GPU Comparison

The Intel Arc A550M and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER occupy different corners of the graphics hardware landscape, representing a mobile-first, power-sipping design versus a desktop-oriented performance part. The benchmark data is starkly one-sided, showing the NVIDIA part leading by massive margins in the shared tests, yet the underlying specifications reveal two fundamentally different philosophies in GPU architecture and deployment. This analysis explores where each part wins, what the data implies about their respective use cases, and how their architectural choices dictate their performance envelopes.

Where Each One Wins

The data presents a clear-cut case: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER wins every single head-to-head benchmark available in the FACT PACK. In the two shared tests, it dominates with a 71.1% advantage in Geekbench OpenCL and a 75.9% advantage in Geekbench Vulkan. This is not a marginal victory but a wholesale defeat for the Intel Arc A550M. The Intel part’s primary claim to relevance is not its raw performance but its power efficiency and form factor, with a 60 W TDP compared to the RTX 4070 SUPER's 220 W, and an IGP slot width versus a dual-slot design. The Arc A550M also wins on transistor density per square millimeter, packing 53.4 million per mm² versus the NVIDIA's 121.8 million, which is a curious metric given the Intel chip's larger die size. However, in terms of actual benchmark outcomes, the NVIDIA part is the sole winner, making the "wins" section a narrative about power versus performance. The RTX 4070 SUPER's wins are also reflected in its broader benchmark suite, including Passmark scores of 29995 for G3D and 17108 for GPU compute, while the Intel part only has two Geekbench scores to its name.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU is faster in the Geekbench OpenCL benchmark?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is significantly faster, scoring 172795 compared to the Intel Arc A550M's 49894, a difference of 71.1% in favor of the NVIDIA part.

Q: How does the memory bandwidth compare between the two?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER has a substantial lead with 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth from its 12 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 192-bit bus, while the Intel Arc A550M offers 224.0 GB/s from 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus.

Q: What is the power consumption difference?

A: The Intel Arc A550M is rated at a 60 W TDP, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is rated at a 220 W TDP, indicating the Intel part is designed for much lower power envelopes, likely for mobile or compact systems.

Q: Does the Intel Arc A550M support the same modern APIs as the NVIDIA card?

A: Yes, both GPUs support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, meaning they are on par for software feature compatibility despite their performance differences.

Q: Which GPU has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The Intel Arc A550M has a higher average benchmark score of 49737 across its two tests, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER has an average of 43223 across its ten tests, but this is skewed by the different test sets.

Q: Is the NVIDIA card's boost clock significantly higher?

A: Yes, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER has a boost clock of 2475 MHz, compared to the Intel Arc A550M's 2050 MHz, contributing to its higher throughput.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The head-to-head data is unambiguous. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Intel Arc A550M scores 49894, but the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER scores 172795, leaving the Intel part 71.1% behind. This is a massive gulf, indicating that in compute-heavy OpenCL workloads, the NVIDIA GPU is in a completely different performance class. The Vulkan test tells a similar story, with the Intel part scoring 49580 and the NVIDIA part scoring 205624, a 75.9% delta. These are not close contests; they are examples of a desktop-class GPU outperforming a mobile-oriented part by margins that suggest the Intel A550M is not intended to compete in the same performance segment. The RTX 4070 SUPER's other benchmarks, such as its Passmark G3D score of 29995, further cement its superiority in rasterization. The Intel part's only benchmark scores are the two Geekbench results, and its percentile rank of 86 versus the NVIDIA's 83 suggests that while its average score is competitive in a broader database, the specific tests where they overlap show a clear winner. The delta percentages are so large that any analysis of trade-offs is moot; the NVIDIA part simply outperforms the Intel part by a wide margin in every measured test.

Specification Differences

The specifications diverge wildly, reflecting their different design goals. The Intel Arc A550M is built on a 6 nm TSMC process with a die size of 406 mm² and 21,700 million transistors, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER uses a 5 nm process with a smaller 294 mm² die but packs 35,800 million transistors. The clock speeds differ, with the Intel part boosting to 2050 MHz and the NVIDIA part reaching 2475 MHz. Memory is a major differentiator: the Intel card has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus for 224.0 GB/s, while the NVIDIA card has 12 GB of GDDR6X on a 192-bit bus for 504.2 GB/s. The compute units also show a large gap, with the Intel part having 2048 shading units, 128 TMUs, and 64 ROPs, versus the NVIDIA part's 7168 shading units, 224 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. The RT core counts also differ, with 16 for Intel and 56 for NVIDIA, and the NVIDIA card has 224 tensor cores while the Intel card has none listed. Pixel and texture rates are higher on the NVIDIA part, at 198.0 GPixel/s and 554.4 GTexel/s versus 131.2 GPixel/s and 262.4 GTexel/s. The TDP is a stark contrast at 60 W for Intel versus 220 W for NVIDIA, and the physical form factors differ, with the Intel part being an IGP and the NVIDIA part a dual-slot card with a 1x 16-pin power connector and a suggested PSU of 550 W.

Architecture Differences

The architectural split is fundamental. The Intel Arc A550M uses the Xe-HPG architecture on the DG2-512 chip, part of the Alchemist generation for mobile, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER uses the Ada Lovelace architecture on the AD104 chip from the GeForce 40-series. Intel's process node is 6 nm, while NVIDIA's is 5 nm, and the transistor density tells a story of efficiency: Intel has 53.4 million transistors per mm², while NVIDIA has 121.8 million, indicating a much denser design. The Intel part has 16 ray tracing cores and no tensor cores, whereas the NVIDIA part has 56 RT cores and 224 tensor cores, showing a significant investment in both ray tracing and AI acceleration. The FP32 performance is 8.397 TFLOPS for Intel versus 35.48 TFLOPS for NVIDIA, and the FP16 rates show Intel at 16.79 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, while NVIDIA achieves 35.48 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio, meaning the NVIDIA part can handle FP16 at full rate. The memory types differ, with GDDR6 for Intel and GDDR6X for NVIDIA, and the bus interfaces are both PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs also vary, with the Intel part being "Portable Device Dependent" and the NVIDIA offering 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a. The production status for both is end-of-life, but the NVIDIA card has a release date of January 16, 2024, while the Intel part has no release date listed.

The Verdict

From the data, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER is the clear performance winner, dominating in every head-to-head benchmark with over 71% leads. It offers more memory, higher bandwidth, more shading units, and significantly higher compute throughput, making it the obvious choice for any workload that demands raw graphics or compute power. Its 12 GB of GDDR6X and 504.2 GB/s of bandwidth are more than double the Intel part's 8 GB and 224.0 GB/s, and its 35.48 TFLOPS FP32 performance is over four times higher. The NVIDIA card also has a more feature-rich architecture with tensor cores and more RT cores, positioning it for AI and ray tracing tasks. The Intel Arc A550M, however, is the choice for power-constrained environments, with a 60 W TDP that is less than a third of the NVIDIA part's 220 W, and an IGP form factor that suits compact or mobile designs. Its average benchmark score of 49737 is higher than the NVIDIA's 43223, but this is due to the limited test set. The verdict is simple: if performance is the sole criterion, the RTX 4070 SUPER is the only option, but the Arc A550M's low power draw and integrated design make it a viable candidate for specific, efficiency-focused systems. The data does not support any scenario where the Intel part wins on performance, but it does win on power efficiency and size.