AMD Radeon RX 6800S vs Intel Arc A350M Comparison

The Intel Arc A350M and AMD Radeon RX 6800S represent two very different approaches to mobile graphics, separated by a significant performance gap despite both being aimed at laptops. The data indicates the RX 6800S is in a completely different performance class, with the Arc A350M positioned as an entry-level part that trades heavily on efficiency. This analysis breaks down their architectural differences, benchmark results, and the specific use cases where each mobile GPU makes sense.

FAQ

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in raw compute performance?

A: The AMD Radeon RX 6800S is substantially more powerful, delivering 8.602 TFLOPS of FP32 performance compared to the Intel Arc A350M's 3.379 TFLOPS. This represents more than a 2.5x advantage in raw shading throughput, which directly translates to the large benchmark score differences.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference?

A: The Arc A350M comes with 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus, offering 112.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The RX 6800S doubles this with 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, providing 256.0 GB/s of bandwidth. This is a critical difference for modern games and texture-heavy workloads.

Q: Which GPU has better power efficiency based on the specs?

A: The Intel Arc A350M has a dramatically lower TDP of 25 W compared to the AMD's 100 W. While the AMD offers far more performance, the Intel part consumes only a quarter of the power, making it better suited for thin-and-light laptops where battery life is paramount.

Q: Are there differences in DirectX or Vulkan support?

A: No, both GPUs support the same modern API feature sets. Both feature DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, meaning they are equally capable of running the latest graphics APIs.

Q: How does the transistor density compare between the two chips?

A: Despite using different process nodes, the transistor density is remarkably similar. The Intel chip is built on a 6 nm process with 45.9M transistors per mm², while the AMD chip uses a 7 nm process with 46.7M transistors per mm². The AMD chip is larger overall, with 11,060 million transistors on a 237 mm² die versus Intel's 7,200 million on a 157 mm² die.

Q: What do the benchmark scores suggest about their market positioning?

A: The Arc A350M's average benchmark score of 24647 places it at the 70th percentile, while the RX 6800S's average of 24063 places it at the 69th percentile. Despite the AMD's massive win in direct comparison, its percentile is nearly identical, suggesting both are mid-range parts relative to the entire GPU market.

Architecture Differences

The two mobile GPUs are built on fundamentally different architectures. The Intel Arc A350M uses the Xe-HPG architecture on a 6 nm TSMC process, specifically the DG2-128 chip. This is the entry point of the Alchemist generation for mobile, featuring 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs. It also includes 6 dedicated ray tracing cores. The AMD Radeon RX 6800S, on the other hand, uses the RDNA 2.0 architecture on a 7 nm TSMC process with the Navi 23 chip. This is a high-end part from the RX 6000M generation, packing 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, along with 32 ray tracing cores.

The memory subsystems differ significantly. Intel's part is limited to a 64-bit bus with 4 GB of GDDR6 memory running at 14 Gbps effective, yielding 112 GB/s. AMD's part uses a 128-bit bus with 8 GB of GDDR6 at 16 Gbps effective, giving it more than double the bandwidth at 256 GB/s. This bandwidth advantage is crucial for the RX 6800S's higher resolution and texture throughput potential. The clock speeds also tell a story: the Intel chip has a base clock of 1150 MHz and a boost of 2200 MHz, while the AMD chip has a higher base clock of 1800 MHz but a lower boost of 2100 MHz, with a game clock rated at 1975 MHz.

Another key architectural difference is the physical die size and transistor count. The Intel DG2-128 is a relatively small chip at 157 mm² with 7,200 million transistors. The AMD Navi 23 is significantly larger at 237 mm² and houses 11,060 million transistors. This explains the performance gap, as the AMD chip has roughly 2.7x more shading units and 2.7x more TMUs. The pixel and texture rates reflect this: the RX 6800S can output 134.4 GPixel/s and 268.8 GTexel/s, versus the Arc A350M's 52.80 GPixel/s and 105.6 GTexel/s. Both use a PCIe 4.0 x8 bus interface and are designed as integrated GPUs with portable-device-dependent display outputs.

The Verdict

The data makes it clear that the AMD Radeon RX 6800S is the superior performer in every benchmark category measured. For anyone building a gaming laptop or needing serious graphics compute, the RX 6800S is the obvious choice. It provides roughly 2.5x the FP32 compute power, double the memory capacity and bandwidth, and significantly higher pixel and texture fill rates. The direct benchmark comparisons show a massive lead in both OpenCL and Vulkan workloads.

The Intel Arc A350M's only clear advantage is its power envelope. With a 25 W TDP, it is designed for ultra-portable systems where battery life and thermal constraints are more important than raw frame rates. It can still handle light gaming and general desktop acceleration, but it is not in the same class as the RX 6800S. The performance-per-watt ratio heavily favors Intel, but the absolute performance is simply too low to compete in demanding scenarios. If your priority is maximum performance in a mobile form factor, choose the RX 6800S. If you need a low-power integrated solution for basic tasks, the Arc A350M serves that niche, though the benchmark data shows its limitations clearly.

Specification Differences

The specification sheets for these two GPUs show a clear hierarchy. The AMD Radeon RX 6800S has a higher base clock at 1800 MHz versus 1150 MHz for the Intel Arc A350M, though the Intel part has a higher boost clock at 2200 MHz versus 2100 MHz. The AMD part also specifies a game clock of 1975 MHz, which the Intel part lacks entirely. Memory speed differs as well, with the AMD running at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective) versus Intel's 1750 MHz (14 Gbps effective).

Beyond clocks, the compute unit counts diverge sharply. The AMD has 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, while the Intel has only 768 shading units, 48 TMUs, and 24 ROPs. Ray tracing cores also differ: 32 for AMD versus 6 for Intel. The memory configuration is another major divider: 8 GB vs 4 GB, 128-bit vs 64-bit bus, 256 GB/s vs 112 GB/s bandwidth. The AMD chip is physically larger and more complex, with 11,060 million transistors versus 7,200 million, and a larger die at 237 mm² versus 157 mm². The TDP difference is substantial: 100 W for AMD versus 25 W for Intel. Both use the same PCIe 4.0 x8 interface and are rated as IGP (integrated graphics processor) slot width with no power connectors listed for the AMD.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The direct comparison between the two GPUs is one-sided. In the geekbench_opencl test, the AMD Radeon RX 6800S scores 73202, while the Intel Arc A350M scores 24546. This represents a deltaPct of -66.5 for the Intel part, meaning it is 66.5% slower than the AMD in OpenCL compute workloads. This is a dominant victory for AMD, reflecting its superior compute unit count and memory bandwidth.

The geekbench_vulkan test shows an even larger gap. The RX 6800S scores 81272, while the Arc A350M scores 24747. The deltaPct here is -69.6, indicating the Intel GPU is nearly 70% behind in Vulkan graphics performance. This suggests that the RX 6800S is particularly strong in modern graphics APIs where its RDNA 2.0 architecture can fully utilize its resources. Across the two head-to-head benchmarks, the AMD GPU wins both, with the Intel part managing only 0 wins out of 2 comparisons. The average benchmark scores tell a similar story: the Arc A350M averages 24647, while the RX 6800S averages 24063, though this aggregate figure is skewed by the different test suites each part was subjected to.

Where Each One Wins

The AMD Radeon RX 6800S wins decisively in all compute and graphics performance categories measured in the head-to-head tests. Its OpenCL score of 73202 versus 24546 makes it the clear choice for GPU compute tasks like rendering, machine learning inference, or scientific calculations. Its Vulkan score of 81272 versus 24747 cements its position for gaming and other graphics-heavy applications. With 8 GB of memory and 256 GB/s of bandwidth, it is also better suited for higher resolution textures and larger working sets, which the benchmark deltas confirm.

The Intel Arc A350M wins in the power efficiency category. Its 25 W TDP is a quarter of the AMD's 100 W, making it the only viable option for systems where power draw is a hard constraint. This makes it suitable for ultra-books or compact laptops where the RX 6800S would be thermally or physically impossible to integrate. The Intel part also has a higher boost clock (2200 MHz vs 2100 MHz), though this does not translate into a performance advantage in the data. For users who need basic graphics acceleration in a highly portable device, the Arc A350M is the pragmatic pick. For any scenario where performance matters, the RX 6800S is the only choice based on the benchmark evidence, with its nearest rival being the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER at a -0.4% deltaPct in the aggregate score comparison.