Intel Arc B580 vs NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile Comparison

Intel Arc B580 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile are two very different products with a similar average benchmark footprint: the Arc B580 averages 23,021 points across its benchmark suite, while the RTX 4060 Mobile averages 22,729 points. That 1.3% gap, where the Intel card leads, places both within a tight cluster of rivals, including the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 and AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT. The data shows a split decision across individual tests, with the desktop Arc B580 winning 4 of 9 head-to-head comparisons and the mobile RTX 4060 taking 5, but the magnitude of those wins differs sharply by workload.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The most decisive victory for the Intel Arc B580 comes in the Geekbench Vulkan test, where it scores 109,672 against the RTX 4060 Mobile’s 89,569. That is a 22.4% advantage, a massive margin that suggests the Arc B580’s architecture handles low-level graphics APIs with far more efficiency than the NVIDIA part in this specific synthetic workload. The Geekbench OpenCL result also favors Intel, though by a narrower 3.8% margin (92,821 vs. 89,420). These two wins indicate that in compute-oriented, API-agnostic scenarios, the Arc B580 is the stronger performer.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile counters with a sweep of the DirectX 9, 10, and 11 legacy tests. Its biggest win is in Passmark DirectX 10, where it scores 107 versus Intel’s 76, a 29% lead. DirectX 11 shows a 18.5% advantage (157 vs. 128), and DirectX 9 gives NVIDIA a 15.3% edge (216 vs. 183). These are older API benchmarks, but they highlight a real pattern: NVIDIA’s driver stack and hardware retain better performance in backward-compatible rendering paths. The RTX 4060 Mobile also wins the Passmark G3D test, the most comprehensive gaming-oriented metric, with 17,469 points against Intel’s 15,748, a 9.9% lead. That is a meaningful gap for a primary gaming score.

The remaining tests split closely. Intel takes Passmark DirectX 12 with a 4.1% edge (76 vs. 73), and GPU Compute with a 13.4% win (7,729 vs. 6,816). NVIDIA wins Passmark G2D by 2.9% (730 vs. 709). The raw win count favors NVIDIA 5-to-4, but the Intel victories in Vulkan and compute are large enough to pull its average score ahead overall. The data suggests a tradeoff: NVIDIA dominates older and standard rasterization workloads, while Intel excels in modern APIs and general-purpose compute.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher average benchmark score?

A: The Intel Arc B580 averages 23,021 points across its benchmark suite, while the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile averages 22,729 points. That puts Intel 1.3% ahead, with both cards sitting within 1% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080’s 22,895 average.

Q: How large is the Vulkan performance gap?

A: In Geekbench Vulkan, the Intel Arc B580 scores 109,672, which is 22.4% higher than the RTX 4060 Mobile’s 89,569. This is the single largest performance delta between the two in any head-to-head test.

Q: Does the RTX 4060 Mobile win any tests by a similar margin?

A: Yes. The NVIDIA card wins Passmark DirectX 10 by 29% (107 vs. 76), which is actually a larger percentage gap than Intel’s Vulkan win. It also leads DirectX 11 by 18.5% and DirectX 9 by 15.3%.

Q: What do the nearest rivals say about their positioning?

A: The Intel Arc B580’s closest rival is the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP, which scores 23,061, just 0.2% higher. The RTX 4060 Mobile’s nearest rival is the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080, scoring 22,895, which is 0.7% higher than the mobile card. Both GPUs also sit within 1.3% of each other and the RTX 3080.

Q: Which GPU has better compute performance?

A: The Intel Arc B580 wins Passmark GPU Compute with 7,729 points versus the RTX 4060 Mobile’s 6,816, a 13.4% advantage. The Arc B580 also leads Geekbench OpenCL by 3.8%, reinforcing its compute strength.

Q: Are there any tests where the scores are nearly identical?

A: Passmark DirectX 12 is the closest contest, with Intel scoring 76 and NVIDIA scoring 73, a 4.1% difference. Passmark G2D is also close, with NVIDIA at 730 and Intel at 709, a 2.9% gap.

The Verdict

The data points to a clear choice based on workload rather than overall score. For gamers running modern titles with DirectX 12 or Vulkan, the Intel Arc B580 offers competitive or better performance, particularly in Vulkan where its 22.4% lead is decisive. For users stuck on older games or applications that rely on DirectX 9, 10, or 11, the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile is the safer pick, with wins ranging from 15.3% to 29% in those legacy APIs. The RTX 4060 Mobile also holds a 9.9% lead in the Passmark G3D test, which is the closest proxy to a general gaming score.

The Intel card wins the compute battle outright, with a 13.4% lead in Passmark GPU Compute and a 3.8% edge in OpenCL. If the task involves GPU-accelerated computation, AI workloads, or Vulkan-based rendering, the Arc B580 is the stronger option. The NVIDIA card’s higher shading unit count (3,072 vs. 2,560) does not translate into a compute win, indicating the Intel architecture is more efficient per shader in these workloads.

For a desktop builder prioritizing raw gaming compatibility and legacy API support, the RTX 4060 Mobile’s wins in DirectX 9 through 11 and G3D make it the more versatile gaming GPU. For someone targeting modern APIs or compute-heavy tasks, the Arc B580’s Vulkan and compute dominance is hard to ignore. The overall average score difference is marginal, but the distribution of wins is not.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ in nearly every physical and memory specification. The Intel Arc B580 uses a 272 mm² die with 19,600 million transistors, while the RTX 4060 Mobile uses a much smaller 159 mm² die with 18,900 million transistors. Both are built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, but the NVIDIA chip packs a higher transistor density at 118.9M per mm² versus Intel’s 72.1M per mm². Memory capacity favors Intel at 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, delivering 456.0 GB/s of bandwidth, while NVIDIA offers 8 GB on a 128-bit bus with 256.0 GB/s.

Clock speeds are sharply different as well. The Arc B580 runs at a fixed 2670 MHz for both base and boost, while the RTX 4060 Mobile has a 1545 MHz base clock and an 1890 MHz boost clock. Memory speed also differs, with Intel at 2375 MHz (19 Gbps effective) and NVIDIA at 2000 MHz (16 Gbps effective). The NVIDIA card has more shading units (3,072 vs. 2,560) and more RT cores (24 vs. 20), but Intel has more TMUs (160 vs. 96) and ROPs (80 vs. 48). NVIDIA also includes 96 tensor cores, while Intel lists none.

The pixel and texture rates tell the story of raw throughput: Intel hits 213.6 GPixel/s and 427.2 GTexel/s, while NVIDIA manages 90.72 GPixel/s and 181.4 GTexel/s. FP32 compute favors Intel at 13.67 TFLOPS versus 11.61 TFLOPS for NVIDIA, and FP16 shows a bigger split, with Intel at 27.34 TFLOPS (2:1) and NVIDIA at 11.61 TFLOPS (1:1). Power draw is also lopsided: the Arc B580 is rated at 190 W TDP with a dual-slot cooler and a single 8-pin connector, while the RTX 4060 Mobile is an IGP with no power connectors and a 115 W TDP.

Architecture Differences

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture, specifically the BMG-G21 chip, and belongs to the Battlemage (Arc 5) generation. The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile uses the Ada Lovelace architecture with the AD107 chip, part of the GeForce 40 Mobile generation. Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4, so API feature sets are identical on paper.

The process nodes are the same (5 nm TSMC), but the transistor density differs substantially, indicating very different design philosophies. Intel’s chip is larger and less dense, focusing on higher clock speeds and raw throughput, while NVIDIA’s smaller die emphasizes efficiency and lower power consumption. The memory subsystem also differs architecturally: Intel uses a wider 192-bit bus with more bandwidth, while NVIDIA uses a narrower 128-bit bus but compensates with a higher transistor density and more shading units. NVIDIA’s inclusion of 96 tensor cores gives it a hardware advantage for AI-accelerated workloads, though the benchmark data shows Intel winning compute tests anyway. The RTX 4060 Mobile also has 24 RT cores versus Intel’s 20, which could matter in ray-traced titles, but no ray-tracing benchmark is present in the data to confirm.

Where Each One Wins

The Intel Arc B580 wins in modern, low-level API scenarios. Its 22.4% Vulkan lead and 3.8% OpenCL advantage make it the choice for Vulkan-based games, compute workloads, and any application that leverages these APIs. The 13.4% win in Passmark GPU Compute reinforces that this card is a compute powerhouse relative to its rival. The 4.1% DirectX 12 edge also gives it a narrow win in the most common modern gaming API.

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Mobile wins in legacy and standard rasterization workloads. Its 29% DirectX 10, 18.5% DirectX 11, and 15.3% DirectX 9 leads make it the clear pick for older game libraries or applications that have not moved to modern APIs. The 9.9% G3D win is significant for general gaming performance, and the 2.9% G2D edge suggests better 2D interface acceleration. The RTX 4060 Mobile also wins the raw shading unit count, with 3,072 versus 2,560, which may help in games that scale with shader throughput.

For a desktop user with a strict power budget, the RTX 4060 Mobile’s 115 W TDP versus the Arc B580’s 190 W is a major practical difference, but the Arc B580’s higher bandwidth (456.0 GB/s vs. 256.0 GB/s) and larger 12 GB frame buffer make it better suited for high-resolution textures and memory-heavy workloads. The data ultimately shows a desktop card that dominates compute and modern APIs, and a mobile chip that wins legacy compatibility and standard gaming metrics. Choose based on the games and applications you actually run, not the average score.