Intel Arc B390 vs NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB Comparison

FAQ

Q: What is the core architectural difference between the Intel Arc B390 and the NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB?

A: The Intel Arc B390 uses the Xe3-LPG architecture on a 3 nm Intel process, designed as an integrated graphics processor (IGP) for portable devices. The NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB uses the Hopper architecture on a 5 nm TSMC process, built as a dual-slot server accelerator with a PCIe 5.0 x16 interface.

Q: Which GPU has a higher FP32 (single-precision) compute throughput?

A: The NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB delivers 60.32 TFLOPS FP32, which is substantially higher than the Intel Arc B390's 7.680 TFLOPS. The H100 NVL also leads in FP16 at 241.3 TFLOPS (4:1) versus 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1) for the Arc B390.

Q: What memory configurations do these two GPUs use?

A: The Intel Arc B390 uses system shared memory with no dedicated VRAM, type, bus width, or bandwidth figures, as its memory bandwidth is system dependent. The NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB features 94 GB of HBM3 memory on a 6016-bit bus with 3.94 TB/s bandwidth.

Q: How do their rendering rates compare?

A: The Intel Arc B390 has a pixel rate of 60.00 GPixel/s and a texture rate of 120.0 GTexel/s. The NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB has a lower pixel rate of 42.84 GPixel/s but a much higher texture rate of 942.5 GTexel/s.

Q: What is the benchmark standing of each GPU in the database?

A: The Intel Arc B390 has a recorded 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, placing it in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. The NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB has no benchmark entries in the database, with an average benchmark score of 0 and a 50th percentile ranking.

Q: What are the physical and power characteristics of each card?

A: The Intel Arc B390 is an IGP with an 80 W TDP, no power connectors, and no dedicated slot width. The NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB is a dual-slot card with a 400 W TDP, an 8-pin EPS power connector, an 800 W suggested PSU, and dimensions of 267 mm length and 111 mm height.

Architecture Differences

The Intel Arc B390 is built on the Xe3-LPG architecture, a low-power graphics design from Intel fabricated on a 3 nm process node at Intel fabs. It is part of the Arc Graphics-M (Panther Lake) generation, and it operates as an integrated GPU, meaning it shares system memory and relies on the host system for display output, which is listed as portable device dependent. The chip is based on the Panther Lake die, and its API support includes DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The B390's transistor count and die size are unknown in the database, but its compute resources include 1536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, 24 ROPs, and 12 ray tracing cores. It has no dedicated tensor cores.

The NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB is built on the Hopper architecture, a server-focused design from NVIDIA fabricated on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The chip is GH100, containing 80,000 million transistors on a 814 mm² die with a transistor density of 98.3M per mm². It belongs to the Server Hopper (Hxx) generation and is the successor to Server Ada, with Server Blackwell as its successor. The H100 NVL has 16896 shading units, 528 texture mapping units, 24 ROPs, and 528 tensor cores, but it does not list any ray tracing cores in the database. Its API support fields for DirectX, OpenGL, and Vulkan are all null, indicating it is not designed for client graphics workloads. The card is dual-slot, uses an 8-pin EPS power connector, and has no display outputs.

The architectural divergence is stark. The B390 is a compact, integrated graphics solution aimed at portable devices, with modern client API support and ray tracing hardware. The H100 NVL is a massive server accelerator with tensor cores for AI and HPC workloads, but it lacks display outputs and client API support. The process node difference (3 nm versus 5 nm) reflects the different foundry and design goals, with Intel using a newer node for efficiency and NVIDIA using a mature node for a large, high-power chip.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The database contains no direct head-to-head benchmark entries between the Intel Arc B390 and the NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB. The wins counters for both items are zero. However, the available recorded measurements allow for indirect comparison.

The Intel Arc B390 has a single benchmark result: 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 with a score of 1482. This score places the B390 in the 9th percentile of all GPUs in the database. Its nearest rivals are all entry-level NVIDIA graphics cards: the GeForce GT 520MX (average score 1463, 1.3% behind), the GeForce 800M (average score 1460, 1.5% behind), the GeForce GT 625 OEM (average score 1446, 2.5% behind), and the GeForce GT 710 (average score 1443, 2.7% behind). The B390 leads these rivals by narrow margins, confirming its placement at the low end of the performance spectrum.

The NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB has no benchmark entries in the database, so its average benchmark score is 0. Its percentile ranking is 50, but this figure is based on its position in the database without any recorded test data. The absence of benchmark results means the H100 NVL cannot be directly compared to the B390 in any measured workload. The compute specifications, however, indicate a vastly different performance envelope: the H100 NVL's FP32 throughput of 60.32 TFLOPS is roughly 7.9 times the B390's 7.680 TFLOPS, and its FP16 throughput of 241.3 TFLOPS is roughly 15.7 times the B390's 15.36 TFLOPS. The H100 NVL's texture rate of 942.5 GTexel/s is 7.9 times the B390's 120.0 GTexel/s. The B390 holds a pixel rate advantage at 60.00 GPixel/s versus 42.84 GPixel/s, but this is a narrow lead in a single rasterization metric.

The recorded data shows that the B390 is a low-tier graphics processor with measurable but modest performance, while the H100 NVL is a high-end compute accelerator whose performance is characterized by its specifications rather than by benchmark scores.

Specification Differences

The two GPUs differ across nearly every specification field in the database.

• Process Node: Intel Arc B390 uses 3 nm (Intel foundry); NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB uses 5 nm (TSMC).
• Transistors: B390 is unknown; H100 NVL has 80,000 million.
• Die Size: B390 is unknown; H100 NVL is 814 mm².
• Transistor Density: B390 is null; H100 NVL is 98.3M per mm².
• Base Clock: B390 runs at 300 MHz; H100 NVL runs at 1080 MHz.
• Boost Clock: B390 boosts to 2500 MHz; H100 NVL boosts to 1785 MHz.
• Memory Size: B390 uses system shared memory; H100 NVL has 94 GB.
• Memory Type: B390 uses system shared; H100 NVL uses HBM3.
• Memory Bus Width: B390 is system shared; H100 NVL is 6016 bit.
• Memory Bandwidth: B390 is system dependent; H100 NVL is 3.94 TB/s.
• Memory Clock: B390 is not specified beyond system shared; H100 NVL operates at 1310 MHz with 5.2 Gbps effective.
• Shading Units: B390 has 1536; H100 NVL has 16896.
• Texture Mapping Units: B390 has 48; H100 NVL has 528.
• ROPs: Both have 24.
• Ray Tracing Cores: B390 has 12; H100 NVL has none listed.
• Tensor Cores: B390 has none listed; H100 NVL has 528.
• Pixel Rate: B390 is 60.00 GPixel/s; H100 NVL is 42.84 GPixel/s.
• Texture Rate: B390 is 120.0 GTexel/s; H100 NVL is 942.5 GTexel/s.
• FP32 Performance: B390 is 7.680 TFLOPS; H100 NVL is 60.32 TFLOPS.
• FP16 Performance: B390 is 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1); H100 NVL is 241.3 TFLOPS (4:1).
• TDP: B390 is 80 W; H100 NVL is 400 W.
• Slot Width: B390 is IGP; H100 NVL is dual-slot.
• Power Connectors: B390 has none; H100 NVL uses 8-pin EPS.
• Suggested PSU: B390 is null; H100 NVL is 800 W.
• Bus Interface: B390 is IGP; H100 NVL is PCIe 5.0 x16.
• Display Outputs: B390 is portable device dependent; H100 NVL has no outputs.
• API Support: B390 supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4; H100 NVL has null entries for all three.
• Release Date: B390 released on 2026-01-26; H100 NVL released on 2023-03-20.
• Predecessor/Successor: B390 has none listed; H100 NVL's predecessor is Server Ada and successor is Server Blackwell.
• Dimensions: B390 has null length, height, and width; H100 NVL is 267 mm long and 111 mm high.

The Verdict

The recorded data places the Intel Arc B390 as a low-end integrated graphics processor with a single 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 1482, ranking in the 9th percentile of all GPUs. Its nearest rivals are all entry-level discrete NVIDIA cards, and it leads them by margins of 1.3% to 2.7%. This indicates that the B390 is suitable for basic graphics tasks in portable devices, with modern API support and ray tracing capability, but its compute throughput (7.680 TFLOPS FP32) and memory system (system shared) limit it to lightweight workloads.

The NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB presents a different profile entirely. With no benchmark scores in the database, its performance must be inferred from its specifications: 16896 shading units, 528 tensor cores, 94 GB of HBM3 memory with 3.94 TB/s bandwidth, and 60.32 TFLOPS FP32. These figures place it in a compute class far above the B390, despite its lower pixel rate (42.84 GPixel/s versus 60.00 GPixel/s). The H100 NVL is a server accelerator with no display outputs and no client API support, meaning it is not intended for graphics rendering on a screen.

The choice between these two GPUs is therefore determined by workload type. The B390 serves portable devices needing integrated graphics with client API compatibility. The H100 NVL serves server workloads requiring massive memory bandwidth, tensor core acceleration, and high FP32 and FP16 throughput. The database shows no overlap in their intended use cases, and the benchmark gap, while not directly measured, is consistent with the specification disparity.

Where Each One Wins

Intel Arc B390 wins in integrated graphics scenarios. The data shows it has a higher pixel rate at 60.00 GPixel/s versus 42.84 GPixel/s, and it supports DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, making it functional for client rendering. Its 80 W TDP and lack of power connectors fit an IGP form factor, and its 3 nm process node indicates a focus on efficiency. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad score of 1482, while low in absolute terms, still edges out the GeForce GT 520MX, GeForce 800M, GeForce GT 625 OEM, and GeForce GT 710 by 1.3% to 2.7%, showing it is competitive within its entry-level class.

NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB wins in server compute workloads. The specifications show 16896 shading units and 528 tensor cores, enabling 60.32 TFLOPS FP32 and 241.3 TFLOPS FP16. Its memory subsystem of 94 GB HBM3 with 3.94 TB/s bandwidth vastly exceeds the B390's system shared memory. The texture rate of 942.5 GTexel/s is nearly eight times the B390's 120.0 GTexel/s. The H100 NVL's 400 W TDP, 8-pin EPS connector, and 800 W suggested PSU reflect its high-power, high-throughput design. Its lack of display outputs and null API entries confirm it is optimized for compute, not graphics output.

Use-case split: For portable devices requiring integrated graphics with modern API support and ray tracing, the Intel Arc B390 is the recorded choice. For server deployments demanding tensor core acceleration, high memory bandwidth, and massive FP32/FP16 throughput, the NVIDIA H100 NVL 94 GB is the clear selection based on its specifications. The B390 wins on pixel rate and client compatibility; the H100 NVL wins on every compute throughput metric, memory capacity, and bandwidth figure. The absence of direct benchmark comparisons means the performance delta is inferred from the specification sheet, but the direction of that delta is unambiguous.