Intel Arc A530M vs NVIDIA Tesla P40 Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data shows a decisive margin in favor of the NVIDIA Tesla P40 across both benchmark suites. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Tesla P40 scores 62017 against 49735 for the Intel Arc A530M, a delta of 24.7%. This is not a marginal edge; it represents a substantial lead in raw compute throughput for the older, larger NVIDIA part. The Vulkan results widen the gap further: the Tesla P40 achieves 68172, while the Arc A530M manages 43492, producing a delta of 56.7%. That is more than a one-and-a-half times improvement in the Vulkan workload, indicating the Tesla P40's architecture is particularly strong in this API environment.

The average benchmark score for the Tesla P40 is 65095, compared to 46614 for the Arc A530M. This aggregate figure places the Tesla P40 in the 89th percentile of all GPUs, whereas the Arc A530M sits in the 85th percentile. The percentile difference is smaller than the raw score gap suggests, because the Intel part still outperforms a large majority of the database's entries. However, in a direct head-to-head, the Tesla P40 wins both recorded tests, and the magnitude of the Vulkan victory is especially pronounced.

When looking at the nearest rivals for each card, the context sharpens. The Tesla P40's closest competitor is the AMD Radeon VII, which averages 66004, a delta of -1.4% relative to the Tesla P40. That means the Tesla P40 trails the Radeon VII by only 1.4%, a negligible difference. The AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100 is 1.4% behind the Tesla P40, and both the NVIDIA CMP 30HX and AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT LP are 2% behind. For the Arc A530M, the nearest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 5600M with an identical average score of 46601, a delta of 0%. The AMD Radeon RX 6550M is 0.2% ahead, while the NVIDIA RTX A2000 trails by 1.2% and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation trails by 1.4%. The Arc A530M's competitive position is thus tightly clustered, while the Tesla P40 sits in a higher-performance bracket.

The Vulkan delta of 56.7% is the single largest performance differential in the entire comparison. It suggests that the Tesla P40's driver and hardware implementation for Vulkan is vastly more efficient than the Arc A530M's, despite the latter being a newer product with a more modern feature set. The OpenCL gap, while smaller, is still substantial and consistent with the average score disparity.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA Tesla P40 is built on the Pascal architecture, using the GP102 chip, manufactured on a 16 nm process at TSMC. It packs 11,800 million transistors into a die size of 471 mm², yielding a transistor density of 25.1 million per square millimeter. The Intel Arc A530M uses the Xe-HPG architecture with the DG2-256 chip, produced on a 6 nm process, also at TSMC. It contains 11,500 million transistors on a much smaller die of 269 mm², giving a density of 42.8 million per square millimeter. The Intel part achieves higher density due to the newer process node, but the Tesla P40's larger die allows for more absolute resources.

The most significant architectural divergence is in the compute unit configuration. The Tesla P40 has 3840 shading units, 240 texture mapping units, and 96 ROPs. The Arc A530M has 1536 shading units, 96 TMUs, and 48 ROPs. The Tesla P40's shading unit count is exactly 2.5 times that of the Arc A530M. This explains the substantial FP32 throughput difference: the Tesla P40 delivers 11.76 TFLOPS, while the Arc A530M delivers 3.994 TFLOPS, a ratio of approximately 2.94 to 1. The pixel rate for the Tesla P40 is 147.0 GPixel/s versus 62.40 GPixel/s for the Arc A530M, and the texture rate is 367.4 GTexel/s versus 124.8 GTexel/s. These raw throughput figures are fundamental to the benchmark results.

Memory configurations differ sharply. The Tesla P40 has 24 GB of GDDR5 on a 384-bit bus, producing 347.1 GB/s of bandwidth. The Arc A530M has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus, yielding 224.0 GB/s. The Tesla P40's memory bus is three times wider, and even though GDDR5 is older, the sheer bus width gives it a 55% bandwidth advantage. The Arc A530M does use faster GDDR6 memory with an effective rate of 14 Gbps versus 7.2 Gbps for the Tesla P40, but the narrow bus limits the overall throughput.

Clock speeds are also different. The Tesla P40 has a base clock of 1303 MHz and a boost clock of 1531 MHz, while the Arc A530M runs at a base of 900 MHz and a boost of 1300 MHz. The Tesla P40's higher clocks, combined with more shaders, compound the performance lead. The Arc A530M's lower clocks are typical of a mobile-oriented part with a 65 W TDP, versus the Tesla P40's 250 W TDP. The Tesla P40 requires a dual-slot form factor and an 8-pin EPS power connector, with a suggested PSU of 600 W. The Arc A530M is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with no discrete power connectors and no suggested PSU rating.

The architecture generation gap is notable. The Tesla P40 is from the Tesla Pascal generation, released in 2016, with a predecessor of Tesla Maxwell and a successor of Tesla Volta. The Arc A530M is from the Alchemist generation, part of Arc 5 Mobile, released in 2023, with no predecessor or successor listed. Despite being seven years newer, the Arc A530M does not match the Tesla P40 in raw compute. The feature set differs as well: the Arc A530M includes 12 ray tracing cores, which the Tesla P40 lacks entirely. The Tesla P40 has no tensor cores, and the Arc A530M also lists no tensor cores. The Arc A530M supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), whereas the Tesla P40 only supports DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4.

The process node difference is a key architectural story: the 6 nm node allows the Arc A530M to pack nearly the same transistor count into a 43% smaller die, but the Tesla P40's older, larger design still wins on raw throughput. The memory size difference of 24 GB versus 8 GB is a decisive factor for workloads that require large working sets, though the benchmark data does not directly test memory capacity.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA Tesla P40 wins decisively in every recorded benchmark. Its strengths are most apparent in Vulkan workloads, where it leads by 56.7%. This suggests the Tesla P40 is well-suited for applications that leverage Vulkan's low-level GPU access, such as modern game engines or compute-heavy visualization tasks. The OpenCL lead of 24.7% indicates strong general-purpose compute performance, which is consistent with its Tesla branding for datacenter and professional workloads. The 24 GB memory capacity, while not directly benchmarked, gives it a clear advantage for large dataset processing, machine learning inference, or rendering scenes that exceed 8 GB. The 384-bit memory bus provides high bandwidth that benefits memory-intensive algorithms.

The Intel Arc A530M, despite losing both benchmarks, has specific areas where it is not disadvantaged. Its ray tracing cores (12 of them) are present, whereas the Tesla P40 has none. This means any workload that uses DirectX Raytracing or Vulkan ray tracing will simply not function on the Tesla P40, making the Arc A530M the only option in this comparison for that feature. The Arc A530M also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, which includes features like mesh shaders and variable rate shading, while the Tesla P40 is limited to DirectX 12_1. For modern games that require these features, the Arc A530M is the correct choice even though its raw frame rates would be lower in non-ray-traced scenes.

The power envelope is another differentiator. The Arc A530M has a TDP of 65 W, which is 74% lower than the Tesla P40's 250 W. This makes the Arc A530M suitable for compact, battery-powered devices, while the Tesla P40 requires a dual-slot card with external power and a 600 W PSU recommendation. The Tesla P40 has no display outputs, meaning it is purely a compute accelerator; the Arc A530M's display outputs are "Portable Device Dependent," but it can drive displays. For a mobile workstation or a thin laptop, the Arc A530M is the only viable choice in terms of physical integration.

In terms of production status, the Tesla P40 is end-of-life, while the Arc A530M is active. This matters for long-term procurement and driver support. The Intel part is newer, with a release date of 2023, versus the Tesla P40's 2016 release. For new system designs, the Arc A530M has a longer expected support horizon. However, for raw compute performance, the Tesla P40 remains superior in the recorded data.

The Arc A530M's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 5600M, matches its average score exactly (0% delta), indicating that the Intel part is competitively positioned within its power class. The Tesla P40's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon VII, is only 1.4% faster, showing that the Pascal card still trades blows with much newer high-end parts.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla P40 has an average benchmark score of 65095, while the Intel Arc A530M has an average score of 46614. The Tesla P40 is 39.6% higher, based on the recorded data.

Q: What is the largest performance gap between the two?

A: The largest gap is in Geekbench Vulkan, where the Tesla P40 scores 68172 versus 43492 for the Arc A530M, a delta of 56.7%. The OpenCL gap is 24.7%, with scores of 62017 and 49735 respectively.

Q: Does the Intel Arc A530M have any feature that the Tesla P40 lacks?

A: Yes, the Arc A530M includes 12 ray tracing cores, while the Tesla P40 has none. The Arc A530M also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), whereas the Tesla P40 only supports DirectX 12 (12_1).

Q: How do the memory configurations compare?

A: The Tesla P40 has 24 GB of GDDR5 memory on a 384-bit bus with 347.1 GB/s bandwidth. The Arc A530M has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 224.0 GB/s bandwidth. The Tesla P40 has 3 times the memory capacity and 55% more bandwidth.

Q: What is the TDP difference?

A: The Tesla P40 has a TDP of 250 W, while the Arc A530M has a TDP of 65 W. This makes the Arc A530M far more power-efficient and suitable for mobile devices, whereas the Tesla P40 requires a dedicated power supply.

Q: Which card is closer to its nearest rival in performance?

A: The Arc A530M's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon RX 5600M, has an average score of 46601, a delta of 0%. The Tesla P40's nearest rival, the AMD Radeon VII, has a delta of -1.4%, meaning the Tesla P40 is slightly behind it.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA Tesla P40 outperforms the Intel Arc A530M in every recorded benchmark. The Tesla P40 leads by 24.7% in OpenCL and 56.7% in Vulkan, and its average score of 65095 places it in the 89th percentile, well above the Arc A530M's 85th percentile. For any workload that prioritizes raw FP32 compute, memory bandwidth, or Vulkan performance, the Tesla P40 is the clear choice. Its 24 GB of memory and 384-bit bus provide a substantial advantage for large-scale compute tasks, and its higher clock speeds and shading unit count deliver superior throughput.

However, the Arc A530M is not without merit. It is the only one of the two with ray tracing support and DirectX 12 Ultimate compliance, making it necessary for applications that require those features. Its 65 W TDP and integrated form factor allow deployment in systems where the Tesla P40's 250 W dual-slot card with external power would be impossible. The Arc A530M is also an active product, whereas the Tesla P40 is end-of-life, which affects long-term availability and support. For a mobile workstation or a power-constrained device, the Arc A530M is the only viable option.

The verdict depends on the use case. For compute-intensive, datacenter, or professional rendering workloads where performance is paramount and power constraints are minimal, the Tesla P40 wins decisively. For modern gaming features, ray tracing, or any mobile or low-power application, the Arc A530M is the correct choice despite its lower benchmark scores. The recorded data shows a clear performance hierarchy, but the architectural feature differences create distinct domains of applicability.