Intel Arc A380 vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a clear split between legacy DirectX workloads and modern compute APIs. Out of nine shared benchmark tests, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK claims five wins while the Intel Arc A380 takes four, but the margins tell a more nuanced story than the raw win count.

The largest victory for the NVIDIA card comes in PassMark DirectX 11, where it scores 73 against the Intel card's 38. That is a 92.1% advantage, nearly doubling the Arc A380's output. The lead is almost as pronounced in PassMark DirectX 9, with the TITAN BLACK posting 133 versus 73, a delta of 82.2%. These two legacy API results demonstrate that the Kepler architecture retains a commanding edge in older DirectX pipelines. The PassMark DirectX 10 test also favors NVIDIA, 47 to 37, a 27% gap.

In the overall PassMark G3D metric, the TITAN BLACK scores 9184 against 6252 for the Arc A380, a 46.9% difference. This is the most comprehensive gaming-oriented benchmark in the set, and the NVIDIA card's lead here is substantial. The PassMark GPU Compute test further reinforces the NVIDIA advantage, with 3726 versus 2762, a 34.9% margin. These two results suggest that for raw rasterization throughput and general compute workloads, the older, larger Kepler chip remains the stronger performer.

However, the Intel Arc A380 strikes back decisively in modern compute and API benchmarks. The Geekbench OpenCL score favors Intel, 38224 to 27218, a 28.8% delta. The Geekbench Vulkan result is also an Intel win, 36736 to 29561, a 19.5% advantage. These are not small margins; they represent a fundamental shift in efficiency and architecture design. The Arc A380 also edges out a win in PassMark DirectX 12, scoring 35 versus 34, though the 2.9% delta is negligible and effectively a statistical tie.

The final Intel win comes in PassMark G2D, a 2D graphics throughput test, where the Arc A380 scores 610 against 595, a 2.5% margin. This is a minor result but does indicate that the Intel card handles 2D operations at least as well as the NVIDIA card, despite the latter's much larger memory bus and higher pixel rate.

Interpreting the average benchmark scores, the TITAN BLACK sits at 9474 with a percentile ranking of 46 among all GPUs. Its nearest rival, the NVIDIA Quadro K5000, scores 9637, placing the TITAN BLACK 1.7% behind that card. The GeForce GTX 760 is essentially tied at 9458, a 0.2% difference. The Arc A380, by contrast, averages 8558 with a percentile of 44. Its nearest rival is the AMD FirePro W5170M at 8595, a 0.4% gap, and the AMD Radeon HD 8870M is 1.1% behind at 8462. The delta between the two cards' average scores is 10.7% in favor of NVIDIA, which aligns with the G3D and compute results but contradicts the Geekbench API results, highlighting how test methodology dramatically changes the picture.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins more benchmark tests overall?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK wins 5 of the 9 head-to-head tests, while the Intel Arc A380 wins 4. However, the Intel card wins the Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan tests by substantial margins of 28.8% and 19.5% respectively.

Q: How do the two cards compare in legacy DirectX performance?

A: The TITAN BLACK dominates in older APIs. It leads by 92.1% in DirectX 11, 82.2% in DirectX 9, and 27% in DirectX 10. The Arc A380 only manages a 2.9% edge in DirectX 12, which is essentially a tie.

Q: What is the overall performance ranking of each card?

A: The TITAN BLACK has an average benchmark score of 9474 and sits at the 46th percentile of all GPUs. The Arc A380 has an average score of 8558 and sits at the 44th percentile. The TITAN BLACK is 10.7% higher on average.

Q: Which card performs better in compute-oriented workloads?

A: It depends on the API. The Intel Arc A380 is far ahead in Geekbench OpenCL, scoring 38224 versus 27218, a 28.8% lead. However, in PassMark GPU Compute, the TITAN BLACK wins with 3726 versus 2762, a 34.9% margin.

Q: How does each card compare to its closest rivals?

A: The TITAN BLACK is 1.7% behind the Quadro K5000 and 0.2% ahead of the GTX 760. The Arc A380 is 0.4% behind the FirePro W5170M and 1.1% ahead of the Radeon HD 8870M.

Q: Is the DirectX 12 result meaningful between these two cards?

A: The Arc A380 wins 35 to 34, a 2.9% delta. Given the small absolute scores, this is within noise and does not represent a meaningful performance advantage for either card in that specific test.

The Verdict

The data presents two very different profiles. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK is the stronger card for traditional DirectX gaming workloads and raw compute throughput as measured by PassMark. Its 46.9% lead in G3D and 34.9% lead in GPU compute are decisive. Anyone running DirectX 9, 10, or 11 titles, or applications that rely on those pipelines, will see a clear performance benefit from the TITAN BLACK.

The Intel Arc A380 is the better choice for modern API workloads, specifically Vulkan and OpenCL. Its 19.5% and 28.8% leads respectively in those Geekbench tests indicate that its architecture, despite having fewer shading units and a narrower memory bus, is far more efficient in these newer compute frameworks. The Arc A380 also matches or slightly exceeds the TITAN BLACK in DirectX 12 and 2D throughput, though by margins too small to matter in practical use.

The choice comes down to software ecosystem. For legacy DirectX gaming, the TITAN BLACK is the clear pick. For Vulkan-based games, compute applications using OpenCL, or any workload that leverages modern API features, the Arc A380 offers better measured performance. The average benchmark score favors NVIDIA, 9474 to 8558, but that aggregate masks the fact that the two cards excel in entirely different test categories.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ across almost every major specification category. The GPU clock speeds are notably different: the NVIDIA card runs at a base of 889 MHz with a boost of 980 MHz, while the Intel card operates at a base of 2000 MHz and a boost of 2050 MHz. The memory clocks also diverge sharply, with the TITAN BLACK using 1750 MHz (7 Gbps effective) and the Arc A380 using 1937 MHz (15.5 Gbps effective).

Memory configuration shows both cards have 6 GB, but the type and bus width differ. The TITAN BLACK uses GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, yielding 336.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Arc A380 uses GDDR6 on a 96-bit bus, yielding 186.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card has more shading units (2880 versus 1024), more texture mapping units (240 versus 64), and more ROPs (48 versus 32). The Arc A380 has 8 ray tracing cores, while the TITAN BLACK has none.

Power requirements are dramatically different. The TITAN BLACK has a TDP of 250 W, requires a 600 W suggested PSU, and uses 1x 6-pin plus 1x 8-pin connectors. The Arc A380 has a 75 W TDP, a 250 W suggested PSU, and uses a single 8-pin connector. The bus interface also differs: PCIe 3.0 x16 for NVIDIA versus PCIe 4.0 x8 for Intel.

Physical dimensions vary, with the NVIDIA card longer at 267 mm versus 222 mm, and slightly different heights and widths. Display outputs differ as well: the TITAN BLACK has 2x DVI, 1x HDMI 1.4a, and 1x DisplayPort 1.2, while the Arc A380 has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0.

Architecture Differences

The architectural divide is generational. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK uses the GK110B chip based on Kepler architecture, built on a 28 nm process at TSMC. It packs 7,080 million transistors on a 561 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 12.6M per mm². This is a large, power-hungry chip designed for high-end performance in its era.

The Intel Arc A380 uses the DG2-128 chip based on Xe-HPG architecture, also fabricated by TSMC but on a 6 nm process. It contains 7,200 million transistors on a much smaller 157 mm² die, achieving a transistor density of 45.9M per mm². This is more than triple the density of the Kepler chip, representing a massive efficiency improvement in manufacturing.

The NVIDIA card belongs to the GeForce 700 generation, with a release date of February 2014, and is now end-of-life. The Intel card is from the Alchemist generation (Arc 3), released in June 2022, and is also end-of-life. Both cards support DirectX 12, but the TITAN BLACK is limited to DirectX 12 (11_1) while the Arc A380 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). OpenGL support is identical at 4.6, but Vulkan support differs: the NVIDIA card supports 1.2.175, while the Intel card supports 1.4.

The NVIDIA card has no ray tracing or tensor cores, while the Intel card includes 8 ray tracing cores. The FP32 compute rates are 5.645 TFLOPS for NVIDIA versus 4.198 TFLOPS for Intel, but the Intel card also offers FP16 at 8.397 TFLOPS (2:1), which the NVIDIA card does not list. The pixel rate is slightly higher on the Intel card at 65.60 GPixel/s versus 58.80 GPixel/s, but the texture rate is much higher on the NVIDIA card at 235.2 GTexel/s versus 131.2 GTexel/s.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN BLACK wins in every legacy DirectX benchmark: DirectX 9 by 82.2%, DirectX 10 by 27%, and DirectX 11 by 92.1%. It also wins the overall gaming proxy, PassMark G3D, by 46.9%, and PassMark GPU Compute by 34.9%. This makes it the clear choice for older DirectX game titles, any application that relies on shader model 5.0 or earlier, and general compute workloads measured by PassMark. The higher texture rate of 235.2 GTexel/s versus 131.2 GTexel/s and larger memory bandwidth of 336.0 GB/s versus 186.0 GB/s support these wins.

The Intel Arc A380 wins in Geekbench OpenCL by 28.8% and Geekbench Vulkan by 19.5%. It also takes narrow wins in DirectX 12 (2.9%) and 2D throughput (2.5%). This card is the better choice for Vulkan-based games, OpenCL compute applications, and any software that takes advantage of DirectX 12 Ultimate features, ray tracing, or FP16 arithmetic. Its higher clock speeds (2050 MHz boost versus 980 MHz), smaller and denser process node, and modern API support (Vulkan 1.4, DirectX 12 Ultimate) enable these results. The presence of 8 ray tracing cores further distinguishes it for ray-traced workloads, though no benchmark in the data directly tests that feature.

In summary, the TITAN BLACK is a legacy DirectX powerhouse with strong overall rasterization, while the Arc A380 is a modern API efficiency champion. The choice between them depends entirely on which software generation the user targets.