AMD Radeon PRO W6600 vs Intel Arc A770 Comparison

The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 and Intel Arc A770 represent two very different approaches to the GPU market, with the former built for professional workflows and the latter aimed at the enthusiast desktop segment. The benchmark data reveals a clear performance hierarchy between the two, with the Intel card winning both head-to-head tests, but the AMD card holding its own in specific professional contexts. The W6600, despite being an older, end-of-life product, posts a higher average benchmark score and a better percentile ranking, while the A770 counters with significantly higher raw compute throughput in the tests where they were directly compared.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The direct comparison between the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 and the Intel Arc A770 consists of two Geekbench compute tests, and in both, the Intel Arc A770 emerges victorious. In the Geekbench OpenCL test, the Intel Arc A770 scores 109,175, which is a substantial 32.7% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO W6600's 73,514. This is a commanding lead in a general-purpose compute workload, suggesting that the Intel card's larger shader array and higher memory bandwidth translate directly into raw processing power that eclipses the AMD offering.

The Vulkan test narrows the gap but still favors Intel. The Arc A770 scores 94,284, while the Radeon PRO W6600 posts 78,428, resulting in a 16.8% delta in Intel's favor. While this is still a decisive win for Intel, the smaller margin compared to OpenCL indicates that the AMD card is relatively more competitive in the Vulkan API, which is often used in gaming and real-time rendering scenarios. The data shows that Intel's advantage is consistent across both APIs, but the magnitude of that advantage varies significantly.

Looking at the broader benchmark landscape, the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 has an average benchmark score of 81,995 across all its tested workloads, which places it in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs. The Intel Arc A770, by contrast, has an average score of 68,809, putting it in the 90th percentile. This is a curious inversion: the Intel card wins the two direct head-to-head tests, but its overall average is 16.1% lower than the AMD card's. This suggests that the AMD card performs better in other workloads not covered by the head-to-head comparison, likely including the Geekbench Metal test where the W6600 scores 94,042, a figure not available for the Intel card.

The nearest rival data for each card further contextualizes their standing. The Radeon PRO W6600's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X, which it beats by a slim 1.3% margin. It also outperforms the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 by 2.7% and the NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants by 3.0% and 3.3%. The Intel Arc A770, meanwhile, is nearly tied with the NVIDIA CMP 90HX, trailing by just 0.3%, and it edges out the AMD Radeon Instinct MI25 by 0.4%. It trails the AMD Radeon Pro WX 8200 and NVIDIA Quadro P6000 by 1.5% and 1.7%, respectively. This places the two cards in very different competitive tiers, with the AMD card punching above its weight against much more expensive data center parts.

FAQ

Q: Which card has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 has a higher average benchmark score of 81,995, compared to the Intel Arc A770's 68,809, a difference of roughly 19%.

Q: Did the Intel Arc A770 win any of the direct head-to-head benchmark tests?

A: Yes, the Intel Arc A770 won both head-to-head tests against the AMD Radeon PRO W6600: Geekbench OpenCL with a score of 109,175 and Geekbench Vulkan with a score of 94,284.

Q: How much of a lead did the Intel Arc A770 have in the Geekbench OpenCL test?

A: The Intel Arc A770's score of 109,175 was 32.7% higher than the AMD Radeon PRO W6600's 73,514 in the Geekbench OpenCL test.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of each card among all GPUs?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 ranks in the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, while the Intel Arc A770 ranks in the 90th percentile.

Q: Which card has a higher score in the Geekbench Vulkan test?

A: The Intel Arc A770 has the higher Geekbench Vulkan score at 94,284, compared to the AMD Radeon PRO W6600's 78,428.

Q: How does the AMD Radeon PRO W6600 compare to the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X?

A: The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 has an average benchmark score that is 1.3% higher than the AMD Radeon Pro Vega 64X.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide between these two GPUs is fundamental. The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 is built on the RDNA 2.0 architecture, utilizing the Navi 23 chip, while the Intel Arc A770 uses the Xe-HPG architecture with the DG2-512 chip. These are entirely different design philosophies targeting different workloads. The process nodes differ as well, with the AMD card fabricated on a 7 nm process at TSMC, while the Intel card uses a more advanced 6 nm process at the same foundry. This translates to a transistor density of 46.7M per mm² for AMD and 53.4M per mm² for Intel.

The raw hardware specifications diverge sharply. The Intel Arc A770 packs 4,096 shading units, 256 texture mapping units, and 128 ROPs, which is more than double the AMD card's 1,792 shading units, 112 TMUs, and 64 ROPs. The ray tracing core count also favors Intel, with 32 RT cores compared to AMD's 28. Neither card features dedicated tensor cores. The Intel card's larger compute configuration is reflected in its higher pixel rate of 307.2 GPixel/s and texture rate of 614.4 GTexel/s, versus the AMD card's 165.1 GPixel/s and 289.0 GTexel/s. The FP32 throughput is similarly lopsided, with Intel delivering 19.66 TFLOPS against AMD's 9.247 TFLOPS, and FP16 performance of 39.32 TFLOPS against 18.49 TFLOPS.

Memory architecture is another key differentiator. The Intel Arc A770 comes with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The AMD Radeon PRO W6600, in contrast, offers 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, halving the bandwidth to 224.0 GB/s. Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API feature parity is present despite the internal differences. The bus interface also differs, with the AMD card using PCIe 4.0 x8 and the Intel card using the full PCIe 4.0 x16 configuration.

Specification Differences

The two cards diverge on nearly every measurable specification, starting with the process node where the Intel Arc A770 uses a 6 nm process versus the AMD Radeon PRO W6600's 7 nm process. The transistor count is a major differentiator, with Intel's DG2-512 chip housing 21,700 million transistors on a 406 mm² die, while the AMD Navi 23 has 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die. This leads to different transistor densities of 53.4M/mm² for Intel and 46.7M/mm² for AMD.

Clock speeds also vary, with the AMD card having a base clock of 2331 MHz and a boost clock of 2580 MHz, while the Intel card runs slightly slower at 2100 MHz base and 2400 MHz boost. The memory clocks differ as well, with AMD at 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective) and Intel at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). The memory configuration is starkly different: 8 GB versus 16 GB, 128-bit versus 256-bit bus, and 224.0 GB/s versus 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The compute unit counts are also drastically different, as detailed in the architecture section.

Power and physical specifications are where the AMD card shows its efficiency advantage. The Radeon PRO W6600 has a TDP of 100 W and requires a single 6-pin power connector with a suggested 300 W PSU. The Intel Arc A770 is much more power-hungry, with a 225 W TDP, needing a 6-pin and an 8-pin connector, and a suggested 550 W PSU. The AMD card is also a single-slot design measuring 241 mm in length, while the Intel card is a dual-slot design. Display outputs differ, with the AMD card offering 4x DisplayPort 1.4a and the Intel card providing 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0. The launch MSRP for the AMD card was 649 USD, while the Intel card launched at 329 USD.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 wins on the basis of overall benchmark consistency and professional positioning. Its average benchmark score of 81,995 is significantly higher than the Intel Arc A770's 68,809, and its 92nd percentile ranking places it above Intel's 90th percentile. The data suggests that the AMD card performs better in a wider range of workloads, particularly the Geekbench Metal test where it scores 94,042, a test absent from the Intel card's results. For users working in environments that leverage Metal, such as macOS-based creative workflows, the AMD card is the clear choice. Its lower power draw of 100 W, single-slot form factor, and smaller physical footprint also make it a better fit for dense professional workstations or systems where space and thermal management are constrained.

The Intel Arc A770 wins decisively in the direct compute benchmarks. Its 32.7% lead in Geekbench OpenCL and 16.8% lead in Geekbench Vulkan demonstrate superior raw throughput in these specific APIs. The card's massive 16 GB memory buffer and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth provide a significant advantage for workloads that are memory-bound, such as large dataset processing or high-resolution texture streaming. The higher FP32 and FP16 throughput, at 19.66 TFLOPS and 39.32 TFLOPS respectively, make it the better choice for pure compute tasks that are not reliant on the Metal API. For users prioritizing maximum performance in OpenCL and Vulkan applications, the Intel card is the stronger performer.

The use-case split is therefore clear. The AMD Radeon PRO W6600 is the better all-rounder for professional environments where a balance of performance, power efficiency, and broad API support is needed. The Intel Arc A770 is the specialist for compute-heavy workloads that can take advantage of its massive memory bandwidth and raw shader throughput, provided the software stack is compatible with its OpenCL and Vulkan strengths. The data shows the AMD card is more competitive in its nearest rival group, beating the Radeon Pro Vega 64X and even the RTX 5090 in average score, while the Intel card sits in a tighter cluster with mining and older workstation cards.