Intel Arc B390 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded data contains a single benchmark result for the Intel Arc B390: a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q has no benchmark scores recorded in the database, and there are no direct head-to-head benchmark entries comparing the two. This makes a traditional side-by-side performance comparison impossible from the available measurements.

The Intel Arc B390's score of 1482 places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs in the database. Its nearest recorded rivals, all from NVIDIA's older or lower-end lineup, show how narrow the competitive band is at this performance level. The GeForce GT 520MX averages 1463, which is 1.3% slower. The GeForce 800M averages 1460, 1.5% slower. The GeForce GT 625 OEM averages 1446, a 2.5% gap. The GeForce GT 710 averages 1443, putting it 2.7% behind the Arc B390.

These deltas are small. The Intel part leads its closest recorded competitor by roughly one to three percent, a margin that falls within typical run-to-run variation for synthetic benchmarks. The data indicates the Arc B390 sits at the very bottom of the performance spectrum, surrounded by legacy NVIDIA parts that are not representative of the RTX 4090 Max-Q's class.

The RTX 4090 Max-Q has an average benchmark score of zero in the database, reflecting the absence of recorded measurements. Its percentile ranking of 50 is a placeholder based on its position in the GPU distribution, but without actual scores, no performance conclusions can be drawn from benchmark data alone.

The Verdict

From the recorded data alone, a direct comparison is not possible. The Intel Arc B390 has one confirmed benchmark score, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q has none. The RTX 4090 Max-Q's 50th percentile ranking and zero average score do not provide a measurable baseline for comparison.

The Intel Arc B390 delivers a Steel Nomad score of 1482, a result that places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. This is a low-end position, confirmed by its nearest rivals being the GT 520MX, GeForce 800M, GT 625 OEM, and GT 710, all of which are within 2.7% of its score. The Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor with an 80 W TDP, designed for portable devices, and its performance aligns with that positioning.

The RTX 4090 Max-Q, by contrast, is a discrete mobile GPU with a 16 GB GDDR6 memory configuration, a 256-bit bus, and 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its specifications indicate a far higher performance ceiling, but the database contains no benchmark results to confirm this. The verdict based strictly on available data is that the Arc B390 has a measurable, if modest, benchmark presence, while the RTX 4090 Max-Q cannot be evaluated from the database's current measurements.

Architecture Differences

The Intel Arc B390 uses the Panther Lake chip with Xe3-LPG architecture, built on a 3 nm process at Intel. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q uses the AD103 chip with Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC. Both are integrated into portable devices, with the Arc B390 using an IGP bus interface and the RTX 4090 Max-Q using PCIe 4.0 x16.

The Arc B390 has 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, 24 raster output units, and 12 ray tracing cores. It has no tensor cores listed. The RTX 4090 Max-Q has 9728 shading units, 304 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 76 ray tracing cores, and 304 tensor cores. The NVIDIA part has more than six times the shading units and more than six times the ray tracing cores.

Memory architecture differs fundamentally. The Arc B390 uses system-shared memory, with its memory type, bus width, and bandwidth all listed as system dependent. The RTX 4090 Max-Q has dedicated 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth. The Arc B390's memory clock is also system shared, while the RTX 4090 Max-Q runs at 2250 MHz with 18 Gbps effective speed.

The transistor counts reflect the scale difference. The RTX 4090 Max-Q has 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, with a transistor density of 121.1 million per square millimeter. The Arc B390's transistor count and die size are unknown in the database.

Both GPUs support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The RTX 4090 Max-Q's Ada Lovelace architecture includes dedicated tensor cores, which the Arc B390 does not list, indicating a divergence in AI and compute acceleration capabilities.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every measured specification. The Arc B390 has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. The RTX 4090 Max-Q has a base clock of 930 MHz and a boost of 1455 MHz. The Intel part boosts considerably higher, while the NVIDIA part has a much higher base clock.

Compute throughput shows the NVIDIA part's advantage. The Arc B390 delivers 7.680 TFLOPS of FP32 performance and 15.36 TFLOPS of FP16 with a 2:1 ratio. The RTX 4090 Max-Q delivers 28.31 TFLOPS of FP32 and 28.31 TFLOPS of FP16 with a 1:1 ratio. The NVIDIA GPU has roughly 3.7 times the FP32 throughput.

Pixel and texture rates follow the same pattern. The Arc B390 has a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The RTX 4090 Max-Q has a pixel rate of 163.0 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 442.3 GTexel/s.

Both GPUs have an 80 W TDP, use an IGP slot width, have no power connectors, and list display outputs as portable device dependent. Neither has a suggested PSU listed. The RTX 4090 Max-Q uses PCIe 4.0 x16, while the Arc B390 uses an IGP bus interface. The RTX 4090 Max-Q has a predecessor (GeForce 30 Mobile) and successor (GeForce 50 Mobile), while the Arc B390 has neither listed. The RTX 4090 Max-Q released in January 2023, while the Arc B390 released in January 2026. Neither has a launch MSRP in the database.

FAQ

Q: What is the Intel Arc B390's benchmark score?

A: The Intel Arc B390 scores 1482 in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: Does the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q have any benchmark scores in the database?

A: No. The RTX 4090 Max-Q has an empty benchmark list and an average benchmark score of 0, with a 50th percentile ranking.

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B390 leads the GeForce GT 520MX by 1.3%, the GeForce 800M by 1.5%, the GeForce GT 625 OEM by 2.5%, and the GeForce GT 710 by 2.7%.

Q: What memory configuration does each GPU use?

A: The Arc B390 uses system-shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth. The RTX 4090 Max-Q uses 16 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus with 576.0 GB/s bandwidth.

Q: What are the TDP values for both GPUs?

A: Both the Intel Arc B390 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Max-Q have an 80 W TDP.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The RTX 4090 Max-Q has 9728 shading units, compared to 1536 on the Arc B390.

Where Each One Wins

The Intel Arc B390 wins in the only measurable benchmark category in the database. Its 1482 Steel Nomad score confirms it can complete a modern DX12 workload, and it outperforms its nearest recorded rivals by 1.3% to 2.7%. It also wins on boost clock, reaching 2500 MHz versus the RTX 4090 Max-Q's 1455 MHz, and on process node, using a 3 nm process at Intel compared to the RTX 4090 Max-Q's 5 nm process at TSMC. The Arc B390's FP16 throughput of 15.36 TFLOPS, while lower than the RTX 4090 Max-Q's 28.31 TFLOPS, still represents a doubling of its own FP32 rate, which can benefit workloads that use reduced-precision math.

The RTX 4090 Max-Q wins on raw compute specifications. Its 28.31 TFLOPS FP32 output is roughly 3.7 times the Arc B390's 7.680 TFLOPS. Its pixel rate of 163.0 GPixel/s is more than double the Arc B390's 60.00 GPixel/s, and its texture rate of 442.3 GTexel/s is more than triple the Arc B390's 120.0 GTexel/s. The RTX 4090 Max-Q also has dedicated memory: 16 GB of GDDR6 with 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth, a critical advantage for large textures and datasets that system-shared memory cannot match. Its 304 tensor cores provide AI acceleration hardware that the Arc B390 lacks entirely, and its 76 ray tracing cores outnumber the Arc B390's 12 by a wide margin.

The RTX 4090 Max-Q's 50th percentile ranking, while not backed by a score, suggests it occupies a middle-tier position in the database's GPU distribution, far above the Arc B390's 9th percentile. The Arc B390's nearest rivals are all legacy NVIDIA parts from the GT 500, 800M, and GT 600/700 series, which places it firmly in entry-level territory.

The use-case split follows these patterns. The Arc B390 suits lightweight portable systems where an integrated GPU with an 80 W TDP and no power connectors is the only option, and where the workload is limited to basic DX12 rendering. The RTX 4090 Max-Q suits portable systems that require high-bandwidth dedicated memory, tensor core acceleration, and substantially higher rasterization and ray tracing throughput, though the database lacks benchmark results to quantify its real-world advantage. The recorded data confirms the Arc B390's performance position, while the RTX 4090 Max-Q's position rests entirely on its specification sheet.