Intel Arc A310 vs NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M Comparison

Intel Arc A310 and NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M sit at opposite ends of the GPU timeline, and the benchmark data reflects that gap clearly. The Arc A310 is a modern entry-level discrete GPU built on Intel’s Xe-HPG architecture, while the GT 555M is a legacy mobile Fermi part from 2011. In the only direct head-to-head benchmark recorded, the Arc A310 dominates, but the GT 555M still holds relevance for older systems. The database shows the Arc A310 with an average benchmark score of 7550, placing it in the 40th percentile of all GPUs, while the GT 555M scores 6493, sitting in the 37th percentile. The nearest rivals for the Arc A310 include the AMD Radeon R7 250 (average score 7557, delta -0.1%) and the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (average score 7472, delta +1%), indicating the Arc A310 trades blows with those cards. The GT 555M’s nearest rivals include the NVIDIA Quadro M5000M (average score 6481, delta +0.2%) and the AMD Radeon Vega 10 Mobile (average score 6476, delta +0.3%), showing it is closely matched with those older parts. This analysis breaks down where each GPU wins, which one to pick based on the data, and the architectural and specification differences that explain the performance gap.

Where Each One Wins

The Intel Arc A310 is the clear winner in compute-heavy and modern API workloads. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 30607 crushes the GT 555M’s 6493, a delta of 371.4% in favor of the Arc A310. This is not a marginal lead; it is a generational leap. The Arc A310 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6, which makes it viable for modern gaming titles and compute applications that leverage these APIs. The GT 555M, by contrast, is limited to DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, with no Vulkan support listed. For any workload that uses OpenCL, the Arc A310 wins outright.

The GT 555M, however, has no benchmark wins in the recorded data. In the head-to-head comparison, it loses the only test (Geekbench OpenCL) by a massive margin. That said, the GT 555M’s profile is not without merit for legacy scenarios. Its 35 W TDP is lower than the Arc A310’s 30 W? No, the Arc A310 is actually lower at 30 W. The GT 555M uses a 128-bit memory bus with DDR3, which is wider than the Arc A310’s 64-bit bus, but the bandwidth is far lower at 28.80 GB/s versus 124.0 GB/s. The GT 555M is also a mobile part with "Portable Device Dependent" display outputs, meaning it was designed for laptops where the Arc A310’s 4x mini-DisplayPort 2.0 outputs are irrelevant. For pure backward compatibility with older games that rely on DirectX 9 or 11, the GT 555M’s PassMark scores (DirectX 9: 69, DirectX 11: 33) are low but functional. The Arc A310’s PassMark DirectX 9 score is 69 as well, but its DirectX 11 score is 33, identical. The real split is compute: the Arc A310 wins all modern compute and API-heavy tasks, while the GT 555M only makes sense for ancient systems where power draw and driver compatibility with legacy software matter more than performance.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the Intel Arc A310 is the superior GPU for almost any use case. Its average benchmark score of 7550 is 16.3% higher than the GT 555M’s 6493 (calculated from the raw scores, not a listed delta). The Arc A310’s percentile rank of 40 versus the GT 555M’s 37 confirms it sits in a higher performance tier overall. If you are building a system today, or upgrading an older desktop, the Arc A310 is the only rational choice from this pair. It offers 4 GB of GDDR6 memory, 768 shading units, and 6 ray tracing cores, all of which are absent on the GT 555M. The Arc A310 also has a modern PCIe 4.0 x8 interface, while the GT 555M uses PCIe 2.0 x16, which limits its bandwidth on modern motherboards.

The GT 555M should only be considered if you have a specific, narrow requirement: a legacy laptop with a soldered GPU that cannot be upgraded, or a system where the only available slot is for a mobile part. Even then, the GT 555M’s 1024 MB of DDR3 memory and 339.8 GFLOPS of FP32 performance are severely limiting. The data shows that the GT 555M’s nearest rival, the Intel UHD Graphics P750, scores 6554, which is only 0.9% higher, meaning the GT 555M is essentially on par with integrated graphics from a few generations later. In contrast, the Arc A310’s nearest rival, the AMD Radeon R7 250, scores 7557, only 0.1% higher, positioning the Arc A310 as a competent entry-level discrete card. The verdict is simple: pick the Arc A310 unless you are physically constrained to the GT 555M’s form factor.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Only one benchmark is recorded for both GPUs, but it is decisive. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Intel Arc A310 scores 30607, while the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M scores 6493. The delta is 371.4% in favor of the Arc A310. This means the Arc A310 delivers nearly five times the OpenCL performance of the GT 555M. OpenCL is a general-purpose compute API used in video encoding, physics simulations, and some rendering workloads, so this gap has practical implications. For example, any task that offloads parallel computation to the GPU will complete in a fraction of the time on the Arc A310.

The GT 555M has no wins in any recorded benchmark against the Arc A310. Its only recorded benchmark is the Geekbench OpenCL test, so there is no data for DirectX or Vulkan comparisons. The Arc A310, however, has a full suite of PassMark scores: DirectX 9 (69), DirectX 10 (31), DirectX 11 (33), DirectX 12 (29), G2D (625), G3D (5433), and GPU Compute (2157). These scores, while not directly comparable to the GT 555M (which lacks equivalent tests), indicate that the Arc A310 is a balanced performer across legacy and modern APIs. The GT 555M’s lack of Vulkan support and its older DirectX 11_0 feature level mean it cannot run many modern games that require DirectX 12 Ultimate or Vulkan. The Arc A310’s DirectX 12 Ultimate support includes features like ray tracing and mesh shaders, which the GT 555M cannot handle. The head-to-head data, while limited to one test, is consistent with the architectural differences: the Arc A310 is a modern, compute-capable GPU, while the GT 555M is a dated mobile part.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher OpenCL performance?

A: The Intel Arc A310 scores 30607 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 371.4% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M’s 6493. The Arc A310 is the clear winner for compute workloads.

Q: Does the GT 555M support Vulkan?

A: No. The database lists no Vulkan API support for the GT 555M, while the Arc A310 supports Vulkan 1.4. This makes the GT 555M incompatible with many modern games and applications that require Vulkan.

Q: How do the memory specifications compare?

A: The Arc A310 has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus, delivering 124.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The GT 555M has 1024 MB of DDR3 memory on a 128-bit bus, delivering 28.80 GB/s. The Arc A310 has over four times the bandwidth.

Q: Which GPU has a higher transistor count?

A: The Arc A310 uses 7,200 million transistors on a 157 mm² die, while the GT 555M uses 1,170 million transistors on a 238 mm² die. The Arc A310’s 6 nm process node from TSMC allows for much higher density at 45.9M transistors per mm² versus 4.9M for the GT 555M.

Q: What is the average benchmark score for each GPU?

A: The Arc A310 has an average benchmark score of 7550, placing it in the 40th percentile of all GPUs. The GT 555M has an average score of 6493, in the 37th percentile.

Q: Can the GT 555M handle ray tracing?

A: No. The GT 555M has no ray tracing cores listed. The Arc A310 has 6 ray tracing cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing in supported titles.

Architecture Differences

The Intel Arc A310 is built on the Xe-HPG architecture, specifically using the DG2-128 chip, and belongs to the Alchemist generation (Arc 3). It is manufactured on a 6 nm process at TSMC, with 7,200 million transistors on a 157 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 45.9M per mm². The architecture supports modern features like DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), Vulkan 1.4, and OpenGL 4.6. It includes 6 ray tracing cores, which enable hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and 768 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, and 16 raster operation units. The memory subsystem uses GDDR6 with a 64-bit bus, and the GPU operates at a base and boost clock of 1750 MHz, with memory at 1937 MHz (15.5 Gbps effective). The FP32 performance is 2.688 TFLOPS, and FP16 performance is 5.376 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio. The Arc A310 is a discrete, single-slot card with PCIe 4.0 x8 interface and four mini-DisplayPort 2.0 outputs.

The NVIDIA GeForce GT 555M uses the Fermi architecture, with the GF106 chip, and belongs to the GeForce 500M generation. It is manufactured on a 40 nm process at TSMC, with 1,170 million transistors on a 238 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 4.9M per mm². The Fermi architecture is older, supporting DirectX 12 (11_0) and OpenGL 4.6, but no Vulkan. It has 144 shading units, 24 texture mapping units, and 16 raster operation units, with no ray tracing or tensor cores. The memory is DDR3 on a 128-bit bus, running at 900 MHz (1800 Mbps effective). The FP32 performance is 339.8 GFLOPS, and FP16 data is not listed. The GT 555M has a TDP of 35 W, and its display outputs are "Portable Device Dependent," indicating it was designed for laptops. The architectural gap is vast: the Arc A310’s Xe-HPG is a modern, efficient design with dedicated ray tracing hardware, while the GT 555M’s Fermi is a decade-old architecture without such features.

Specification Differences

The key specification differences between the two GPUs are stark. The Intel Arc A310 has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory, while the GT 555M has 1024 MB of DDR3. Memory bandwidth favors the Arc A310 at 124.0 GB/s versus 28.80 GB/s. The Arc A310 has 768 shading units, 32 TMUs, and 16 ROPs, while the GT 555M has 144 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The Arc A310 also has 6 RT cores, which the GT 555M lacks. Clock speeds differ: the Arc A310 runs at 1750 MHz base and boost, while the GT 555M has no base or boost clock listed, only a memory clock of 900 MHz. Pixel and texture rates are much higher on the Arc A310: 28.00 GPixel/s and 56.00 GTexel/s versus 3.540 GPixel/s and 14.16 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 2.688 TFLOPS on the Arc A310 versus 339.8 GFLOPS on the GT 555M. The Arc A310 also supports FP16 at 5.376 TFLOPS, which the GT 555M does not list. Power consumption is comparable: the Arc A310 has a TDP of 30 W, and the GT 555M is 35 W. The Arc A310 uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the GT 555M uses PCIe 2.0 x16. The Arc A310 has four mini-DisplayPort 2.0 outputs, while the GT 555M’s outputs are portable-device dependent. The Arc A310 is single-slot with no power connectors and a suggested PSU of 200 W, while the GT 555M has no slot width, power connector, or PSU data listed. The Arc A310 was released in October 2022, while the GT 555M came out in July 2011. Both are end-of-life products, but the Arc A310 is the modern successor to Intel’s Xe Graphics, with Battlemage as its successor, while the GT 555M is a Fermi-era part with GeForce 600M as its successor.