AMD Radeon HD 8970M vs Intel Arc B580 Comparison

The Verdict

The data presents a stark generational contrast. The Intel Arc B580 is the decisive winner in the only shared benchmark, scoring 337.1% higher than the AMD Radeon HD 8970M in Geekbench OpenCL. For any modern workload, the Arc B580 is the only viable choice. The AMD Radeon HD 8970M, an end-of-life mobile part from a previous era, cannot compete on raw compute performance. Its single benchmark score of 21,237 places it in the 66th percentile of all GPUs, while the Arc B580’s average score of 23,021 lands it in the 68th percentile. However, the HD 8970M’s closest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL, which it trails by only 0.4%, indicating it is not entirely obsolete for its era. The verdict is simple: the Arc B580 is for anyone needing current performance; the HD 8970M is only relevant for legacy systems or specific mobile applications where its MXM form factor is required. There is no scenario where the data suggests choosing the older AMD part for new work.

Architecture Differences

The architectural gap between these two GPUs is immense, reflecting nearly twelve years of development. The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture, using the BMG-G21 chip, and is manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. This allows for a transistor count of 19,600 million on a die size of 272 mm², resulting in a transistor density of 72.1 million per mm². In contrast, the AMD Radeon HD 8970M uses the GCN 1.0 architecture with the Neptune chip, produced on a 28 nm process, also at TSMC. It contains only 2,800 million transistors on a 212 mm² die, giving a density of 13.2 million per mm². The Arc B580’s newer process enables a much higher clock speed, with a base and boost of 2670 MHz, whereas the HD 8970M operates at a base of 850 MHz and a boost of 900 MHz. The Intel part also features 20 dedicated ray tracing cores, a capability entirely absent from the AMD mobile GPU. The Arc B580 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the HD 8970M is limited to DirectX 12 (11_1) and Vulkan 1.2.170. Both support OpenGL 4.6, but the feature set beyond that is generations apart. The Intel GPU also has a significantly higher power envelope at 190 W, compared to the HD 8970M’s 100 W, reflecting its desktop-oriented design versus the latter’s mobile MXM module format.

Where Each One Wins

Based on the benchmark data, the Intel Arc B580 wins in every measurable category. It has a single head-to-head win in Geekbench OpenCL, where its score of 92,821 dwarfs the HD 8970M’s 21,237. The Arc B580 also has a broader benchmark profile, with scores in 3DMark Steel Nomad (3,068), Passmark DirectX 10 (76), DirectX 11 (128), DirectX 12 (76), DirectX 9 (183), G2D (709), G3D (15,748), and GPU Compute (7,729). The AMD Radeon HD 8970M has only one recorded score in the entire data set, which is the Geekbench OpenCL result. This means the AMD part cannot claim a single win in any tested workload. The Arc B580’s architecture supports modern APIs and features like ray tracing, which the HD 8970M lacks entirely. For any task requiring current graphics features, high compute throughput, or large memory bandwidth, the Intel part is the clear choice. The HD 8970M’s only advantage is its lower power draw and mobile form factor, but the data shows no performance scenario where it prevails.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The Intel Arc B580 has an average benchmark score of 23,021, while the AMD Radeon HD 8970M has an average score of 21,237.

Q: How much faster is the Intel Arc B580 in Geekbench OpenCL?

A: The Intel Arc B580 scores 92,821 compared to the AMD Radeon HD 8970M’s 21,237, which is a 337.1% difference in favor of the Intel part.

Q: Does the AMD Radeon HD 8970M support ray tracing?

A: No, the AMD Radeon HD 8970M has no ray tracing cores listed in its specifications, while the Intel Arc B580 includes 20 RT cores.

Q: What is the memory capacity difference between the two?

A: The Intel Arc B580 has 12 GB of GDDR6 memory, whereas the AMD Radeon HD 8970M has 4 GB of GDDR5 memory.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor density?

A: The Intel Arc B580 has a transistor density of 72.1 million per mm², while the AMD Radeon HD 8970M has a density of 13.2 million per mm².

Q: Are both GPUs currently in production?

A: No, the Intel Arc B580 is listed as active in production, while the AMD Radeon HD 8970M is marked as end-of-life.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only direct comparison available in the data is the Geekbench OpenCL test, and the result is overwhelmingly one-sided. The Intel Arc B580 achieved a score of 92,821, while the AMD Radeon HD 8970M scored 21,237. This represents a delta of 337.1% in favor of the Intel part. To put this in perspective, the Arc B580’s OpenCL score is more than four times that of the HD 8970M. This is not a marginal improvement; it is a complete generational leap. The Arc B580’s nearest rivals in the overall average score list include the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP (average score 23,061, delta -0.2%) and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (average score 22,895, delta 0.6%). The HD 8970M’s nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (average score 21,153, delta 0.4%) and the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile (average score 21,379, delta -0.7%). The Arc B580’s performance is comparable to much newer discrete desktop cards, while the HD 8970M sits near older mobile parts. In the Passmark suite, the Arc B580 scores 15,748 in G3D and 7,729 in GPU Compute, figures that the HD 8970M simply does not have recorded. The data shows a single, dominant win for the Intel Arc B580 in the head-to-head, with no countervailing benchmark where the AMD part comes out ahead.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ in nearly every core specification. The Intel Arc B580 uses a 192-bit memory bus with 12 GB of GDDR6 memory, delivering a bandwidth of 456.0 GB/s. The AMD Radeon HD 8970M uses a wider 256-bit bus but only 4 GB of GDDR5 memory, resulting in a bandwidth of 153.6 GB/s. The Intel part has 2,560 shading units, 160 texture mapping units, and 80 render output units. The AMD part has 1,280 shading units, 80 TMUs, and 32 ROPs. The Arc B580’s pixel rate is 213.6 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 427.2 GTexel/s. The HD 8970M’s pixel rate is 28.80 GPixel/s, and its texture rate is 72.00 GTexel/s. In terms of compute, the Arc B580 offers 13.67 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 27.34 TFLOPS of FP16 (2:1 ratio), while the HD 8970M provides 2.304 TFLOPS of FP32 and has no FP16 figure listed. The Intel GPU has a base and boost clock of 2670 MHz, with memory clocked at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective). The AMD GPU runs at 850 MHz base and 900 MHz boost, with memory at 1200 MHz (4.8 Gbps effective). The Arc B580 uses a PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, while the HD 8970M uses PCIe 3.0 x16. The Intel card is dual-slot with a 1x 8-pin power connector and a suggested 450 W PSU; the AMD module is an MXM form factor with no listed power connectors or PSU requirement. The Arc B580 has display outputs of 1x HDMI 2.1a and 3x DisplayPort 2.1, while the HD 8970M’s outputs are described as portable device dependent. Finally, the Arc B580’s TDP is 190 W compared to the HD 8970M’s 100 W.