Intel Arc B390 vs NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Arc B390 compare to the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF in 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12?

A: The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF scores 2910, while the Intel Arc B390 scores 1482. The NVIDIA part leads by 49.1 percent in this DirectX 12 workload.

Q: What is the percentile ranking of each GPU in the database?

A: The Intel Arc B390 sits at the 9th percentile of all GPUs, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF ranks higher at the 19th percentile.

Q: What are the closest rivals to the Intel Arc B390 based on average benchmark scores?

A: The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX (1463, 1.3 percent ahead), NVIDIA GeForce 800M (1460, 1.5 percent ahead), NVIDIA GeForce GT 625 OEM (1446, 2.5 percent ahead), and NVIDIA GeForce GT 710 (1443, 2.7 percent ahead).

Q: Which GPUs are closest in performance to the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF?

A: The nearest rivals are the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB (2907, 0.1 percent behind), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8 GB (2913, 0.1 percent ahead), NVIDIA Quadro P600 (2923, 0.4 percent ahead), and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4010 (2893, 0.6 percent behind).

Q: What physical form factors do these two cards use?

A: The Intel Arc B390 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with no slot width, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF is a dual-slot card measuring 167 mm in length, 69 mm in height, and 40 mm in width.

Q: What are the power requirements for each adapter?

A: The Intel Arc B390 has an 80 W TDP with no power connectors required. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF has a 70 W TDP, also no power connectors, but NVIDIA suggests a 250 W power supply.

The Verdict

The benchmark data draws a clear line between these two products. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF delivers a 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2910, which is nearly double the Intel Arc B390's 1482. That represents a 49.1 percent deficit for the Intel part in the only head-to-head test recorded.

The Intel Arc B390 occupies the 9th percentile of all GPUs, placing it alongside legacy NVIDIA parts like the GeForce GT 520MX and GeForce 800M. Its nearest rival, the GT 520MX, scores 1463, only 1.3 percent behind. This is a GPU that sits at the very low end of the performance spectrum.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF, by contrast, lands at the 19th percentile and trades blows with the GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB, which scores 2907 (0.1 percent behind). This is a much more capable workstation-oriented card.

The Arc B390 is an integrated processor with system-shared memory, a 3 nm Intel process, and an 80 W TDP. It targets portable devices where the display outputs are device-dependent and the memory bandwidth is system dependent. The RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF is a discrete dual-slot card with 24 GB of GDDR7 memory on a 192-bit bus, 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, and a 70 W TDP. It uses a PCIe 5.0 x8 interface and offers four mini-DisplayPort 2.1b outputs.

For scenarios that demand raw compute throughput, the NVIDIA card is the only rational choice. Its FP32 performance of 24.05 TFLOPS versus 7.680 TFLOPS, its 8960 shading units versus 1536, and its 70 RT cores versus 12 all point to a vastly larger execution engine. The Intel part, with its 300 MHz base and 2500 MHz boost clocks, may be adequate for basic graphics in a low-power integrated context, but the recorded data shows it is not competitive with the NVIDIA discrete card in the measured DirectX 12 workload.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The only recorded head-to-head benchmark is 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12. The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF scores 2910 against the Intel Arc B390's 1482, a delta of 49.1 percent in NVIDIA's favor.

This is not a narrow margin. The NVIDIA card is roughly twice as fast in this test. To put that in context, the Arc B390's nearest rival is the GeForce GT 520MX at 1463, and the RTX PRO 4000's nearest rival is the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB at 2907. The performance gap between the two featured products is comparable to the gap between the GT 520MX and the RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB, which is to say, enormous.

The RTX PRO 4000 also wins the only benchmark in the wins tally, taking 1 win to 0 for the Intel part. No other benchmark results are recorded for either product in the database, so this single test carries the full weight of the comparison.

Looking at the underlying throughput figures reinforces the benchmark result. The NVIDIA card's pixel rate is 128.8 GPixel/s versus 60.00 GPixel/s for Intel. Texture rate is 375.8 GTexel/s versus 120.0 GTexel/s. FP32 compute is 24.05 TFLOPS versus 7.680 TFLOPS. Every measurable throughput metric favors NVIDIA by a wide margin.

Specification Differences

The two products differ in nearly every specification category. The Intel Arc B390 uses system-shared memory with system-dependent bandwidth, while the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF has 24 GB of GDDR7 on a 192-bit bus delivering 432.0 GB/s.

Clock behavior differs substantially. The Intel part runs at a 300 MHz base and boosts to 2500 MHz. The NVIDIA card has a 405 MHz base and a 1342 MHz boost. Memory clock for NVIDIA is 1125 MHz at 18 Gbps effective; Intel's memory clock is listed as system shared.

Compute resources are heavily skewed toward NVIDIA. Intel provides 1536 shading units, 48 TMUs, 24 ROPs, and 12 RT cores. NVIDIA provides 8960 shading units, 280 TMUs, 96 ROPs, 70 RT cores, and 280 tensor cores. Intel lists no tensor core count.

Power and physical specifications differ as well. Intel's TDP is 80 W, NVIDIA's is 70 W. Intel is an integrated graphics processor with no slot width and no power connectors. NVIDIA is a dual-slot card with no power connectors but a suggested 250 W PSU. Intel uses an IGP bus interface; NVIDIA uses PCIe 5.0 x8. Intel's display outputs are portable device dependent; NVIDIA offers 4x mini-DisplayPort 2.1b.

The process nodes also differ: Intel uses a 3 nm process from its own foundry, while NVIDIA uses a 5 nm process from TSMC. NVIDIA reports 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die with a density of 120.6 million transistors per mm². Intel's transistor count and die size are unknown.

Architecture Differences

The Intel Arc B390 is built on the Panther Lake chip using the Xe3-LPG architecture, part of the Arc Graphics-M generation for Panther Lake. It uses a 3 nm process from Intel's own foundry. The architecture supports DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Its FP16 throughput is 15.36 TFLOPS at a 2:1 ratio, indicating that FP16 is processed at twice the rate of FP32.

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF uses the GB203 chip with the Blackwell 2.0 architecture, part of the Blackwell PRO W generation. It is fabricated on a 5 nm TSMC process with 45,600 million transistors on a 378 mm² die. It supports the same API set: DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Its FP16 throughput is 24.05 TFLOPS at a 1:1 ratio, meaning FP16 and FP32 are processed at the same rate.

The differences in FP16 handling are notable. Intel's 2:1 ratio means half-rate FP16 relative to FP32, while NVIDIA's 1:1 ratio means full-rate FP16. For workloads that rely on FP16 compute, the NVIDIA architecture provides a more direct throughput path.

NVIDIA's 280 tensor cores provide dedicated hardware for tensor operations, a feature the Intel part does not list at all. Similarly, NVIDIA's 70 RT cores far exceed Intel's 12 RT cores, giving the NVIDIA card substantially more ray tracing capability.

The Intel part belongs to a mobile-oriented integrated family, which explains its system-shared memory and device-dependent display outputs. NVIDIA's card is a discrete workstation product with its own dedicated memory subsystem and fixed display outputs.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF wins in every measured category. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 benchmark, it is 49.1 percent ahead. It wins the only recorded head-to-head test, and its throughput metrics all exceed Intel's: FP32 at 24.05 TFLOPS versus 7.680 TFLOPS, texture rate at 375.8 GTexel/s versus 120.0 GTexel/s, and pixel rate at 128.8 GPixel/s versus 60.00 GPixel/s.

The NVIDIA card also wins on memory. It has 24 GB of dedicated GDDR7 with 432.0 GB/s of bandwidth, whereas the Intel part depends on system memory with system-dependent bandwidth. For large datasets, rendering workloads, or AI inference, the NVIDIA card's dedicated memory subsystem provides a decisive advantage.

The NVIDIA card wins on ray tracing resources with 70 RT cores versus 12, and it offers 280 tensor cores where Intel lists none. Its 8960 shading units and 280 TMUs dwarf Intel's 1536 and 48 respectively. Its percentile ranking of 19 versus Intel's 9 places it in a different performance class entirely.

Where does the Intel Arc B390 win? The data shows no benchmark win. Its advantages are contextual rather than performance-based. It is an integrated GPU with an 80 W TDP, no power connectors, and no separate slot requirement. It uses a newer 3 nm process from Intel Foundry, and its boost clock of 2500 MHz is higher than NVIDIA's 1342 MHz boost. It may fit into portable devices where a discrete card cannot, but the recorded data does not show any performance scenario where it beats the NVIDIA part.

The RTX PRO 4000 also has the advantage of a lower TDP at 70 W versus 80 W, despite delivering far more compute throughput. NVIDIA's suggested 250 W PSU is a practical consideration for system builders, but the card itself draws less power than the Intel integrated solution.

For builders choosing between these two, the NVIDIA RTX PRO 4000 Blackwell SFF is the clear winner in every recorded performance metric. The Intel Arc B390's only appeal is its integrated form factor and low-power mobile positioning, where discrete cards cannot be installed at all.