Intel Arc A770 vs NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile Comparison

FAQ

Q: How do the two GPUs compare in overall benchmark standing?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile sits at the 94th percentile of all GPUs in the database, while the Intel Arc A770 sits at the 90th percentile. The RTX A5500 Mobile also holds a higher average benchmark score of 113,944 compared to the Arc A770's 68,809, though this average is heavily influenced by the different benchmark suites recorded for each.

Q: Which GPU wins in the head-to-head Geekbench tests?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile wins both recorded head-to-head tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 124,287 against 109,175 for the Arc A770, a 13.8% advantage. In Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 103,601 against 94,284, a 9.9% advantage.

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

A: The RTX A5500 Mobile's nearest rival is the NVIDIA Tesla V100 SXM2 16 GB, with a score of 114,395, putting it just 0.4% ahead of the A5500 Mobile. The Arc A770's nearest rival is the NVIDIA CMP 90HX at 69,000, which is 0.3% ahead of the Arc A770.

Q: Do both GPUs support the same graphics APIs?

A: Yes, both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. This means feature-level API compatibility is identical between the two.

Q: What is the memory configuration on each card?

A: Both GPUs feature 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 512.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The memory clock is also identical at 2000 MHz with 16 Gbps effective data rate.

Q: What is the production status and release timeline for both?

A: Both are listed as end-of-life products. The RTX A5500 Mobile was released on March 21, 2022, while the Intel Arc A770 was released on October 11, 2022. The A5500 Mobile's predecessor is Quadro Turing-M, while the Arc A770's predecessor is Xe Graphics.

Architecture Differences

The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile is built on the GA103 chip using the Ampere architecture, manufactured on Samsung's 8 nm process. The Intel Arc A770 uses the DG2-512 chip with the Xe-HPG architecture, produced on TSMC's 6 nm node. The process node difference matters here: the A5500 Mobile integrates 22,000 million transistors across a 496 mm² die, yielding a density of 44.4 million transistors per square millimeter. The Arc A770 packs 21,700 million transistors into a smaller 406 mm² die, achieving a higher density of 53.4 million per square millimeter. This gives Intel a density advantage despite slightly fewer total transistors.

The shader configurations diverge substantially. The RTX A5500 Mobile carries 7,424 shading units, 232 TMUs, and 96 ROPs. The Arc A770 has 4,096 shading units, 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs. This means NVIDIA fields 81% more shading units, while Intel counters with 10% more TMUs and 33% more ROPs. The ray tracing hardware also differs: the A5500 Mobile has 58 RT cores, while the Arc A770 has 32. NVIDIA additionally provides 232 tensor cores, while the Arc A770 has no tensor core count listed in the database.

The compute throughput figures reflect these architectural choices. The RTX A5500 Mobile reaches 22.27 TFLOPS in FP32 and the same 22.27 TFLOPS in FP16, indicating a 1:1 ratio. The Arc A770 delivers 19.66 TFLOPS in FP32 but jumps to 39.32 TFLOPS in FP16 with a 2:1 ratio. The pixel and texture rates show a different balance: the A5500 Mobile produces 144.0 GPixel/s and 348.0 GTexel/s, while the Arc A770 achieves 307.2 GPixel/s and 614.4 GTexel/s. Intel's higher ROP and TMU counts drive those wins.

Clock behavior also differs significantly. The RTX A5500 Mobile has a base clock of 975 MHz and a boost of 1500 MHz. The Arc A770 operates at 2100 MHz base and 2400 MHz boost. Power envelopes reflect this: the A5500 Mobile is rated at 165 W TDP, while the Arc A770 draws 225 W. The Arc A770 is a dual-slot card requiring a 6-pin and 8-pin power connector with a 550 W suggested PSU, whereas the A5500 Mobile uses no external power connectors and is portable-device dependent for display outputs. The Arc A770 offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0 outputs.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database records two direct head-to-head comparisons between these GPUs, both in Geekbench workloads. The results are consistent in favor of the NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile, though the margins differ by workload.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A5500 Mobile scores 124,287 against the Arc A770's 109,175. That is a 13.8% lead, the largest gap between the two in any recorded test. OpenCL performance tends to favor the higher shading unit count and mature driver stack, and the data supports that interpretation. The A5500 Mobile's 7,424 shading units and 22.27 TFLOPS FP32 throughput give it a meaningful edge in this compute-oriented workload.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the margin narrows to 9.9%. The A5500 Mobile scores 103,601, while the Arc A770 scores 94,284. Vulkan's lower-level API can expose different hardware strengths, and the Arc A770's higher clock speeds and faster pixel rate likely help it close some of the gap. Still, the NVIDIA card maintains a clear win.

The wins tally reflects this: the RTX A5500 Mobile wins 2 head-to-head tests, while the Arc A770 wins 0. It is worth contextualizing these results with the broader benchmark picture. The Arc A770's average benchmark score of 68,809 is dragged down by its inclusion of the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 test, where it scores 2,969, a result not recorded for the A5500 Mobile. The A5500 Mobile's average of 113,944 is based solely on its two Geekbench results. The nearest-rival data places the A5500 Mobile in a higher performance tier overall, with rivals like the NVIDIA Tesla V100 SXM2 16 GB at 114,395 (0.4% ahead) and the AMD Radeon PRO W7900 at 110,725 (2.9% behind). The Arc A770's nearest rivals cluster much lower, including the NVIDIA CMP 90HX at 69,000 and the NVIDIA Quadro P6000 at 69,986.

The Arc A770 does show competitive strengths in specific metrics. Its FP16 throughput of 39.32 TFLOPS is 76% higher than the A5500 Mobile's 22.27 TFLOPS, which could matter for workloads that exploit FP16 acceleration. Its pixel rate of 307.2 GPixel/s is more than double the A5500 Mobile's 144.0 GPixel/s, and its texture rate of 614.4 GTexel/s likewise doubles the A5500 Mobile's 348.0 GTexel/s. However, these strengths do not translate into wins in the recorded Geekbench tests, suggesting that the GPU's overall compute efficiency in these specific workloads does not overcome the NVIDIA card's raw shader count advantage.

The Verdict

The recorded data points to a clear hierarchy between these two GPUs. The NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile wins both head-to-head benchmark tests, holds a 4-point higher percentile ranking (94th versus 90th), and posts a higher average benchmark score (113,944 versus 68,809). For users prioritizing raw Geekbench compute performance, especially in OpenCL, the A5500 Mobile is the stronger choice.

The Intel Arc A770 is not without its own merits. It delivers more than double the pixel rate and texture rate, and its FP16 throughput of 39.32 TFLOPS substantially exceeds the A5500 Mobile's 22.27 TFLOPS. These figures suggest the Arc A770 could be better suited for workloads that are heavily rasterization-bound or that leverage FP16 compute paths. Its higher clock speeds (2400 MHz boost versus 1500 MHz boost) also point to strong burst performance.

However, the direct head-to-head measurements do not show the Arc A770 winning any recorded test. The RTX A5500 Mobile's 13.8% lead in OpenCL and 9.9% lead in Vulkan are decisive margins. The A5500 Mobile also achieves this with a lower TDP of 165 W versus 225 W, a notable efficiency advantage given that it is designed for mobile use without external power connectors.

For the specific workloads represented in the database, the RTX A5500 Mobile is the superior product. Buyers should select the Arc A770 only if their target applications align with its specific strengths in pixel throughput, texture throughput, or FP16 compute, and if those workloads are not represented by the Geekbench results. The data does not support choosing the Arc A770 for general compute performance.

Specification Differences

| Specification | NVIDIA RTX A5500 Mobile | Intel Arc A770 |

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

| Chip | GA103 | DG2-512 |

| Architecture | Ampere | Xe-HPG |

| Generation | Ampere-MW (Ax000) | Alchemist (Arc 7) |

| Process Node | 8 nm | 6 nm |

| Foundry | Samsung | TSMC |

| Transistors | 22,000 million | 21,700 million |

| Die Size | 496 mm² | 406 mm² |

| Transistor Density | 44.4M / mm² | 53.4M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 975 MHz | 2100 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 1500 MHz | 2400 MHz |

| Shading Units | 7424 | 4096 |

| TMUs | 232 | 256 |

| ROPs | 96 | 128 |

| RT Cores | 58 | 32 |

| Tensor Cores | 232 | null |

| Pixel Rate | 144.0 GPixel/s | 307.2 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 348.0 GTexel/s | 614.4 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 22.27 TFLOPS | 19.66 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 22.27 TFLOPS (1:1) | 39.32 TFLOPS (2:1) |

| TDP | 165 W | 225 W |

| Slot Width | null | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin |

| Suggested PSU | null | 550 W |

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 2.0 |

| Release Date | 2022-03-21 | 2022-10-11 |

| Predecessor | Quadro Turing-M | Xe Graphics |

| Successor | Ada-MW | Battlemage |

| Launch MSRP | null | 329 USD |

The two GPUs share several specifications: both have 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, a 256-bit bus, 512.0 GB/s bandwidth, 2000 MHz memory clock with 16 Gbps effective rate, PCIe 4.0 x16 interface, and identical API support for DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The differences above represent the full set of distinguishing characteristics in the database.