Intel Arc A580 vs NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation Comparison
Intel Arc A580
RTX 5880 Ada Generation
PERFORMANCE BENCHMARKS
Analysis: Intel Arc A580 vs NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation
Head-to-Head Benchmarks
The recorded data contains only one direct head-to-head benchmark between the Intel Arc A580 and the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation: the Geekbench OpenCL compute test. In this test, the NVIDIA GPU delivers a score of 326,898, while the Intel Arc A580 scores 91,657. The delta is a decisive 72% advantage for the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation. This is a substantial margin, indicating that in raw compute workloads measured by OpenCL, the NVIDIA part operates in an entirely different performance class.
Looking at the broader database averages, the two cards occupy different tiers despite the NVIDIA part's percentile ranking being slightly lower. The Intel Arc A580 has an average benchmark score of 57,756, placing it in the 87th percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation has an average benchmark score of 45,972, which puts it in the 85th percentile. This is a curious inversion: the NVIDIA GPU wins the single direct comparison by a wide margin, yet its aggregate average across all recorded tests is lower than Intel's. The explanation lies in the composition of the benchmark suites. The Intel Arc A580's three recorded benchmarks (3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, Geekbench OpenCL, and Geekbench Vulkan) all return strong scores, with the 3DMark result at 2,229 and the Vulkan score at 79,381. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation, by contrast, has eight recorded tests, several of which are legacy DirectX 9, 10, and 11 workloads where it posts relatively low numbers (335, 167, and 228 respectively). The Passmark G3D score of 25,096 and the Passmark GPU compute score of 14,208 are respectable, but they drag the average down when combined with the older API tests.
The nearest rival data reinforces this divergence. The Intel Arc A580's closest competitors in the database are the AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM (average score 58,085, delta of 0.6%), the AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE (57,367, delta of 0.7%), the Intel Arc A570M (58,239, delta of 0.8%), and the AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT (58,392, delta of 1.1%). These deltas are all within roughly one percentage point, meaning the Arc A580 sits in a tightly packed cluster of mid-range GPUs. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA RTX A2000 (46,043, delta of 0.2%), the Intel Arc A730M (45,592, delta of 0.8%), the AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (45,384, delta of 1.3%), and the AMD Radeon RX 5600M (46,601, delta of 1.4%). Again, the deltas are small, but the absolute scores are roughly 20% lower than the Arc A580's cluster.
The single head-to-head result, however, tells a more dramatic story than the averages suggest. The 72% delta in OpenCL performance indicates that the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation's compute architecture is far more efficient at this specific workload. The Intel Arc A580's OpenCL score of 91,657 is respectable for its class, but it is dwarfed by the NVIDIA part's 326,898. This gap is consistent with the underlying hardware differences: the NVIDIA GPU has 14,080 shading units versus 3,072 for Intel, and the NVIDIA part's FP32 throughput is 69.27 TFLOPS against Intel's 12.29 TFLOPS. These are not small differences; they represent a factor of roughly 5.6 in raw shading capacity.
The Verdict
Based strictly on the recorded data, the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation is the clear winner in the one direct benchmark available. The 72% lead in Geekbench OpenCL is categorical. For any workload that relies on OpenCL compute, the NVIDIA GPU is the only sensible choice from these two. The NVIDIA part also offers 48 GB of memory versus 8 GB on the Intel, which is a sixfold difference that matters for large datasets, though the database does not include a memory-specific benchmark to quantify this.
However, the average benchmark scores complicate a simple recommendation. The Intel Arc A580's average of 57,756 is 25.6% higher than the NVIDIA's 45,972. This suggests that in the broader mix of tests, including DirectX 12, Vulkan, and older API workloads, the Intel card holds up better relative to its peer group. The Intel part's percentile ranking (87th) is also higher than the NVIDIA's (85th), meaning it outperforms a larger fraction of the GPU population in the database's aggregated metrics.
Who should pick which? For users whose primary workloads are modern DirectX 12 or Vulkan applications, the Intel Arc A580's 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 2,229 and Vulkan score of 79,381 indicate strong contemporary gaming performance. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation has no recorded DirectX 12 or Vulkan scores in the database, so its capabilities in those APIs cannot be directly compared. For compute-heavy tasks, particularly those using OpenCL, the NVIDIA GPU is overwhelmingly superior. The 48 GB memory capacity also makes it the obvious choice for large-scale data processing, though again, no specific memory benchmark is recorded.
The production status of both cards is Active, so both are currently available. The Intel Arc A580 was released on 2023-10-09, while the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation followed on 2024-01-04. The Intel card is a consumer-oriented Alchemist generation product, while the NVIDIA card is a workstation Ada generation product. The data supports the workstation positioning: the NVIDIA part wins the compute test decisively, but the Intel part holds its own in gaming-oriented benchmarks.
FAQ
Q: Which GPU wins the only direct head-to-head benchmark?
A: The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation wins the Geekbench OpenCL test with a score of 326,898 against the Intel Arc A580's 91,657, a 72% advantage.
Q: How do the average benchmark scores compare?
A: The Intel Arc A580 has an average benchmark score of 57,756, while the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation has an average of 45,972. This puts the Intel card at the 87th percentile and the NVIDIA card at the 85th percentile of all GPUs.
Q: What are the nearest rivals to each card?
A: The Intel Arc A580's nearest rivals are the AMD Radeon RX 5600 OEM (58,085 average score), AMD Radeon RX 9070 GRE (57,367), Intel Arc A570M (58,239), and AMD Radeon RX 6950 XT (58,392). The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation's nearest rivals are the NVIDIA RTX A2000 (46,043), Intel Arc A730M (45,592), AMD Radeon Pro 5500 XT (45,384), and AMD Radeon RX 5600M (46,601).
Q: Does the Intel Arc A580 have any recorded benchmark where it wins?
A: No, the database records zero wins for the Intel Arc A580 in head-to-head tests. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation records one win.
Q: What is the memory difference between the two cards?
A: The Intel Arc A580 has 8 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation has 48 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 384-bit bus with 864.0 GB/s bandwidth.
Q: Which card has more shading units and higher FP32 throughput?
A: The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation has 14,080 shading units and 69.27 TFLOPS FP32 performance. The Intel Arc A580 has 3,072 shading units and 12.29 TFLOPS FP32 performance.
Specification Differences
The two cards differ across nearly every specification category. The Intel Arc A580 uses the DG2-512 chip built on TSMC's 6 nm process, while the NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation uses the AD102 chip on TSMC's 5 nm process. The transistor counts are dramatically different: 21,700 million for Intel versus 76,300 million for NVIDIA. Die size also differs, with Intel at 406 mm² and NVIDIA at 609 mm². This yields a transistor density of 53.4 million per mm² for Intel and 125.3 million per mm² for NVIDIA.
Clock speeds show an interesting inversion. The Intel card has a base clock of 1700 MHz and a boost of 2000 MHz, while the NVIDIA card has a base of 975 MHz and a boost of 2460 MHz. The NVIDIA part boosts much higher but also idles lower. Memory clocks differ as well: Intel runs at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective), while NVIDIA runs at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective).
Memory configuration is a major differentiator. The Intel card has 8 GB GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, providing 512.0 GB/s bandwidth. The NVIDIA card has 48 GB GDDR6 on a 384-bit bus, providing 864.0 GB/s bandwidth. This is a 6x capacity advantage and a 1.7x bandwidth advantage for NVIDIA.
Compute resources diverge sharply. The Intel Arc A580 has 3,072 shading units, 192 texture mapping units, and 96 raster output units. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation has 14,080 shading units, 440 TMUs, and 176 ROPs. The NVIDIA card also has 110 ray tracing cores and 440 tensor cores, while the Intel card has 24 ray tracing cores and no tensor cores listed. Pixel rates are 192.0 GPixel/s for Intel versus 433.0 GPixel/s for NVIDIA. Texture rates are 384.0 GTexel/s versus 1,082.4 GTexel/s. FP32 throughput is 12.29 TFLOPS versus 69.27 TFLOPS. FP16 performance shows a key architectural difference: Intel achieves 24.58 TFLOPS via a 2:1 ratio, while NVIDIA achieves 69.27 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio.
Power and physical specifications also differ. The Intel card has a TDP of 175 W with a suggested PSU of 450 W and dual 8-pin connectors. The NVIDIA card has a TDP of 285 W with a suggested PSU of 600 W and a single 16-pin connector. Both are dual-slot cards and both use PCIe 4.0 x16. Display outputs differ: Intel offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0, while NVIDIA offers 4x DisplayPort 1.4a. The NVIDIA card has recorded dimensions of 267 mm length and 112 mm height; the Intel card's dimensions are not recorded.
Architecture Differences
The architectural gap between these two GPUs is fundamental. The Intel Arc A580 is built on the Xe-HPG architecture, part of the Alchemist generation, specifically categorized under Arc 5. The NVIDIA RTX 5880 Ada Generation is built on the Ada Lovelace architecture, part of the Workstation Ada generation (x000A). The Intel card's predecessor is Xe Graphics and its successor is Battlemage. The NVIDIA card's predecessor is Workstation Ampere and its successor is Blackwell PRO W.
The process technology differs by one node generation: Intel uses 6 nm TSMC, while NVIDIA uses 5 nm TSMC. The transistor density difference reflects this, with NVIDIA achieving 125.3 million transistors per mm² versus Intel's 53.4 million. This is a 2.3x density advantage for NVIDIA, which explains how it fits 76,300 million transistors on a 609 mm² die while Intel fits 21,700 million on a smaller 406 mm² die.
Ray tracing and tensor core configurations highlight the different design philosophies. The NVIDIA card has 110 RT cores and 440 tensor cores, enabling hardware-accelerated ray tracing and AI compute. The Intel card has 24 RT cores and no tensor cores in the database, meaning its ray tracing capability is present but far less extensive, and it lacks dedicated AI acceleration hardware. The FP16 ratio difference is also telling: NVIDIA processes FP16 at a 1:1 ratio with FP32, indicating full-rate execution, while Intel uses a 2:1 ratio, meaning FP16 is halved relative to FP32.
Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API compatibility is identical. The display output strategy differs, with Intel supporting the newer DisplayPort 2.0 standard and HDMI 2.1, while NVIDIA sticks with DisplayPort 1.4a across four outputs. For workstation users, the NVIDIA card's 48 GB memory and 864.0 GB/s bandwidth are the standout architectural features, while the Intel card's smaller 8 GB pool and 512.0 GB/s bandwidth position it for mainstream gaming rather than large-scale compute. The benchmark data confirms this split: NVIDIA dominates the compute test, while Intel's higher average score suggests better balance across a wider range of workloads.