Intel Arc A310 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Comparison

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score in the database?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 records an average benchmark score of 9058, while the Intel Arc A310 averages 7550. However, this average is based on a single Geekbench OpenCL test for the GTX 560, whereas the Arc A310 has results across multiple DirectX, compute, and 2D tests.

Q: How do the two cards compare in Geekbench OpenCL performance?

A: The Intel Arc A310 scores 30607 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 70.4% higher than the GTX 560's score of 9058. This is the only direct head-to-head benchmark recorded in the database.

Q: What are the nearest rivals for each card based on average score?

A: The GTX 560's closest rivals are the NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition (9037, 0.2% lower), GeForce GTX 660 (9022, 0.4% lower), AMD Radeon 550X (8918, 1.6% lower), and AMD Radeon 890M (9210, 1.7% higher). The Arc A310's nearest rivals are AMD Radeon R7 250 (7557, 0.1% higher), AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (7580, 0.4% higher), GeForce GTX 1650 (7472, 1% lower), and AMD Radeon HD 8850M (7447, 1.4% lower).

Q: Which card occupies a higher percentile among all GPUs?

A: The GTX 560 sits at the 45th percentile, while the Arc A310 is at the 40th percentile. Despite the Arc A310's much higher OpenCL score, its broader benchmark suite pulls its average down relative to the GTX 560's single test.

Q: What are the power and interface differences between the two?

A: The GTX 560 has a 150 W TDP with a suggested 450 W PSU and dual-slot cooler, requiring two 6-pin power connectors. The Arc A310 has a 30 W TDP, a suggested 200 W PSU, single-slot design, and no external power connectors. The GTX 560 uses PCIe 2.0 x16, while the Arc A310 uses PCIe 4.0 x8.

Q: Which card supports newer graphics APIs?

A: The Arc A310 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4, while the GTX 560 only supports DirectX 12 (11_0) and has no Vulkan support listed. Both cards support OpenGL 4.6.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from entirely different architectural eras. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 uses the GF114 chip based on Fermi 2.0 architecture, built on TSMC's 40 nm process. This is a mature design from the GeForce 500 generation, with 1,950 million transistors on a 332 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 5.9 million per mm². In contrast, the Intel Arc A310 uses the DG2-128 chip with Xe-HPG architecture from the Alchemist (Arc 3) generation, fabricated on TSMC's 6 nm process. It packs 7,200 million transistors into a much smaller 157 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 45.9 million per mm², nearly eight times higher.

The shader and fixed-function hardware configurations differ substantially. The GTX 560 has 336 shading units, 56 texture mapping units, and 32 ROPs. The Arc A310 has 768 shading units but only 32 TMUs and 16 ROPs. This imbalance suggests the Intel card is designed for compute-heavy workloads, while the GTX 560's higher ROP count favors traditional rasterization throughput at lower resolutions. The Arc A310 also includes 6 dedicated ray tracing cores, a feature entirely absent from the Fermi-based GTX 560.

Memory technology and capacity also reflect generational leaps. The GTX 560 uses 1024 MB of GDDR5 on a 256-bit bus, delivering 128.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Arc A310 uses 4 GB of GDDR6 on a much narrower 64-bit bus, achieving 124.0 GB/s. Despite the narrower interface, the faster GDDR6 memory nearly matches the bandwidth of the older, wider GDDR5 implementation. Clock behavior differs too: the GTX 560's memory runs at 1000 MHz (4 Gbps effective), while the Arc A310's memory runs at 1937 MHz (15.5 Gbps effective), and the Intel card's base and boost clocks are both 1750 MHz.

The Arc A310's feature set includes hardware ray tracing and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate and Vulkan 1.4, while the GTX 560 maxes out at DirectX 12 (11_0) with no Vulkan support. Display outputs also diverge: the GTX 560 offers 2x DVI and 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a, whereas the Arc A310 provides 4x mini-DisplayPort 2.0, reflecting modern multi-monitor and high-bandwidth display requirements. The Intel card's PCIe 4.0 x8 interface doubles the per-lane bandwidth of the GTX 560's PCIe 2.0 x16, which matters for data transfer in bandwidth-sensitive workloads.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records only one direct head-to-head comparison between these two GPUs: Geekbench OpenCL. Here, the Intel Arc A310 achieves 30607 points, while the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 scores 9058. The delta is 70.4% in favor of the Arc A310, a massive margin that reflects both the architectural advancements and the higher shader count of the Intel part. This single result gives the Arc A310 a 1-0 win tally in head-to-head comparisons.

Interpreting this score requires context from the nearest rival data. The GTX 560's OpenCL result places it near the NVIDIA TITAN V CEO Edition (9037, 0.2% lower) and the GeForce GTX 660 (9022, 0.4% lower), meaning its compute performance is tightly clustered with those cards. The AMD Radeon 890M scores 9210, only 1.7% higher, indicating the GTX 560 is competitive with modern integrated graphics in this specific test. Meanwhile, the Arc A310's OpenCL score is not directly compared to rivals in the head-to-head dataset, but its average benchmark score of 7550 places it near the AMD Radeon R7 250 (7557, 0.1% lower) and AMD Radeon Pro WX 3100 (7580, 0.4% lower). This discrepancy is notable: the Arc A310's OpenCL performance is far above its average, suggesting the card's strengths are concentrated in compute-heavy APIs.

The Arc A310 also shows strong results in other database entries, though these are not head-to-head against the GTX 560. Its PassMark DirectX 9 score of 69 is far higher than its DirectX 10 score of 31, DirectX 11 score of 33, and DirectX 12 score of 29. This pattern indicates that legacy DirectX 9 workloads run particularly well on the Intel architecture, while modern API performance is more moderate. The PassMark G3D score of 5433 and G2D score of 625 further illustrate the card's profile: decent 3D performance but comparatively weaker 2D throughput. The GPU compute score of 2157 sits between these values, reinforcing that the Arc A310's compute capabilities are mid-range.

For the GTX 560, the only benchmark available is Geekbench OpenCL at 9058. There is no Vulkan, DirectX, or compute data in the database for this card, limiting direct comparison to the Arc A310's broader suite. What can be stated is that in the one test both cards share, the Arc A310 outperforms the GTX 560 by a wide margin, and the GTX 560's score is competitive with its nearest rivals in the 8918-9210 range. The Arc A310's OpenCL score of 30607 is roughly 3.4 times the GTX 560's, a gap that no other recorded metric for either card closes.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 | Intel Arc A310 |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | Fermi 2.0 | Xe-HPG |

| Process Node | 40 nm | 6 nm |

| Transistors | 1,950 million | 7,200 million |

| Die Size | 332 mm² | 157 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 5.9M / mm² | 45.9M / mm² |

| Memory Size | 1024 MB | 4 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR5 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 256 bit | 64 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 128.0 GB/s | 124.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 336 | 768 |

| TMUs | 56 | 32 |

| ROPs | 32 | 16 |

| RT Cores | None | 6 |

| Pixel Rate | 11.34 GPixel/s | 28.00 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 45.36 GTexel/s | 56.00 GTexel/s |

| FP32 Performance | 1,088.6 GFLOPS | 2.688 TFLOPS |

| FP16 Performance | Not listed | 5.376 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 150 W | 30 W |

| Slot Width | Dual-slot | Single-slot |

| Power Connectors | 2x 6-pin | None |

| Suggested PSU | 450 W | 200 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 2.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| Display Outputs | 2x DVI, 1x mini-HDMI 1.3a | 4x mini-DisplayPort 2.0 |

| DirectX Support | 12 (11_0) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| Vulkan Support | Not listed | 1.4 |

| Release Date | 2011-05-16 | 2022-10-11 |

| Predecessor | GeForce 400 | Xe Graphics |

| Successor | GeForce 600 | Battlemage |

| Launch MSRP | 199 USD | Not listed |

The table above captures only the fields where the two cards differ. Notably, the GTX 560 has a higher ROP count and memory bus width, while the Arc A310 leads in shader units, FP32 performance, and memory capacity. The Intel card's TDP of 30 W is one-fifth of the GTX 560's 150 W, a dramatic efficiency improvement enabled by the 6 nm process.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear split in use cases. For raw compute performance in OpenCL, the Intel Arc A310 dominates: its 30607 score is 70.4% higher than the GTX 560's 9058, and this is the only direct head-to-head result recorded. The Arc A310 also offers modern features like ray tracing, DirectX 12 Ultimate, Vulkan 1.4, and 4 GB of GDDR6 memory, making it the more future-proof choice for applications that leverage these APIs. Its 30 W power draw and single-slot design also make it suitable for low-power and compact systems, with no external power connectors required.

The GTX 560, however, holds its own in the 45th percentile versus the Arc A310's 40th, driven by a higher average benchmark score (9058 vs 7550). This is partly an artifact of benchmark coverage: the GTX 560 has a single OpenCL result, while the Arc A310's average includes weaker PassMark DirectX scores (ranging from 29 to 69) and a modest G3D score of 5433. The GTX 560's nearest rivals include the TITAN V CEO Edition and GTX 660, all within 0.4%, indicating tight competition in its performance class. Its 256-bit memory bus and 32 ROPs may benefit older or rasterization-heavy workloads, though no DirectX benchmarks exist in the database to confirm this.

For users prioritizing compute density and API support, the Arc A310 is the logical pick based on the recorded data. For those seeking a card with a higher average benchmark score and a stronger percentile ranking, the GTX 560 edges ahead, albeit with 150 W power consumption and a dual-slot footprint. The GTX 560's launch MSRP was 199 USD, while the Arc A310 has no recorded launch price. Ultimately, the choice hinges on whether the workload favors the Arc A310's massive OpenCL advantage or the GTX 560's slightly better overall standing in the database. The Arc A310's 6 nm efficiency and modern feature set make it the more balanced long-term option, while the GTX 560 remains a legacy part with a narrower but respectable performance profile.