Intel Arc A380E vs NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation Comparison
Intel Arc A380E
RTX 5880 Ada Generation
PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS
Analysis: Intel Arc A380E vs NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation
Where Each One Wins
The recorded data draws a very clear line between these two parts. The Intel Arc A380E is an entry-level, end-of-life graphics solution aimed at basic display and light acceleration duties. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation is an active, high-end workstation compute card. There is no overlap in their intended workloads, and the benchmark results confirm this separation.
The Arc A380E has no recorded benchmark scores in the database, while the RTX 5880 Ada has a full suite of eight recorded tests. This means the Intel card cannot be positioned as a competitor on any measured performance axis. The RTX 5880 Ada delivers scores across DirectX 9, 10, 11, and 12, plus OpenCL, compute, and 2D workloads. The Arc A380E produces zero measurable results in the same database, so every win in a head-to-head comparison belongs to the NVIDIA card by default.
The RTX 5880 Ada wins on raw throughput. Its FP32 rate is 69.27 TFLOPS, its texture rate is 1,082.4 GTexel/s, and its pixel rate is 433.0 GPixel/s. The Arc A380E delivers 4.096 TFLOPS FP32, 128.0 GTexel/s, and 64.00 GPixel/s. In every throughput category, the NVIDIA card is orders of magnitude ahead. The Intel card does win on power draw, with a 75 W TDP versus 285 W, and on physical footprint, being single-slot versus dual-slot. It also uses no power connectors, while the RTX 5880 Ada requires one 16-pin connector.
The RTX 5880 Ada also wins on memory capacity and bandwidth. It has 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, delivering 864.0 GB/s. The Arc A380E has 6 GB on a 96-bit bus, delivering 186.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card has more shading units (14,080 vs 1,024), more texture mapping units (440 vs 64), more raster operation units (176 vs 32), more ray tracing cores (110 vs 8), and 440 tensor cores that the Intel card lacks entirely.
The Verdict
The data indicates that the RTX 5880 Ada Generation is the only viable choice for any compute-focused workload. Its 85th percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with an average benchmark score of 45,972, places it firmly in professional workstation territory. The Arc A380E sits at the 50th percentile with an average score of zero, meaning it has no recorded compute presence at all.
Users who need a display-only card for a basic system, or who require a low-power single-slot solution with DisplayPort 2.0 outputs, would choose the Arc A380E. It consumes 75 W, requires no external power connector, and fits in a 254 mm length with a 20 mm width. Its 6 GB of memory and 186.0 GB/s bandwidth suffice for simple framebuffer work and light 2D acceleration.
Users who need serious compute, large model memory, or high-bandwidth data movement should select the RTX 5880 Ada. Its 48 GB capacity and 864.0 GB/s bandwidth handle large datasets, while its 69.27 TFLOPS FP32 and 69.27 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1) rates serve simulation, rendering, and AI inference. The 440 tensor cores provide dedicated hardware for tensor operations, a feature entirely absent on the Intel part.
The RTX 5880 Ada also holds a clear advantage in API support for modern graphics. Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, but the NVIDIA card's compute performance makes that support practically useful. The Arc A380E supports the same APIs on paper, yet without benchmark scores, there is no evidence it can execute meaningful workloads.
Head-to-Head Benchmarks
The database contains no direct head-to-head benchmark entries for these two cards, so every comparison relies on the RTX 5880 Ada's recorded scores and the Arc A380E's absence of scores. The NVIDIA card's PassMark G3D score of 25,096 and its GPU compute score of 14,208 demonstrate substantial graphics and compute capability. Its Geekbench OpenCL score of 326,898 confirms strong cross-platform compute performance.
The RTX 5880 Ada's PassMark DirectX 9 score of 335 and DirectX 11 score of 228 show solid legacy API performance. Its DirectX 10 score of 167 and DirectX 12 score of 70 indicate modern API workloads are also handled, though the DirectX 12 score is comparatively lower. The PassMark G2D score of 777 reflects capable 2D desktop acceleration, which matters for workstation display output.
The Arc A380E has no corresponding scores in any of these tests. The database records zero benchmarks for the Intel card, so there is no numerical basis to claim any win for it. In a strict head-to-head using the available facts, the RTX 5880 Ada wins every measurable category. Its nearest rivals in the database, the NVIDIA RTX A2000 at 46,043 average score (0.2% lower), the Intel Arc A730M at 45,592 (0.8% lower), the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT at 45,384 (1.3% lower), and the AMD Radeon RX 5600M at 46,601 (1.4% higher), all sit within a narrow band around the RTX 5880 Ada's 45,972 average. This indicates the NVIDIA card is competitively positioned against other mid-range workstation parts, but the Arc A380E is not even in that performance neighborhood.
FAQ
Q: Which card has better raw compute performance?
A: The RTX 5880 Ada Generation. It delivers 69.27 TFLOPS FP32 and 69.27 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1), while the Arc A380E provides 4.096 TFLOPS FP32 and 8.192 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1).
Q: How much memory does each card have?
A: The RTX 5880 Ada has 48 GB of GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus with 864.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Arc A380E has 6 GB of GDDR6 on a 96-bit bus with 186.0 GB/s bandwidth.
Q: What is the power consumption difference?
A: The Arc A380E has a 75 W TDP and requires no power connectors. The RTX 5880 Ada has a 285 W TDP and needs one 16-pin power connector, with a suggested 600 W power supply.
Q: Does the Arc A380E support ray tracing?
A: Yes, it has 8 ray tracing cores. The RTX 5880 Ada has 110 ray tracing cores, so it offers far more ray tracing hardware.
Q: Which card has tensor cores?
A: Only the RTX 5880 Ada has tensor cores, with 440 of them. The Arc A380E has no tensor cores at all.
Q: What is the physical size difference?
A: The Arc A380E is single-slot, 254 mm long, 127 mm high, and 20 mm wide. The RTX 5880 Ada is dual-slot, 267 mm long, and 112 mm high.
Architecture Differences
The Intel Arc A380E uses the DG2-128 chip based on Xe-HPG architecture, built on a 6 nm process at TSMC. It belongs to the Alchemist (Arc 3) generation and contains 7,200 million transistors on a 157 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 45.9 million per mm². The architecture includes 8 ray tracing cores and supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4.
The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada uses the AD102 chip based on Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. It belongs to the Workstation Ada (x000A) generation and contains 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 125.3 million per mm². This architecture includes 110 ray tracing cores and 440 tensor cores, with the same API support as the Intel card.
The process node difference matters: 6 nm versus 5 nm gives the NVIDIA chip a density advantage of nearly three times (125.3M vs 45.9M per mm²). The die size difference is also large, with NVIDIA's chip nearly four times larger. This translates directly into the compute capability gap, as the RTX 5880 Ada has 14,080 shading units versus 1,024 on the Arc A380E.
The memory architecture differs fundamentally. The Intel card uses a 96-bit bus, while the NVIDIA card uses a 384-bit bus. This allows the RTX 5880 Ada to reach 864.0 GB/s bandwidth, more than four times the Intel card's 186.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card's memory clock is 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective), compared to the Intel card's 1937 MHz (15.5 Gbps effective).
Specification Differences
The two cards differ on nearly every specification field. The Arc A380E has a base and boost clock of 2000 MHz, while the RTX 5880 Ada has a base clock of 975 MHz and a boost clock of 2460 MHz. The Intel card's clocks are static, while the NVIDIA card relies on a higher boost to reach its performance level.
Memory configuration shows the biggest gap. The Arc A380E has 6 GB GDDR6 on a 96-bit bus at 186.0 GB/s. The RTX 5880 Ada has 48 GB GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus at 864.0 GB/s. The memory type is the same GDDR6, but the capacity, bus width, and bandwidth are all vastly different.
Compute resources differ substantially. The Arc A380E has 1,024 shading units, 64 TMUs, 32 ROPs, and 8 ray tracing cores. The RTX 5880 Ada has 14,080 shading units, 440 TMUs, 176 ROPs, 110 ray tracing cores, and 440 tensor cores. The Intel card has no tensor cores, while the NVIDIA card features a full tensor core array.
Physical specifications also differ. The Arc A380E is single-slot, 254 mm long, 127 mm high, 20 mm wide, with no power connector and a 75 W TDP. The RTX 5880 Ada is dual-slot, 267 mm long, 112 mm high, with one 16-pin connector and a 285 W TDP. The suggested power supply is 250 W for the Intel card and 600 W for the NVIDIA card.
The bus interface differs as well. The Arc A380E uses PCIe 4.0 x8, while the RTX 5880 Ada uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs are 4x DisplayPort 2.0 on the Intel card and 4x DisplayPort 1.4a on the NVIDIA card. Production status differs, with the Intel card marked end-of-life and the NVIDIA card active. Release dates are close, with the Intel card launched 2024-03-31 and the NVIDIA card 2024-01-04.