AMD Radeon 780M vs Intel Arc A770M Comparison

The Intel Arc A770M and AMD Radeon 780M sit at opposite ends of the mobile graphics spectrum: one is a discrete part with its own 16 GB of VRAM, the other an integrated GPU sharing system memory. The benchmark data shows a decisive edge for the Intel part, but the Radeon's efficiency and integration make it a compelling choice in its own right. The Arc A770M wins all three head-to-head tests, with the largest gap in Geekbench OpenCL at 381.1% ahead, and the smallest in Geekbench Vulkan at 120.9% ahead. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test shows a 374.6% lead for Intel, underscoring a categorical difference in raw throughput.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most dramatic separation appears in compute-heavy workloads. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Arc A770M scores 89,494 against the Radeon 780M's 18,602 — a 381.1% delta that reflects the Intel part's 16.79 TFLOPS FP32 throughput versus the AMD's 8.909 TFLOPS. This is nearly double the raw floating-point performance, and the benchmark result confirms it scales accordingly. For tasks like GPU-accelerated rendering or physics simulations, the Arc A770M is in a different class entirely.

The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test tells a similar story, though the margin is slightly tighter. The Arc A770M posts 2,278 points against the Radeon's 480, a 374.6% advantage. This test is a modern DirectX 12 workload, and the Intel part's 512.0 GB/s memory bandwidth versus the AMD's system-shared, system-dependent bandwidth explains much of the gap. The Radeon 780M's memory performance is entirely contingent on the host system's RAM speed and configuration, which creates a structural disadvantage in bandwidth-bound scenarios.

Vulkan performance narrows the gap somewhat, but the Arc A770M still wins decisively. The Intel part scores 74,422 against the Radeon's 33,683, a 120.9% delta. This is the smallest win for Intel, suggesting AMD's RDNA 3.0 architecture handles Vulkan's lower-level API overhead more efficiently than it does OpenCL. Still, the Arc A770M's 32 ray tracing cores and 128 ROPs provide a hardware advantage that software optimization cannot fully offset.

Looking at the broader benchmark context, the Arc A770M's average benchmark score of 18,383 places it in the 62nd percentile of all GPUs, while the Radeon 780M's 17,588 lands at the 61st percentile. Despite the massive per-test deltas, their overall standing is remarkably close. This is because the Radeon 780M's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 (delta -0.3%) and AMD Radeon Pro 460 (delta 0.5%), while the Arc A770M sits near the AMD Radeon RX 460 (delta 0.1%) and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Mobile (delta 1.2%). The average scores mask the distribution: the Arc's wins are large, but the Radeon's efficiency in lighter workloads keeps its overall average competitive.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous for performance: the Intel Arc A770M wins every head-to-head benchmark, with deltas ranging from 120.9% to 381.1%. If raw speed is the sole criterion, the Arc A770M is the clear choice. Its 374.6% lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad and 381.1% lead in Geekbench OpenCL are not incremental gains; they represent a generational gap in capability. The Arc A770M also has 16 GB of dedicated GDDR6 memory, eliminating the variable of system RAM speed from performance.

However, the Radeon 780M's 15 W TDP against the Arc's 120 W TDP tells a different story. The Radeon achieves 61st percentile standing with one-eighth the power budget, making it the only sensible option for thin-and-light laptops or systems without discrete graphics. The Arc A770M is end-of-life, while the Radeon 780M is active and was released January 30, 2024. For a builder prioritizing upgradability or current support, the Radeon has the edge.

The verdict depends entirely on the chassis. In a laptop with proper cooling and a 120 W allocation, the Arc A770M's 16.79 TFLOPS is transformative. In an ultrabook where every watt matters, the Radeon 780M's 8.909 TFLOPS at 15 W is a far more practical engineering trade-off. Neither GPU is wrong; they serve different physical realities.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs are built on different process nodes and architectures, which explains their divergent characteristics. The Arc A770M uses TSMC's 6 nm process with the Xe-HPG architecture (chip DG2-512), packing 21,700 million transistors across a 406 mm² die. The Radeon 780M uses TSMC's 4 nm process with RDNA 3.0 (chip Phoenix), containing 25,390 million transistors on a much smaller 178 mm² die. This yields a transistor density of 142.6M per mm² for AMD versus 53.4M per mm² for Intel — the Radeon crams 17% more transistors into less than half the die area.

The memory subsystem is fundamentally different. The Arc A770M has 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s of fixed bandwidth. The Radeon 780M uses system-shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth, meaning its performance scales with the host's RAM configuration. The Intel part's memory operates at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), while the AMD part has no dedicated memory clock — it borrows from system RAM.

Compute resources diverge sharply. The Arc A770M has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, 128 ROPs, and 32 ray tracing cores. The Radeon 780M has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 12 ray tracing cores. The Intel part's pixel rate is 262.4 GPixel/s versus the AMD's 92.80 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 524.8 GTexel/s versus 139.2 GTexel/s. The Arc's FP32 throughput is 16.79 TFLOPS, nearly double the Radeon's 8.909 TFLOPS.

Clock speeds tell an interesting reverse story. The Radeon 780M boosts to 2900 MHz from an 800 MHz base, while the Arc A770M boosts to 2050 MHz from a 1650 MHz base. The Radeon's higher boost clock partially compensates for its fewer cores, but not enough to close the gap. The Arc's FP16 performance is 33.59 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio), while the Radeon's FP16 matches its FP32 at 8.909 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio) — Intel has a 4x advantage in half-precision throughput. The bus interface differs too: PCIe 4.0 x16 for Intel versus PCIe 4.0 x8 for AMD.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw FP32 performance?

A: The Intel Arc A770M, at 16.79 TFLOPS, is 88.4% higher than the AMD Radeon 780M's 8.909 TFLOPS.

Q: How much faster is the Arc A770M in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The Arc A770M scores 2,278 versus the Radeon 780M's 480, a 374.6% advantage.

Q: Does the Radeon 780M have dedicated VRAM?

A: No, it uses system-shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth, whereas the Arc A770M has 16 GB of GDDR6.

Q: What is the power draw difference?

A: The Arc A770M has a 120 W TDP, while the Radeon 780M has a 15 W TDP — an 8x difference.

Q: Which GPU is currently in production?

A: The AMD Radeon 780M is active, while the Intel Arc A770M is end-of-life.

Q: How do their average benchmark scores compare?

A: The Arc A770M averages 18,383, and the Radeon 780M averages 17,588 — a 4.5% difference in aggregate.

Where Each One Wins

The Intel Arc A770M wins every benchmark category in the head-to-head data, but the magnitude of its victories varies by workload. In compute-heavy OpenCL tasks, it is 381.1% faster, making it the clear choice for GPU compute, machine learning inference, or any workload leveraging FP32 throughput. Its 512.0 GB/s memory bandwidth also makes it superior for large texture loads, high-resolution rendering, or any task that saturates memory bandwidth. The 16 GB VRAM capacity provides headroom for large datasets that would spill into system RAM on the Radeon.

The Radeon 780M wins in efficiency and integration. At 15 W TDP, it is suitable for fanless or low-power designs where the Arc A770M's 120 W TDP would be impossible to cool. Its 4 nm process and 142.6M transistors per mm² density mean it can be embedded directly into a Phoenix APU, eliminating the need for a separate graphics chip. For a laptop that must run on battery for extended periods, the Radeon's power profile is a decisive advantage. Its Vulkan score of 33,683, while lower than Intel's 74,422, represents a more efficient performance-per-watt ratio in that API.

For gaming, the 3DMark Steel Nomad result favors Intel by 374.6%, but the Radeon's 480 score is still playable for less demanding titles at lower settings. The Arc A770M's 32 ray tracing cores provide hardware RT capability that the Radeon's 12 RT cores cannot match in raw throughput. However, the Radeon's higher boost clock (2900 MHz vs 2050 MHz) gives it a latency advantage in lightly threaded or API-bound scenarios, even if its overall throughput is lower.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every specification field. The Arc A770M uses a 6 nm TSMC process, while the Radeon 780M uses 4 nm TSMC. Transistor counts differ: 21,700 million for Intel versus 25,390 million for AMD. Die size varies dramatically — 406 mm² for Intel versus 178 mm² for AMD. Transistor density is 53.4M per mm² for Intel and 142.6M per mm² for AMD.

Clock speeds: Intel runs at 1650 MHz base and 2050 MHz boost; AMD runs at 800 MHz base and 2900 MHz boost. Memory: Intel has 16 GB GDDR6 with 256-bit bus and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth; AMD has system-shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth. Compute units: Intel has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, 128 ROPs, and 32 RT cores; AMD has 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 12 RT cores. Pixel rate: 262.4 GPixel/s for Intel versus 92.80 GPixel/s for AMD. Texture rate: 524.8 GTexel/s versus 139.2 GTexel/s. FP32: 16.79 TFLOPS versus 8.909 TFLOPS. FP16: 33.59 TFLOPS (2:1) versus 8.909 TFLOPS (1:1). TDP: 120 W versus 15 W. Bus interface: PCIe 4.0 x16 versus PCIe 4.0 x8. Power connectors: none listed for Intel, none for AMD. Display outputs: portable device dependent for Intel, motherboard dependent for AMD. Production status: end-of-life for Intel, active for AMD. Release date: none for Intel, January 30, 2024 for AMD. Predecessor: none for Intel, Navi II IGP for AMD. Successor: none for Intel, Navi III IGP for AMD.