Intel Arc A580 vs NVIDIA P102-100 Comparison

The data shows a clear overall winner: the Intel Arc A580 outperforms the NVIDIA P102-100 in both available head-to-head benchmarks, with the Arc A580 winning 2 out of 2 tests. The Arc A580 holds a substantial lead in OpenCL performance and a solid advantage in Vulkan, making it the more capable card for general compute and modern graphics APIs. The P102-100, however, is a specialized mining GPU with no display outputs, so its utility is inherently limited to compute workloads, where its 88th percentile ranking still places it among capable performers despite losing to the Arc A580's 87th percentile. For any user needing a functional graphics card, the Arc A580 is the only choice; for a pure compute task where display output is irrelevant, the P102-100's lower average score (58528 vs 57756) still makes it a viable, albeit slower, option.

The Verdict

The Intel Arc A580 is the definitive pick for virtually every use case, as benchmark results indicate it outperforms the NVIDIA P102-100 in both OpenCL and Vulkan tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, the Arc A580 scores 91657 against the P102-100's 49602, a massive 45.9% difference in favor of Intel. Similarly, in Geekbench Vulkan, the Arc A580 scores 79381 versus 67454, a 15% advantage. These are not marginal wins; they represent a clear generational and architectural superiority for the Arc A580. The P102-100's only potential niche is a system that requires absolutely no video output, as it lacks display connectors entirely. However, even in that scenario, the data shows the Arc A580 is faster at compute tasks, meaning the P102-100 offers no performance benefit. A user with a dedicated compute server that already has a separate display adapter might consider the P102-100, but they would be sacrificing 45.9% OpenCL performance and 15% Vulkan performance for no gain. The Arc A580 is also the only one with an active production status, making it a safer long-term investment.

Where Each One Wins

The Intel Arc A580 wins decisively in every benchmark category available. Its OpenCL score of 91657 is nearly double the P102-100's 49602, indicating superior raw compute throughput for workloads that leverage OpenCL, such as rendering, physics simulation, and some machine learning tasks. In Vulkan, the Arc A580's 79381 score outpaces the P102-100's 67454, showing better performance in modern games and applications that use Vulkan for lower overhead and higher efficiency. The NVIDIA P102-100 has zero wins in the head-to-head data, meaning there is no benchmark where it outperforms the Arc A580. Its only advantage is its 88th percentile ranking versus the Arc A580's 87th, but this is a relative measure against all GPUs, not a direct comparison. The P102-100's average benchmark score of 58528 is also slightly higher than the Arc A580's 57756, but this is driven by its two benchmark results, and the head-to-head deltas show the Arc A580 is faster on the tests they share.

Architecture Differences

The two GPUs come from vastly different design philosophies and manufacturing processes. The NVIDIA P102-100 is based on the Pascal architecture, built on a 16 nm TSMC process, with 11,800 million transistors on a 471 mm² die. This results in a transistor density of 25.1M per mm². In contrast, the Intel Arc A580 uses the Xe-HPG architecture, fabricated on a much more advanced 6 nm TSMC node, packing 21,700 million transistors into a smaller 406 mm² die, yielding a far higher transistor density of 53.4M per mm². The Arc A580 also features 24 dedicated ray tracing cores, which the P102-100 lacks entirely. The P102-100 has 3200 shading units, 200 TMUs, and 80 ROPs, while the Arc A580 has 3072 shading units, 192 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The P102-100 has a higher base clock (1582 MHz vs 1700 MHz) and boost clock (1683 MHz vs 2000 MHz) is actually lower on the NVIDIA card. The P102-100's memory is 5 GB of GDDR5X on a 320-bit bus, delivering 440.3 GB/s bandwidth, while the Arc A580 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, achieving 512.0 GB/s. The P102-100 is a mining-specific product with no display outputs, while the Arc A580 offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0 outputs. The Arc A580 also supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), while the P102-100 only reaches DirectX 12 (12_1). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. The P102-100 uses a PCIe 1.0 x4 interface, which is a severe bottleneck for data transfer, compared to the Arc A580's modern PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. The P102-100's FP32 output is 10.77 TFLOPS, while the Arc A580 achieves 12.29 TFLOPS. In FP16, the gap is enormous: the Arc A580 delivers 24.58 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio, while the P102-100 manages only 168.3 GFLOPS with a 1:64 ratio, making the Arc A580 vastly superior for half-precision workloads.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has higher raw compute performance?

A: The Intel Arc A580 leads in FP32 with 12.29 TFLOPS versus the P102-100's 10.77 TFLOPS, and in FP16 it is overwhelmingly faster at 24.58 TFLOPS compared to 168.3 GFLOPS.

Q: Can the NVIDIA P102-100 be used for gaming?

A: No, the P102-100 has no display outputs, so it cannot connect to a monitor. The Intel Arc A580, with its HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, is the only viable option for a standard graphics card role.

Q: How much faster is the Arc A580 in OpenCL?

A: The Arc A580 scores 91657 in Geekbench OpenCL, which is 45.9% higher than the P102-100's score of 49602.

Q: Which card has more memory and bandwidth?

A: The Arc A580 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth, while the P102-100 has 5 GB of GDDR5X with 440.3 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: Are these cards in the same performance percentile?

A: Yes, they are very close. The P102-100 ranks in the 88th percentile of all GPUs, and the Arc A580 ranks in the 87th percentile.

Q: Does the P102-100 support ray tracing?

A: No, the P102-100 has zero ray tracing cores. The Arc A580 includes 24 RT cores.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most significant difference in the head-to-head results is in Geekbench OpenCL, where the Intel Arc A580 scores 91657 against the NVIDIA P102-100's 49602. This represents a 45.9% deficit for the NVIDIA card, a massive gap that suggests the P102-100's Pascal architecture is severely outclassed in general compute tasks that utilize OpenCL. The Arc A580's advantage likely stems from its newer Xe-HPG architecture, higher core clocks, and faster memory subsystem. The second benchmark, Geekbench Vulkan, shows a smaller but still notable lead for the Arc A580, which scores 79381 versus the P102-100's 67454, a 15% difference. This narrower gap indicates that Vulkan workloads, which are often more driver-optimized and graphics-focused, benefit the P102-100 relatively more, but it is still not enough to overcome the Arc A580's superior hardware. In both tests, the Arc A580 wins, and the data shows no scenario where the P102-100 takes a victory. The closest rival comparisons in the database reinforce this: the P102-100's average score of 58528 is nearly identical to the Arc A580's 57756, but the head-to-head deltas reveal that on the tests they share, the Arc A580 is consistently faster, with the 45.9% OpenCL gap being the headline result.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ on nearly every specification that matters for performance and usability. The most critical difference is the display outputs: the P102-100 has none, while the Arc A580 provides 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0, making the Arc A580 a functional graphics card and the P102-100 a compute-only board. The bus interface also diverges sharply, with the P102-100 using a legacy PCIe 1.0 x4 slot, which severely limits data transfer rates, versus the Arc A580's PCIe 4.0 x16, which offers massive bandwidth for modern systems. Memory configurations differ: the P102-100 has 5 GB of GDDR5X on a 320-bit bus, while the Arc A580 has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, resulting in the Arc A580 having higher bandwidth (512.0 GB/s vs 440.3 GB/s). Clock speeds favor the Arc A580, which has a base clock of 1700 MHz and a boost clock of 2000 MHz, compared to the P102-100's 1582 MHz base and 1683 MHz boost. The P102-100 has more shading units (3200 vs 3072) and TMUs (200 vs 192), but the Arc A580 has more ROPs (96 vs 80). The Arc A580 also features 24 RT cores, which the P102-100 lacks entirely. Power consumption is lower on the Arc A580, with a TDP of 175 W versus 250 W for the P102-100, and the suggested PSU is 450 W versus 600 W. Manufacturing processes are a generation apart: the P102-100 uses a 16 nm node, while the Arc A580 uses a 6 nm node, leading to a much higher transistor density (53.4M / mm² vs 25.1M / mm²) despite a smaller die (406 mm² vs 471 mm²). The Arc A580 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, while the P102-100 is limited to DirectX 12 (12_1). Production status also differs, with the P102-100 marked as end-of-life and the Arc A580 as active.