Intel Arc A580 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Comparison

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 and Intel Arc A580 occupy vastly different tiers of the graphics card market, yet both appear in the same benchmark database with notably high overall percentiles. The RTX 4090, an end-of-life flagship from the GeForce 40-series, posts an average benchmark score of 60,347, placing it in the 88th percentile of all GPUs. The Arc A580, an active mainstream part from Intel's Alchemist generation, averages 57,756, sitting just one percentile lower at 87. Despite the closeness of those aggregate scores, the head-to-head benchmark data reveals a chasm in raw performance, driven by fundamental architectural and specification differences that will be examined below.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The three direct comparisons available in the data set are unambiguous: the RTX 4090 wins every single test, with margins that range from substantial to overwhelming. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, the RTX 4090 scores 9,223 points against the Arc A580's 2,229 points. That is a delta of 313.8% in favor of the NVIDIA card, meaning it delivers more than four times the performance of the Intel part in this modern DirectX 12 workload. This is not a marginal victory; it is a class-defining gap that separates a halo product from a mid-range offering.

The compute-oriented benchmarks tell a similar story, though with slightly different magnitudes. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX 4090 scores 255,416, while the Arc A580 manages 91,657. The delta here is 178.7%, placing the NVIDIA card roughly 2.8 times ahead of the Intel card. The Geekbench Vulkan test shows an even wider relative gap: the RTX 4090 posts 271,631 versus 79,381 for the Arc A580, a delta of 242.2%. Interestingly, the RTX 4090's Vulkan score is higher than its OpenCL score, while the Arc A580's Vulkan score is significantly lower than its OpenCL score, suggesting that Intel's Xe-HPG architecture is comparatively more efficient in OpenCL compute environments than in Vulkan graphics workloads.

Across all three tests, the RTX 4090's smallest winning margin is 178.7% in OpenCL, which is still a dominant lead. The data shows no scenario in the provided benchmarks where the Arc A580 closes the gap to within even double-digit percentage points. The wins tally stands at 3 for the RTX 4090 and 0 for the Arc A580, a clean sweep that leaves no ambiguity about which card is faster in these specific workloads.

Where Each One Wins

Given the sweep, the RTX 4090 is the clear winner in every benchmark category present in the data. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 result indicates superior raw graphics rendering performance in modern game-like workloads, which aligns with its 82.58 TFLOPS FP32 compute throughput. The Geekbench OpenCL and Vulkan wins further establish its dominance in general-purpose GPU compute and cross-platform graphics APIs. For users seeking maximum frame rates, high-resolution rendering, or compute acceleration, the RTX 4090's benchmark profile is categorically stronger.

The Arc A580, however, does have a context in which it "wins," albeit not in raw performance. Its average benchmark score of 57,756 places it within 4.5% of the RTX 4090's 60,347 average, despite losing every head-to-head test by a wide margin. This apparent contradiction is explained by the fact that the RTX 4090's average is dragged down by its poor PassMark DirectX scores (224 in DX10, 326 in DX11, 150 in DX12, 397 in DX9), while the Arc A580 does not have PassMark data in the provided pack. The Intel card's average is computed from only three benchmarks, all of which are respectable for its class. Therefore, the Arc A580's "win" is in aggregate scoring consistency relative to its portfolio of tested workloads, not in any direct performance comparison.

In practical use-case terms, the RTX 4090 wins where compute density and memory bandwidth matter. Its 1.01 TB/s memory bandwidth, 24 GB of GDDR6X, and 16,384 shading units provide a decisive advantage in high-end gaming, 3D rendering, and machine learning workloads. The Arc A580, with 8 GB of GDDR6 and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth, is better suited for mainstream 1080p gaming and lighter compute tasks. Its 12.29 TFLOPS FP32 and 24.58 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1 ratio) are respectable for its tier, and its dual-slot design and 175 W TDP suggest it targets systems where power and space are more constrained than in a flagship build.

The Verdict

Based strictly on the benchmark data, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 is the superior graphics card by every measurable metric in the head-to-head tests. It leads by 313.8% in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, by 178.7% in Geekbench OpenCL, and by 242.2% in Geekbench Vulkan. Anyone requiring maximum performance in these workloads should choose the RTX 4090 without hesitation. Its 88th percentile ranking among all GPUs, combined with its massive compute resources, makes it the definitive choice for enthusiasts and professionals who need the absolute fastest consumer card available.

Conversely, the Intel Arc A580 should be selected by users who do not need the RTX 4090's extreme performance and who prioritize other factors. The data shows it is an active product (versus the RTX 4090's end-of-life status), and its 87th percentile ranking indicates it is still a capable performer relative to the broader GPU landscape. Its lower TDP of 175 W versus 450 W, dual-slot form factor versus triple-slot, and 8 GB memory footprint make it a more practical option for compact or power-efficient builds. However, the benchmark numbers do not support any claim that the Arc A580 competes with the RTX 4090 in performance; it simply offers a different balance of characteristics that may appeal to a different segment.

The verdict is clear: for raw speed, the RTX 4090 wins decisively. For a more modest, efficient, and still-ranked-highly option, the Arc A580 serves a purpose, but it is not a rival to the RTX 4090 in any tested metric.

FAQ

Q: How much faster is the RTX 4090 than the Arc A580 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The RTX 4090 scores 9,223 versus the Arc A580's 2,229, a delta of 313.8% in favor of the NVIDIA card.

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The RTX 4090 averages 60,347, while the Arc A580 averages 57,756. The RTX 4090 is ahead by roughly 4.5% in aggregate scoring.

Q: What are the memory specifications of each card?

A: The RTX 4090 has 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus with 1.01 TB/s bandwidth. The Arc A580 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: How do the FP32 compute performances compare?

A: The RTX 4090 delivers 82.58 TFLOPS FP32, while the Arc A580 delivers 12.29 TFLOPS FP32. The RTX 4090 is approximately 6.7 times higher in this metric.

Q: Which card has a higher percentile ranking among all GPUs?

A: The RTX 4090 is in the 88th percentile, and the Arc A580 is in the 87th percentile. They are separated by just one percentile point.

Q: Is the Arc A580's Vulkan score higher or lower than its OpenCL score?

A: The Arc A580 scores 79,381 in Geekbench Vulkan and 91,657 in Geekbench OpenCL, meaning its OpenCL score is higher by about 15.5%.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures and manufacturing processes. The RTX 4090 uses NVIDIA's Ada Lovelace architecture on a 5 nm TSMC process, packing 76,300 million transistors into a 609 mm² die with a density of 125.3 million transistors per square millimeter. The Arc A580 uses Intel's Xe-HPG architecture on a 6 nm TSMC process, with 21,700 million transistors on a 406 mm² die, yielding a density of 53.4 million transistors per square millimeter. The NVIDIA chip, codenamed AD102, is substantially larger and denser, which directly contributes to its performance advantage.

The core configurations differ dramatically. The RTX 4090 features 16,384 shading units, 512 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operations pipelines. It also includes 128 ray tracing cores and 512 tensor cores, with FP32 and FP16 both rated at 82.58 TFLOPS (1:1 ratio). The Arc A580 has 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, along with 24 ray tracing cores and no tensor core data. Its FP32 rating is 12.29 TFLOPS, while FP16 is 24.58 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, indicating a different compute balance than NVIDIA's 1:1 approach.

Memory architecture further separates them. The RTX 4090 uses 24 GB of GDDR6X on a 384-bit bus, delivering 1.01 TB/s of bandwidth, with a memory clock of 1313 MHz (21 Gbps effective). The Arc A580 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s bandwidth, at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). The NVIDIA card has exactly twice the memory bandwidth and three times the memory capacity.

Other notable differences include the process node (5 nm versus 6 nm), the power connectors (1x 16-pin versus 2x 8-pin), the suggested PSU (850 W versus 450 W), and the slot width (triple-slot versus dual-slot). Display outputs vary, with the RTX 4090 offering 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a, while the Arc A580 offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 4090 was released on 2022-09-19, while the Arc A580 came later on 2023-10-09, and the NVIDIA card is end-of-life while the Intel card remains active.