 3080, RX 580 2048SP, and P106-100.

The AMD Instinct MI300A wins on raw compute specifications. Its FP32 throughput of 61.29 TFLOPS is 4.48 times the Arc B580's 13.67 TFLOPS. Its memory bandwidth of 5.32 TB/s is 11.67 times higher. Its 128 GB of HBM3 capacity is more than ten times the Arc B580's 12 GB. The MI300A also has 14592 shading units and 912 TMUs, both 5.7 times the Arc B580's counts. Its transistor count of 153,000 million and die size of 1017 mm² indicate a device built for maximum compute density. The PCIe 5.0 x16 interface provides twice the bus lane count and a newer standard than the Arc B580's PCIe 4.0 x8. The MI300A's 750 W TDP and OAM module form factor signal a data center or server installation profile rather than a desktop graphics card.

The release dates differ by roughly one year. The MI300A was released on 2023-12-05, and the Arc B580 on 2024-12-12. The Arc B580 has a launch MSRP of 249 USD, while the MI300A has no recorded launch MSRP. The Arc B580's predecessor is Alchemist, and the MI300A's predecessor is Radeon Instinct. Neither device has a recorded successor. The MI300A's production status is not listed, while the Arc B580's production status is Active.

For compute-heavy workloads that require massive memory capacity and bandwidth, the MI300A's specifications dominate. For any workload that requires graphics output, rasterization, ray tracing, or consumer API support, the Arc B580 is the only viable option between the two. The data does not support a single winner across all categories; instead, it shows two devices engineered for separate segments, with the Arc B580 holding every measured benchmark and the MI300A holding every architectural advantage in compute and memory capacity.