Intel Arc A770 vs NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB Comparison

The Verdict

The recorded benchmark data presents a clear hierarchy between these two GPUs, though the comparison is not entirely straightforward. The NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB holds a decisive advantage in the two shared benchmark tests, winning both head-to-head matchups. Its average benchmark score of 138,063 places it in the 96th percentile of all GPUs, while the Intel Arc A770’s average of 68,809 lands it in the 90th percentile. However, this is not a simple performance comparison based on these aggregate numbers alone.

For users prioritizing raw compute throughput in OpenCL and Vulkan workloads, the Tesla V100 is the stronger choice. It outperforms the Arc A770 by 49.4% in Geekbench OpenCL and by 19.9% in Geekbench Vulkan. The data indicates that the V100 is designed for high-bandwidth, high-parallelism compute tasks, and its benchmark scores reflect that specialization. On the other hand, the Arc A770, while trailing in these specific tests, is a different class of product. It targets consumer and prosumer graphics workloads, with support for real-time ray tracing and modern display outputs. The V100 has no display outputs at all. For anyone needing a card for a workstation with a monitor attached, the Arc A770 is the only viable option between the two, despite its lower raw compute scores. For headless compute nodes, the V100’s superior throughput and higher percentile ranking make it the standout choice.

Architecture Differences

The two cards are built on fundamentally different architectures. The Tesla V100 is based on NVIDIA’s Volta architecture, fabricated on a 12 nm process at TSMC. The Intel Arc A770 uses the Xe-HPG architecture (Alchemist generation), manufactured on a smaller 6 nm process, also at TSMC. The V100’s chip, GV100, has a massive die size of 815 mm² and contains 21,100 million transistors. The Arc A770’s DG2-512 chip is smaller at 406 mm² but packs 21,700 million transistors, giving it a significantly higher transistor density of 53.4 million per mm² compared to the V100’s 25.9 million per mm².

Architectural feature sets differ sharply. The V100 integrates 640 tensor cores, which are absent in the Arc A770. Conversely, the Arc A770 integrates 32 ray tracing cores, while the V100 has none. The V100 has a higher shading unit count, 5,120 versus 4,096 for the Arc A770. The texture mapping units, the V100 has 320, the Arc A770 has 256. Both have 128 render output units. The memory architectures are also divergent. The V100 uses 16 GB of HBM2 on a 4096-bit bus, yielding a bandwidth of 897.0 GB/s. The Arc A770 uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 512.0 GB/s. The V100’s memory provides substantially more bandwidth, which is a critical advantage for data-intensive compute tasks.

The API support also positions them differently. The V100 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), while the Arc A770 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2). Both support OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.4. These differences underline the V100’s focus on compute and the Arc A770’s focus on modern graphics features.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The direct comparisons in the database are limited to two Geekbench tests. The results are unambiguous. In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB scores 163,063, while the Intel Arc A770 scores 109,175. This yields a delta of 49.4% in favor of the V100. This is a substantial margin, indicating that the V100 has a significant throughput advantage in general-purpose compute tasks as measured by OpenCL. The V100’s higher memory bandwidth, larger number of shading units, and tensor core support likely contribute to this result, though the database does not state those as causal factors.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the V100 scores 113,062, and the Arc A770 scores 94,284. The V100 wins by 19.9%. The margin is smaller than in OpenCL, but still a clear victory for the V100. Vulkan is a lower-level API that can more directly leverage the hardware, so the Arc A770’s more modern architecture may close the gap some, but the data shows the V100 remains ahead. Of the two head-to-head tests, the V100 wins both, giving it 2 wins and the Arc A770 0 wins. The average benchmark scores reflect the same outcome: the V100’s average of 138,063 is significantly higher than the Arc A770’s 68,809. It is important to note that the Arc A770’s average is pulled down by its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2,969, which is not a test the V100 was recorded in, and its two Geekbench scores. The data shows a consistent pattern: the V100 is the stronger compute performer in these specific tests.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every specification field. The process node: the V100 is built on 12 nm, the Arc A770 on 6 nm. The V100’s die size is 815 mm², the Arc A770’s is 406 mm². Transistor count is close, with 21,100 million for the V100 and 21,700 million for the Arc A770, but the density differs dramatically, 25.9M / mm² versus 53, with 4M / mm².

Clock speeds are higher on the Arc A770. Its base clock is 2100 MHz and boost clock is 2400 MHz, while the V100 has a base of 1245 MHz and a boost of 1380 MHz. The memory is also different: V100 has HBM2 at 876 MHz with an effective data rate of 1752 Mbps, and the Arc A770 has GDDR6 at 2000 MHz with a 16 Gbps effective rate. The memory bus width is a major difference, with the V100 at 4096 bits versus the Arc A770 at 256 bits. This yields a bandwidth of 897.0 GB/s for the V100 and 512.0 GB/s for the Arc A770.

The shading units, TMUs, and ROPs differ as noted: 5120 vs 4096 shading units, 320 vs 256 TMUs, and 128 ROPs on both. The V100 has 640 tensor cores, the Arc A770 has none. The Arc A770 has 32 ray cores, the V100 has none. The pixel rate is higher on the Arc A770: 307.2 GPixel/s versus 176.6 GPixel/s. The V100 has a higher texture rate: 441.6 GTexel/s versus 614.4 GTexel/s for the Arc A770. The V100’s FP32 throughput is 14.13 TFLOPS, while the Arc A770 achieves 19.66 TFLOPS. The same pattern holds for FP16: 28.26 TFLOPS for the V100 and 39.32 TFLOPS for the Arc A770.

Power consumption is lower on the Arc A770: 225 W versus 300 W for the V100. The suggested PSU is also lower: 550 W versus 700 W. The power connectors differ: the V100 requires 2x 8-pin, while the Arc A770 uses 1x 6-pin + 1x 8-pin. The bus interface is PCIe 3.0 x16 on the V100 and PCIe 4.0 x16 on the Arc A770. The V100 has no display outputs; the Arc A770 has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0. The release dates are separated by over five years, the V100 in June 2017 and the Arc A770 in October 2022. Both are end-of-life, with the V100 having a predecessor in Tesla Pascal and a successor in Tesla Turing, while the Arc A770 is preceded by Xe Graphics and succeeded by Battlemage.

FAQ

Q: Which card has a higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA Tesla V100 PCIe 16 GB has an average benchmark score of 138,063, which is higher than the Intel Arc A770’s average of 68,809.

Q: What is the difference in Geekbench OpenCL performance?

A: The V100 scores 163,063, and the Arc A770 scores 109,175. The V100 is 49.4% ahead of the Arc A770 in this test.

Q: Which card supports hardware ray tracing?

A: The Intel Arc A770 has 32 ray cores. The NVIDIA Tesla A100 has no ray cores listed in the database.

Q: Does the Tesla V100 have tensor cores?

A: Yes, the V100 has 640 tensor cores. The Intel Arc A770 does not have any tensor cores listed in the data.

Q: What is the memory bandwidth of each card?

A: The V100 has a memory bandwidth of 897.0 GB/s, while the Arc A770 has a bandwidth of 512.0 GB/s.

Q: What are the display outputs available?

A: The Tesla V100 has no display outputs. The Intel Arc A770 has 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 2.0 outputs.