Intel Arc B390 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 AD106 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The recorded data separates these two parts sharply by role and form factor. The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor, part of the Panther Lake mobile generation, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 AD106 is a discrete, dual-slot add-in board from the GeForce 40-series. Their benchmark footprints barely overlap: the database holds a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 for the Arc B390, while the RTX 4060 AD106 has no recorded benchmark entries in the same dataset. That absence is itself informative. The RTX 4060 AD106 sits at the 50th percentile among all GPUs in the database, whereas the Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile, indicating a very different performance tier.

The Arc B390 wins in the narrow category of integrated operation. It uses system shared memory, draws 80 W, needs no power connector, and fits as an IGP, making it suitable for compact portable devices where a discrete board cannot be installed. The RTX 4060 AD106 claims the discrete segment outright, with dedicated 8 GB GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, 272.0 GB/s of bandwidth, and a 115 W TDP with a 1x 12-pin power connector. In any scenario requiring a standalone graphics card, the RTX 4060 AD106 is the only viable part between the two.

The benchmark comparison is one-sided in terms of available data. The Arc B390 delivers a Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, which places it near a cluster of older, low-end NVIDIA parts: the GeForce GT 520MX at 1463 (1.3 percent behind), the GeForce 800M at 1460 (1.5 percent behind), the GeForce GT 625 OEM at 1446 (2.5 percent behind), and the GeForce GT 710 at 1443 (2.7 percent behind). The RTX 4060 AD106 has no comparable score recorded, so its wins cannot be expressed as direct benchmark deltas. Instead, its advantage is structural: it is a discrete GPU with its own memory subsystem and a 50th percentile standing across all GPUs, as opposed to the Arc B390's 9th percentile standing.

Architecture Differences

The two parts come from different foundries and process nodes. Intel builds the Arc B390 on a 3 nm node at Intel, using the Panther Lake chip with Xe3-LPG architecture from the Arc Graphics-M (Panther Lake) generation. NVIDIA builds the RTX 4060 AD106 on a 5 nm node at TSMC, using the AD106 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture from the GeForce 40 generation. The transistor counts diverge sharply: the RTX 4060 AD106 packs 22,900 million transistors on a 188 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 121.8M per mm². The Arc B390's transistor count and die size are recorded as unknown, so no density figure can be stated.

Compute resources differ by roughly a factor of two across the board. The Arc B390 has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, 24 render output units, and 12 ray tracing cores. The RTX 4060 AD106 has 3072 shading units, 96 TMUs, 48 ROPs, and 24 RT cores, exactly doubling each of those four counts. The RTX 4060 AD106 also includes 96 tensor cores, while the Arc B390 lists no tensor core count in the database. Clock behavior is notable: the Arc B390 runs a 300 MHz base and a 2500 MHz boost, while the RTX 4060 AD106 runs a much higher 1830 MHz base and a 2460 MHz boost. Despite the Arc B390's higher boost clock, its halved shading unit count limits its raw throughput.

Memory architecture is fundamentally different. The Arc B390 uses system shared memory with a system dependent bandwidth and no dedicated VRAM. The RTX 4060 AD106 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with a fixed 272.0 GB/s bandwidth and a memory clock of 2125 MHz, listed as 17 Gbps effective. The system shared approach ties the Arc B390's memory performance to the host platform, whereas the RTX 4060 AD106 has a self-contained memory pipeline.

The API feature sets are identical on paper. Both parts support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 4060 AD106's tensor cores and higher RT core count give it additional compute paths, but the exposed API levels match. Power delivery and physical integration differ completely: the Arc B390 is an IGP with no power connector and an 80 W TDP, while the RTX 4060 AD106 is a dual-slot card with a 1x 12-pin connector, a 115 W TDP, and a 300 W suggested PSU. The Arc B390's display outputs are portable device dependent; the RTX 4060 AD106 offers 1x HDMI 2.1 and 3x DisplayPort 1.4a.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Direct head-to-head benchmark entries are empty in the database, so the comparison must rely on the single recorded score for the Arc B390 and the aggregate percentile positions for both parts. The Arc B390's 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482 is the only direct measurement available. Its nearest rivals in the database are all older NVIDIA parts with scores within a few percent. The GeForce GT 520MX trails by 1.3 percent at 1463, the GeForce 800M trails by 1.5 percent at 1460, the GeForce GT 625 OEM trails by 2.5 percent at 1446, and the GeForce GT 710 trails by 2.7 percent at 1443. This places the Arc B390 marginally ahead of a group of legacy low-end GPUs, but the deltas are small enough to be within typical run-to-run variance.

The RTX 4060 AD106 has no recorded benchmark scores and no nearest rivals listed, so no exact performance delta can be computed against the Arc B390. Its 50th percentile standing across all GPUs, against the Arc B390's 9th percentile, is the strongest available signal. A 41 percentile point gap indicates that the RTX 4060 AD106 occupies a far higher position in the overall performance distribution. The Arc B390's raw throughput figures support the lower percentile: 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 and 15.36 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1), against the RTX 4060 AD106's 15.11 TFLOPS FP32 and 15.11 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1). The RTX 4060 AD106 delivers roughly double the FP32 throughput, matching its doubled shading unit count.

Pixel and texture rates follow the same pattern. The Arc B390 reaches 60.00 GPixel/s and 120.0 GTexel/s. The RTX 4060 AD106 reaches 118.1 GPixel/s and 236.2 GTexel/s, again close to double. The RTX 4060 AD106's memory bandwidth of 272.0 GB/s is a fixed resource, while the Arc B390's bandwidth is system dependent, meaning its effective memory throughput depends entirely on the host laptop or portable device. In any memory-heavy workload, the RTX 4060 AD106 has a structural advantage that no system shared configuration can fully offset.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear split by use case. For a portable device where a discrete card cannot be installed, the Intel Arc B390 is the only option of the two, and its Steel Nomad score of 1482 shows it sits near the low end of the database, just ahead of the GeForce GT 520MX, GeForce 800M, GeForce GT 625 OEM, and GeForce GT 710. Its 80 W TDP, IGP form factor, and lack of a power connector make it a low-power integrated solution.

For any system that can accept a discrete card, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 AD106 dominates on structural grounds. It has double the shading units, TMUs, ROPs, and RT cores, plus 96 tensor cores, 8 GB of dedicated GDDR6, and a 272.0 GB/s memory bus. Its 50th percentile standing versus the Arc B390's 9th percentile is the clearest summary metric in the database. The RTX 4060 AD106 is also the only one of the two with a recorded production status of end-of-life, while the Arc B390 is marked active. The RTX 4060 AD106's predecessor is GeForce 30 and its successor is GeForce 50, placing it in a defined product cycle.

The Arc B390's release date is recorded as 2026-01-26, while the RTX 4060 AD106's release date is 2024-03-31. The Arc B390 is the newer part, but newer does not mean faster in this comparison; its position in the 9th percentile reflects its integrated nature. Neither part has a launch MSRP in the database, so no price statement can be made. The choice is not really between two competitors in the same segment. It is between an integrated accelerator for compact systems and a discrete graphics card for a full expansion slot.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher percentile ranking in the database?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 AD106 sits at the 50th percentile among all GPUs, while the Intel Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile.

Q: What is the only recorded benchmark score for the Intel Arc B390?

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, with its nearest rival, the GeForce GT 520MX, scoring 1463 for a 1.3 percent delta.

Q: Does the RTX 4060 AD106 have any recorded benchmark scores?

A: No. The database lists no benchmark entries for the RTX 4060 AD106, and its average benchmark score is recorded as 0.

Q: How do the shading unit counts compare?

A: The Arc B390 has 1536 shading units, while the RTX 4060 AD106 has 3072, exactly double. The RTX 4060 AD106 also doubles the TMU count (96 vs 48), ROP count (48 vs 24), and RT core count (24 vs 12).

Q: What memory configurations do the two parts use?

A: The Arc B390 uses system shared memory with system dependent bandwidth. The RTX 4060 AD106 uses 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 128-bit bus with 272.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the TDP and power connector requirements?

A: The Arc B390 has an 80 W TDP and no power connector, while the RTX 4060 AD106 has a 115 W TDP, a 1x 12-pin power connector, and a 300 W suggested PSU.

Specification Differences

| Specification | Intel Arc B390 | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 AD106 |

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

| Architecture | Xe3-LPG | Ada Lovelace |

| Generation | Arc Graphics-M (Panther Lake) | GeForce 40 |

| Process Node | 3 nm | 5 nm |

| Foundry | Intel | TSMC |

| Transistors | unknown | 22,900 million |

| Die Size | unknown | 188 mm² |

| Transistor Density | not recorded | 121.8M / mm² |

| Base Clock | 300 MHz | 1830 MHz |

| Boost Clock | 2500 MHz | 2460 MHz |

| Memory Size | System Shared | 8 GB |

| Memory Type | System Shared | GDDR6 |

| Memory Bus Width | System Shared | 128 bit |

| Memory Bandwidth | System Dependent | 272.0 GB/s |

| Shading Units | 1536 | 3072 |

| TMUs | 48 | 96 |

| ROPs | 24 | 48 |

| RT Cores | 12 | 24 |

| Tensor Cores | not recorded | 96 |

| Pixel Rate | 60.00 GPixel/s | 118.1 GPixel/s |

| Texture Rate | 120.0 GTexel/s | 236.2 GTexel/s |

| FP32 | 7.680 TFLOPS | 15.11 TFLOPS |

| FP16 | 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1) | 15.11 TFLOPS (1:1) |

| TDP | 80 W | 115 W |

| Slot Width | IGP | Dual-slot |

| Power Connectors | None | 1x 12-pin |

| Suggested PSU | not recorded | 300 W |

| Bus Interface | IGP | PCIe 4.0 x8 |

| Display Outputs | Portable Device Dependent | 1x HDMI 2.1, 3x DisplayPort 1.4a |

| DirectX | 12 Ultimate (12_2) | 12 Ultimate (12_2) |

| OpenGL | 4.6 | 4.6 |

| Vulkan | 1.4 | 1.4 |

| Production Status | Active | End-of-life |

| Release Date | 2026-01-26 | 2024-03-31 |

| Predecessor | not recorded | GeForce 30 |

| Successor | not recorded | GeForce 50 |