Intel Arc A580 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D Comparison

FAQ

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference between the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D and the Intel Arc A580?

A: The RTX 5090 D has an average benchmark score of 77,712, while the Arc A580 scores 57,756. The RTX 5090 D sits at the 92nd percentile of all GPUs, compared to the 87th percentile for the Arc A580.

Q: How much faster is the RTX 5090 D in the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test?

A: The RTX 5090 D scores 14,326 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 versus 2,229 for the Arc A580, a 542.7% advantage for the NVIDIA card.

Q: Which card has more memory bandwidth?

A: The RTX 5090 D has 1.79 TB/s of memory bandwidth, while the Arc A580 has 512.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card also has 32 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 512-bit bus, compared to 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus for the Intel card.

Q: What is the transistor count difference between the two GPUs?

A: The RTX 5090 D has 92,200 million transistors on a 750 mm² die, while the Arc A580 has 21,700 million transistors on a 406 mm² die. Both are manufactured by TSMC, but the NVIDIA chip uses a 5 nm process versus 6 nm for Intel.

Q: What are the closest rivals for each GPU according to the database?

A: The RTX 5090 D's nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT (1.1% slower), RX 6850M XT (1.6% faster), and NVIDIA Tesla P100 variants. The Arc A580's nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM (0.6% faster), RX 9070 GRE (0.7% slower), and Intel Arc A570M (0.8% faster).

Q: Which card has the higher boost clock?

A: The RTX 5090 D boosts to 2407 MHz, while the Arc A580 boosts to 2000 MHz. The base clocks are 2017 MHz and 1700 MHz respectively.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is built on the Blackwell 2.0 architecture using the GB202 chip, while the Intel Arc A580 uses the Xe-HPG architecture with the DG2-512 chip. The process nodes differ: NVIDIA uses TSMC's 5 nm process, whereas Intel uses TSMC's 6 nm. This process advantage contributes to a significantly higher transistor density for NVIDIA: 122.9 million transistors per mm² versus 53.4 million per mm² for Intel.

The RTX 5090 D features 21,760 shading units, 680 texture mapping units, and 176 raster operation pipelines. It also has 170 ray tracing cores and 680 tensor cores. The Arc A580 has 3,072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs, along with 24 ray tracing cores. Notably, the Intel card has no tensor cores listed in the database. The RTX 5090 D's FP32 compute is 104.8 TFLOPS, while the Arc A580 delivers 12.29 TFLOPS. The FP16 figures diverge in ratio: NVIDIA achieves 104.8 TFLOPS (1:1 with FP32), while Intel reaches 24.58 TFLOPS (2:1 ratio).

Memory architecture differs substantially. The RTX 5090 D uses 32 GB of GDDR7 across a 512-bit bus, yielding 1.79 TB/s bandwidth. The Arc A580 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s. The NVIDIA card's memory clock is 1750 MHz (28 Gbps effective), while Intel's is 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). Pixel and texture rates follow the same pattern: 423.6 GPixel/s and 1,636.8 GTexel/s for NVIDIA versus 192.0 GPixel/s and 384.0 GTexel/s for Intel.

Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 5090 D uses PCIe 5.0 x16, while the Arc A580 uses PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs are similar in count: NVIDIA offers 1x HDMI 2.1b and 3x DisplayPort 2.1b, while Intel provides 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0. Power requirements differ markedly: the RTX 5090 D has a 575 W TDP with a 950 W suggested PSU and a single 16-pin connector, whereas the Arc A580 draws 175 W with a 450 W suggested PSU and dual 8-pin connectors.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records three direct comparisons between these GPUs, all won by the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D.

In 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, the RTX 5090 D scores 14,326 against 2,229 for the Arc A580. This 542.7% delta is the largest margin recorded in any shared benchmark. The result reflects the fundamental throughput gap: the NVIDIA card processes 104.8 TFLOPS of FP32 work versus 12.29 TFLOPS for Intel, and its 1.79 TB/s memory bandwidth removes any bandwidth bottleneck in geometry-heavy workloads.

Geekbench OpenCL shows a 239% advantage for NVIDIA. The RTX 5090 D scores 310,674, while the Arc A580 manages 91,657. This test stresses general compute, where the RTX 5090 D's tensor cores and higher shading unit count dominate. The 21,760 shading units versus 3,072 gives NVIDIA a 7.1x raw shading advantage, though the actual score delta is lower due to memory and scheduling effects.

Geekbench Vulkan delivers a 374.8% win for NVIDIA, with scores of 376,915 and 79,381 respectively. The Vulkan result is the closest to the theoretical compute ratio. The RTX 5090 D's higher boost clock (2407 MHz vs 2000 MHz) and superior memory bandwidth allow it to sustain higher throughput in API-level tests. The Arc A580's 24.58 TFLOPS FP16 capability (2:1 ratio) does not translate into a Vulkan FP32 advantage, as the test primarily measures FP32 performance.

Across all three recorded benchmarks, the RTX 5090 D wins every comparison. The smallest margin is Geekbench OpenCL at 239%, still a commanding lead. The Arc A580's best relative performance appears in OpenCL, where its lower overhead design helps narrow the gap slightly. However, no shared test shows the Intel card within 200% of the NVIDIA card.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D | Intel Arc A580 |

|---|---|---|

| Architecture | Blackwell 2.0 | Xe-HPG |

| Chip | GB202 | DG2-512 |

| Process Node | 5 nm | 6 nm |

| Transistors | 92,200 million | 21,700 million |

| Die Size | 750 mm² | 406 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 122.9M / mm² | 53.4M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 2017 MHz | 1700 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2407 MHz | 2000 MHz |

| Memory Size | 32 GB | 8 GB |

| Memory Type | GDDR7 | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | 512 bit | 256 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | 1.79 TB/s | 512.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 21,760 | 3,072 |

| TMUs | 680 | 192 |

| ROPs | 176 | 96 |

| RT Cores | 170 | 24 |

| Tensor Cores | 680 | None listed |

| Pixel Rate | 423.6 GPixel/s | 192.0 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 1,636.8 GTexel/s | 384.0 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 104.8 TFLOPS | 12.29 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 104.8 TFLOPS (1:1) | 24.58 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 575 W | 175 W |

| Power Connectors | 1x 16-pin | 2x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | 950 W | 450 W |

| Bus Interface | PCIe 5.0 x16 | PCIe 4.0 x16 |

| Release Date | 2025-01-29 | 2023-10-09 |

| Launch MSRP | 2,299 USD | Not listed |

The RTX 5090 D also has a predecessor of GeForce 40 and successor of GeForce 60, while the Arc A580's predecessor is Xe Graphics and successor is Battlemage. The NVIDIA card measures 304 mm in length, 137 mm in height, and 48 mm in width; the Intel card has no listed dimensions. Both are dual-slot designs.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D wins in every measurable category from the database. In raw compute, it leads by 8.5x in FP32 throughput (104.8 vs 12.29 TFLOPS) and by 4.3x in FP16 (104.8 vs 24.58 TFLOPS). Its memory bandwidth advantage of 3.5x (1.79 TB/s vs 512.0 GB/s) makes it suited for high-resolution texture streaming and large dataset workloads. The 32 GB frame buffer versus 8 GB allows it to hold significantly more data on-card, reducing PCIe traffic.

For ray tracing, the RTX 5090 D has 170 RT cores versus 24 for the Arc A580. This 7.1x core count advantage, combined with the higher boost clock, positions NVIDIA for demanding RT workloads. The tensor cores (680 vs none listed) give the RTX 5090 D a machine learning capability that the Arc A580 lacks entirely.

The Arc A580's advantages are limited to efficiency and power requirements. Its 175 W TDP is 400 W lower than the RTX 5090 D's 575 W, and its suggested PSU of 450 W versus 950 W means it can run in systems with smaller power supplies. The dual 8-pin connectors are more universally compatible with existing PSUs than the 16-pin connector on the NVIDIA card. However, these are practical considerations rather than performance wins.

In benchmark percentiles, the RTX 5090 D's 92nd percentile versus the Arc A580's 87th places both above the median, but the gap between them is enormous. The RTX 5090 D's nearest rivals (AMD Radeon RX 6650M XT and RX 6850M XT) are within 1.6% of its average score, showing it sits in a high-performance cluster. The Arc A580's rivals (RX 5600 OEM, RX 9070 GRE, Arc A570M, RX 6950 XT) are all within 1.1% of its score, indicating it occupies a mid-range tier.

The Verdict

The data makes the choice straightforward for performance-oriented users: the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 D is the superior GPU in every recorded benchmark. Its 542.7% lead in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, 239% lead in Geekbench OpenCL, and 374.8% lead in Geekbench Vulkan are decisive margins. The RTX 5090 D also holds commanding advantages in shading units (21,760 vs 3,072), memory bandwidth (1.79 TB/s vs 512.0 GB/s), and ray tracing cores (170 vs 24).

Users who need maximum compute throughput, large memory capacity, or ray tracing performance should select the RTX 5090 D. Its 92nd percentile ranking and 77,712 average benchmark score place it among the top GPUs in the database. The 32 GB GDDR7 memory and 104.8 TFLOPS FP32 compute make it suitable for workloads that exceed the Arc A580's capacity by an order of magnitude.

The Intel Arc A580 serves a different purpose. Its 175 W TDP and 450 W suggested PSU make it appropriate for systems with limited power delivery. The 8 GB memory and 12.29 TFLOPS FP32 compute are sufficient for mainstream tasks, and its 87th percentile ranking shows it outperforms a majority of GPUs. Users constrained by power supply capacity or motherboard compatibility (PCIe 4.0 vs PCIe 5.0) may find the Arc A580 a workable option.

However, from a pure performance perspective, the RTX 5090 D wins all three head-to-head benchmarks and records a 34.5% higher average benchmark score (77,712 vs 57,756). The Arc A580's closest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM, which scores 0.6% higher, while the RTX 5090 D's rivals are all within 2.4% of its score. The verdict is unambiguous for users prioritizing benchmark results: the NVIDIA card is the choice. The Arc A580's only defensible selection criteria are lower power draw and less demanding system requirements, neither of which appear in the recorded performance data.