Intel Arc A310E vs NVIDIA H20 Comparison

FAQ

Q: What are the core architectural differences between the Intel Arc A310E and the NVIDIA H20?

A: The Intel Arc A310E is built on the Xe-HPG architecture (Alchemist generation) using a 6 nm process at TSMC, while the NVIDIA H20 uses the Hopper architecture (Server Hopper generation) on a 5 nm process at the same foundry. The A310E uses the DG2-128 chip with 7,200 million transistors on a 157 mm² die, while the H20 uses the GH100 chip with 80,000 million transistors on an 814 mm² die.

Q: How do the memory subsystems compare?

A: The A310E has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus, delivering 124.0 GB/s bandwidth. The H20 has 96 GB of HBM3 memory on a 6144-bit bus, delivering 4.03 TB/s bandwidth. The H20's memory bandwidth is over 32 times higher, and its capacity is 24 times greater.

Q: What is the difference in compute capabilities?

A: The A310E delivers 3.072 TFLOPS FP32 and 6.144 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). The H20 delivers 39.54 TFLOPS FP32 and 79.07 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). The H20 provides roughly 12.9 times more FP32 throughput and 12.9 times more FP16 throughput.

Q: What are the physical and power specifications?

A: The A310E is a single-slot card with no power connectors, a 75 W TDP, and a suggested PSU of 250 W. The H20 is an SXM module with a 500 W TDP and a suggested PSU of 900 W. The A310E has dimensions of 168 mm length, 69 mm height, and 20 mm width; the H20 has no recorded dimensions.

Q: What display outputs and API support do these cards offer?

A: The A310E has 4x mini-DisplayPort 2.0 outputs and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The H20 has no display outputs and no DirectX, OpenGL, or Vulkan support, as it is designed for server compute workloads.

Q: What is the production status and release timeline?

A: The A310E is end-of-life, released on 2024-03-31, with its predecessor listed as Xe Graphics and successor as Battlemage. The H20 is active, released on 2024-01-31, with its predecessor as Server Ada and successor as Server Blackwell.

Architecture Differences

The Intel Arc A310E and NVIDIA H20 represent two fundamentally different design philosophies. The A310E is a low-power, compact graphics solution built on the Xe-HPG architecture, specifically the DG2-128 chip. It is fabricated on a 6 nm process at TSMC, containing 7,200 million transistors within a 157 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 45.9M per mm². This chip is designed for efficiency and small form factor use, fitting into a single-slot, 168 mm long card with no external power connectors.

The NVIDIA H20, in contrast, is a massive server accelerator built on the Hopper architecture with the GH100 chip. It uses a 5 nm TSMC process, integrating 80,000 million transistors on an 814 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 98.3M per mm². The H20 is packaged as an SXM module, not a traditional card, and has no display outputs, indicating its purpose as a compute-focused accelerator for data center environments.

The computing resources differ dramatically. The A310E has 768 shading units, 32 texture mapping units, 16 raster operation units, and 6 ray tracing cores. The H20 has 9,984 shading units, 312 texture mapping units, 24 raster operation units, and 312 tensor cores, with no dedicated ray tracing cores listed. This means the H20 has approximately 13 times more shading units and nearly 10 times more TMUs.

Clock speeds are relatively similar: the A310E runs at a fixed 2000 MHz for both base and boost, while the H20 runs at 1830 MHz base and 1980 MHz boost. However, the sheer scale of the H20's compute units gives it vastly higher throughput. The memory clocks differ significantly: the A310E operates at 1937 MHz (15.5 Gbps effective) for GDDR6, while the H20 operates at 1313 MHz (5.3 Gbps effective) for HBM3, though the HBM3's wider bus compensates with far greater bandwidth.

The bus interfaces also differ: the A310E uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the H20 uses PCIe 5.0 x16, reflecting the server-oriented connectivity of the latter. The A310E supports full graphics APIs including DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, whereas the H20 lists N/A for all graphics APIs, confirming its non-rendering role.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records no direct head-to-head benchmark entries for the Intel Arc A310E versus the NVIDIA H20, and no wins are assigned to either side. Both cards have an average benchmark score of 0 and a percentile rank of 50 against all GPUs. This reflects the fundamental mismatch in their intended workloads: the A310E is a client graphics solution, while the H20 is a server accelerator without display output.

However, the recorded specifications allow for a quantitative comparison of theoretical peak performance. In FP32 compute, the H20 delivers 39.54 TFLOPS versus the A310E's 3.072 TFLOPS, giving the H20 a 12.9 times advantage. In FP16 compute, the H20 delivers 79.07 TFLOPS versus 6.144 TFLOPS, again a 12.9 times advantage. The H20's texture rate of 617.8 GTexel/s dwarfs the A310E's 64.00 GTexel/s, a 9.7 times difference. The H20's pixel rate of 47.52 GPixel/s exceeds the A310E's 32.00 GPixel/s by roughly 1.5 times.

Memory bandwidth is where the gap becomes extreme: the H20's 4.03 TB/s is 32.5 times higher than the A310E's 124.0 GB/s. Memory capacity differs by a factor of 24, with 96 GB versus 4 GB. The H20's 6144-bit memory bus is 96 times wider than the A310E's 64-bit bus.

The A310E does hold advantages in specific areas. Its boost clock of 2000 MHz is slightly higher than the H20's 1980 MHz, though this difference is negligible given the massive core count disparity. The A310E also has a much lower TDP of 75 W versus 500 W, and a suggested PSU of 250 W versus 900 W, making it far more energy-efficient per watt for basic tasks. The A310E also has display outputs, while the H20 has none.

The lack of benchmark scores in the database means these theoretical figures are the only recorded basis for comparison. The percentile rank of 50 for both cards indicates they sit at the median of all GPUs in the database, but this ranking is based on an average benchmark score of 0, which offers no meaningful differentiation.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the recorded data, the NVIDIA H20 is the overwhelmingly more powerful compute device. Its FP32 throughput of 39.54 TFLOPS, FP16 throughput of 79.07 TFLOPS, and memory bandwidth of 4.03 TB/s place it in a completely different performance tier than the Intel Arc A310E. The H20 is designed for server workloads requiring massive parallel compute and large memory pools, as evidenced by its 96 GB HBM3 memory, 9,984 shading units, and 312 tensor cores.

The Intel Arc A310E, on the other hand, is a low-power client GPU with 4 GB GDDR6 memory, 768 shading units, and 6 ray tracing cores. Its 75 W TDP and lack of power connectors make it suitable for compact systems, and its 4x mini-DisplayPort 2.0 outputs enable multi-display configurations. Its support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 confirms its role in graphics rendering.

The choice between these two depends entirely on workload type. For any rendering task, the A310E is the only viable option because the H20 has no display outputs and no graphics API support. For any compute-heavy task such as large-scale data processing, machine learning inference, or scientific simulation, the H20's specifications indicate vastly superior capability. The H20's 312 tensor cores are particularly relevant for AI workloads, a feature the A310E lacks entirely.

The production statuses reinforce this split: the A310E is end-of-life with a successor in Battlemage, while the H20 is active with a successor in Server Blackwell. This indicates that Intel is moving on from the A310E's generation, while NVIDIA continues to support and develop the H20's product line.

Specification Differences

The following fields differ between the Intel Arc A310E and NVIDIA H20:

• Chip: DG2-128 (A310E) versus GH100 (H20)
• Architecture: Xe-HPG (A310E) versus Hopper (H20)
• Generation: Alchemist (Arc 3) (A310E) versus Server Hopper (Hxx) (H20)
• Process Node: 6 nm (A310E) versus 5 nm (H20)
• Transistors: 7,200 million (A310E) versus 80,000 million (H20)
• Die Size: 157 mm² (A310E) versus 814 mm² (H20)
• Transistor Density: 45.9M / mm² (A310E) versus 98.3M / mm² (H20)
• Base Clock: 2000 MHz (A310E) versus 1830 MHz (H20)
• Boost Clock: 2000 MHz (A310E) versus 1980 MHz (H20)
• Memory Clock: 1937 MHz 15.5 Gbps effective (A310E) versus 1313 MHz 5.3 Gbps effective (H20)
• Memory Size: 4 GB (A310E) versus 96 GB (H20)
• Memory Type: GDDR6 (A310E) versus HBM3 (H20)
• Memory Bus Width: 64 bit (A310E) versus 6144 bit (H20)
• Memory Bandwidth: 124.0 GB/s (A310E) versus 4.03 TB/s (H20)
• Shading Units: 768 (A310E) versus 9984 (H20)
• TMUs: 32 (A310E) versus 312 (H20)
• ROPs: 16 (A310E) versus 24 (H20)
• RT Cores: 6 (A310E) versus null (H20)
• Tensor Cores: null (A310E) versus 312 (H20)
• Pixel Rate: 32.00 GPixel/s (A310E) versus 47.52 GPixel/s (H20)
• Texture Rate: 64.00 GTexel/s (A310E) versus 617.8 GTexel/s (H20)
• FP32: 3.072 TFLOPS (A310E) versus 39.54 TFLOPS (H20)
• FP16: 6.144 TFLOPS 2:1 (A310E) versus 79.07 TFLOPS 2:1 (H20)
• TDP: 75 W (A310E) versus 500 W (H20)
• Slot Width: Single-slot (A310E) versus SXM Module (H20)
• Power Connectors: None (A310E) versus null (H20)
• Suggested PSU: 250 W (A310E) versus 900 W (H20)
• Bus Interface: PCIe 4.0 x8 (A310E) versus PCIe 5.0 x16 (H20)
• Display Outputs: 4x mini-DisplayPort 2.0 (A310E) versus No outputs (H20)
• DirectX: 12 Ultimate (12_2) (A310E) versus N/A (H20)
• OpenGL: 4.6 (A310E) versus N/A (H20)
• Vulkan: 1.4 (A310E) versus N/A (H20)
• Dimensions: 168 mm x 69 mm x 20 mm (A310E) versus null (H20)
• Production Status: End-of-life (A310E) versus Active (H20)
• Release Date: 2024-03-31 (A310E) versus 2024-01-31 (H20)
• Predecessor: Xe Graphics (A310E) versus Server Ada (H20)
• Successor: Battlemage (A310E) versus Server Blackwell (H20)

Where Each One Wins

The Intel Arc A310E wins in scenarios that require graphics output and low power consumption. Its 4x mini-DisplayPort 2.0 outputs enable multi-monitor setups, a capability the H20 completely lacks. Its support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4 makes it suitable for rendering workloads, while the H20 has no graphics API support recorded. The A310E's 75 W TDP and 250 W suggested PSU are substantially lower than the H20's 500 W TDP and 900 W suggested PSU, making the A310E viable for systems with modest power delivery. Its compact dimensions of 168 mm by 69 mm by 20 mm and single-slot design allow installation in small form factor chassis. The A310E also has a higher boost clock at 2000 MHz versus 1980 MHz, and its 6 ray tracing cores provide hardware acceleration for ray-traced rendering, a feature the H20 does not list.

The NVIDIA H20 wins decisively in raw compute performance. Its 39.54 TFLOPS FP32 and 79.07 TFLOPS FP16 outputs are 12.9 times higher than the A310E's figures. Its 4.03 TB/s memory bandwidth is 32.5 times higher, and its 96 GB memory capacity is 24 times larger. The H20's 9,984 shading units, 312 TMUs, and 312 tensor cores provide massive parallel throughput for compute-intensive tasks. The 6144-bit memory bus enables data movement at a scale the A310E cannot approach. The H20's 617.8 GTexel/s texture rate is 9.7 times higher, and its 47.52 GPixel/s pixel rate is 1.5 times higher. The H20's 5 nm process with 98.3M transistors per mm² indicates a denser, more advanced manufacturing technology. Its PCIe 5.0 x16 interface provides double the bandwidth of the A310E's PCIe 4.0 x8 connection. The H20's active production status and newer release date of 2024-01-31 suggest ongoing availability, while the A310E is end-of-life.

The use-case split is clear: the A310E serves client-side graphics needs with display output and rendering APIs, while the H20 serves server-side compute needs with massive memory and tensor core acceleration. Neither device can substitute for the other in their respective domains.