Intel Arc B390 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile Comparison

The Verdict

The recorded data presents a stark contrast between the Intel Arc B390 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile. The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are legacy entries like the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3% ahead) and the NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5% ahead). The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile, by contrast, delivers an average benchmark score of 43667, placing it in the 84th percentile, with nearest rivals including the NVIDIA RTX A6000 (44075, 0.9% behind) and the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 (43301, 0.8% ahead).

The data indicates that the RTX 4090 Mobile is in a completely different performance class. The Intel Arc B390 is designed for basic integrated graphics duties, while the RTX 4090 Mobile is a high-end discrete mobile solution. Benchmark results indicate that the RTX 4090 Mobile outperforms the Arc B390 by an enormous margin across every metric in the database. Users requiring any serious graphical workload, such as modern gaming or GPU-accelerated compute, should select the discrete NVIDIA solution based on the data. The Intel Arc B390 is positioned at the very bottom of the performance spectrum, suitable only for the most basic display output tasks.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile has an average benchmark score of 43667, while the Intel Arc B390 has an average score of 1482.

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

A: The Arc B390 scores 1482, which is 1.3% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463) and 2.7% higher than the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443).

Q: What is the performance percentile of the RTX 4090 Mobile?

A: The RTX 4090 Mobile sits in the 84th percentile of all GPUs, while the Arc B390 sits in the 9th percentile.

Q: What memory configuration does each GPU use?

A: The Intel Arc B390 uses System Shared memory with System Dependent bandwidth, while the RTX 4090 Mobile uses 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus with 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

Q: What is the TDP of each GPU?

A: The Intel Arc B390 has a TDP of 80 W, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile has a TDP of 120 W.

Q: Which GPU has more shading units?

A: The RTX 4090 Mobile has 9728 shading units, while the Arc B390 has 1536 shading units.

Architecture Differences

The Intel Arc B390 is built on Intel's Xe3-LPG architecture and uses the Panther Lake chip. It is manufactured on a 3 nm process at Intel's own foundry. The GPU is part of the Arc Graphics-M (Panther Lake) generation. The architecture supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The B390 features 12 ray tracing cores, and its FP16 throughput is listed as 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1), indicating that FP16 operations are processed at twice the rate of FP32.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile uses the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD103 chip. It is manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The GPU belongs to the GeForce 40 Mobile generation and the GeForce 40-series product family. The RTX 4090 Mobile integrates 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores, which are absent from the Arc B390's specification list. Its FP16 throughput is 32.98 TFLOPS (1:1), meaning FP16 and FP32 run at the same rate. The AD103 die contains 45,900 million transistors on a 379 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 121.1M per mm². The Intel chip's transistor count and die size are listed as unknown in the database.

Both GPUs support the same API feature set: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The fundamental architectural split is between Intel's integrated Xe3-LPG design, which shares system memory, and NVIDIA's discrete Ada Lovelace design with dedicated GDDR6 memory. The RTX 4090 Mobile also has a PCIe 4.0 x16 bus interface, whereas the Arc B390 uses an IGP bus interface. The NVIDIA GPU is a successor to the GeForce 30 Mobile and has been succeeded by the GeForce 50 Mobile, while the Arc B390's predecessor and successor fields are empty.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every recorded specification field. The Intel Arc B390 has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile has a base clock of 1335 MHz and a boost clock of 1695 MHz. The NVIDIA GPU's memory clock is listed as 2250 MHz with 18 Gbps effective speed, while the Arc B390's memory clock is System Shared.

Memory specifications diverge completely. The Arc B390 uses System Shared memory, with System Shared size, type, and bus width, and System Dependent bandwidth. The RTX 4090 Mobile uses 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, delivering 576.0 GB/s of bandwidth.

The compute unit counts show a wide gap. The Arc B390 has 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, 24 ROPs, and 12 ray tracing cores. The RTX 4090 Mobile has 9728 shading units, 304 TMUs, 112 ROPs, 76 ray tracing cores, and 304 tensor cores. Pixel rate for the Arc B390 is 60.00 GPixel/s, versus 189.8 GPixel/s for the RTX 4090 Mobile. Texture rate is 120.0 GTexel/s for the Arc B390 and 515.3 GTexel/s for the RTX 4090 Mobile. FP32 compute is 7.680 TFLOPS for the Arc B390 and 32.98 TFLOPS for the RTX 4090 Mobile.

The TDP differs by 40 W: 80 W for the Arc B390 versus 120 W for the RTX 4090 Mobile. Both are listed as IGP slot width with no power connectors. The bus interface is IGP for the Arc B390 and PCIe 4.0 x16 for the RTX 4090 Mobile. Display outputs are Portable Device Dependent for both. The release dates differ significantly: the Arc B390 was released on 2026-01-26, while the RTX 4090 Mobile was released on 2023-01-02. Both GPUs are listed as Active in production status, and neither has a launch MSRP in the database.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains no direct head-to-head benchmark entries between the Intel Arc B390 and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile. However, the individual benchmark records provide a clear picture of the performance gap.

The Intel Arc B390 has a single recorded benchmark result: 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 with a score of 1482. This places it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals in the database are all low-end legacy parts. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX scores 1463, which is 1.3% lower than the Arc B390. The NVIDIA GeForce 800M scores 1460, 1.5% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM scores 1446, 2.5% lower, and the NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 scores 1443, 2.7% lower. The data shows the Arc B390 leads these old discrete parts by a small margin, but all of them are at the very bottom of the performance ladder.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090 Mobile has a much broader benchmark profile. Its average benchmark score is 43667, and it sits in the 84th percentile of all GPUs. The nearest rivals in the database are high-end workstation and mobile parts. The NVIDIA RTX A6000 scores 44075, which is 0.9% higher than the RTX 4090 Mobile. The NVIDIA Quadro M6000 scores 43301, 0.8% lower. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Mobile scores 43268, 0.9% lower, and the NVIDIA Quadro M6000 24 GB scores 43262, 0.9% lower.

The RTX 4090 Mobile's individual benchmark scores show consistent strength across different tests. In Geekbench OpenCL, it scores 180831. In Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 170774. The Passmark suite shows a G3D score of 27212, a GPU Compute score of 12347, a G2D score of 984, a DirectX 9 score of 310, a DirectX 11 score of 262, a DirectX 10 score of 173, and a DirectX 12 score of 107.

Comparing the two directly using the recorded averages, the RTX 4090 Mobile's average score of 43667 is roughly 29.5 times the Arc B390's 1482. The percentile gap is equally stark: 84th percentile versus 9th percentile. The RTX 4090 Mobile's FP32 throughput of 32.98 TFLOPS is more than four times the Arc B390's 7.680 TFLOPS. The NVIDIA GPU's texture rate of 515.3 GTexel/s is over four times the Arc B390's 120.0 GTexel/s, and its pixel rate of 189.8 GPixel/s is more than three times the Arc B390's 60.00 GPixel/s.

The memory bandwidth difference is also decisive. The RTX 4090 Mobile delivers 576.0 GB/s from its 16 GB GDDR6 pool, while the Arc B390 relies on System Shared memory with bandwidth that the database records as System Dependent. The RTX 4090 Mobile's 76 ray tracing cores and 304 tensor cores provide hardware features that the Arc B390's 12 ray tracing cores cannot match, and the NVIDIA part has no tensor core entry in its specification at all.

The data confirms that the Arc B390 is a low-power integrated solution with a TDP of 80 W and a 3 nm process, while the RTX 4090 Mobile is a high-performance discrete GPU with a 120 W TDP on a 5 nm TSMC process. The release date gap of roughly three years (2023 for NVIDIA, 2026 for Intel) does not change the outcome: the recorded benchmarks show the RTX 4090 Mobile in a different performance tier entirely, with the Arc B390 competing only with decade-old low-end discrete GPUs.