Intel Arc B580 vs NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile Comparison

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The benchmark data presents a clear picture: the Intel Arc B580 wins 7 of 9 head-to-head tests, while the NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile takes 2. The most dramatic margin is in Geekbench Vulkan, where the Arc B580 scores 109,672 against the A4000 Mobile’s 73,002 — a 50.2% advantage. This is not a marginal lead; it suggests a fundamental difference in how the two architectures handle Vulkan workloads, with Intel’s Xe2-HPG design extracting far more from the API.

The Arc B580 also dominates in legacy DirectX tests. In Passmark DirectX 9, it scores 183 versus 157, a 16.6% lead. DirectX 12 shows a 15.2% gap (76 vs 66), and DirectX 11 is nearly identical at 128 vs 127, a razor-thin 0.8% edge for Intel. The pattern is consistent: the Arc B580’s advantage grows as the API allows more explicit control, while the A4000 Mobile’s strength lies elsewhere.

Compute performance heavily favors the Arc B580. In Passmark GPU Compute, it scores 7,729 versus 6,394 — a 20.9% lead. The G2D test shows a 21.2% margin (709 vs 585), and G3D lands at 6.4% (15,748 vs 14,796). These are substantial wins across the board. The only tests where the A4000 Mobile prevails are Geekbench OpenCL (97,178 vs 92,821, a 4.5% lead) and Passmark DirectX 10 (105 vs 76, a 27.6% margin). The DirectX 10 result is notable because it is the single largest percentage win for either card, but it is an older API with limited relevance to modern workloads.

Looking at aggregate scores, the Arc B580’s average benchmark score is 23,021, placing it in the 68th percentile of all GPUs. The A4000 Mobile averages 21,379, in the 66th percentile. The delta is 7.7% in Intel’s favor. The nearest rivals for the Arc B580 include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 (avg 22,895, delta 0.6%) and the RTX 3080 (avg 23,172, delta -0.7%), meaning the Arc B580 sits squarely between those two desktop cards. The A4000 Mobile’s nearest rivals include the AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL (avg 21,153, delta 1.1%) and the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 (avg 21,629, delta -1.2%), showing it is competitive with mobile workstation parts from a previous generation.

FAQ

Q: Which card wins the most head-to-head benchmarks?

A: The Intel Arc B580 wins 7 of 9 tests, including Geekbench Vulkan (50.2% ahead), Passmark GPU Compute (20.9% ahead), and Passmark G2D (21.2% ahead). The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile wins only 2 tests: Geekbench OpenCL and Passmark DirectX 10.

Q: How do the two cards compare in DirectX 12 performance?

A: The Arc B580 scores 76 in Passmark DirectX 12, while the A4000 Mobile scores 66. This gives Intel a 15.2% lead. Both cards support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), so the performance gap exists within the same API feature level.

Q: What is the average benchmark score difference?

A: The Arc B580 has an average benchmark score of 23,021, compared to 21,379 for the A4000 Mobile. This represents a 7.7% overall advantage for Intel. The Arc B580 also ranks higher in percentileVsAllGpus at 68, versus 66 for the NVIDIA card.

Q: Does the A4000 Mobile have any significant win?

A: Yes, in Passmark DirectX 10 it leads by 27.6% (105 vs 76). It also wins Geekbench OpenCL by 4.5% (97,178 vs 92,821). However, these are the only two tests where it comes out ahead, and DirectX 10 is a legacy API with limited modern relevance.

Q: How does the Arc B580 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The Arc B580’s average score of 23,021 is within 0.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 (23,172) and 0.6% above the RTX 2080 (22,895). It trails the AMD Radeon RX 580 2048SP by 0.2% (23,061) and the NVIDIA P106-100 by 1% (23,249). These are all desktop-class GPUs, indicating the Arc B580 performs at a high desktop level.

Q: What about the A4000 Mobile’s competitive position?

A: The A4000 Mobile’s average score of 21,379 puts it 0.7% above the AMD Radeon HD 8970M (21,237) and 1.1% above the RX Vega M GL (21,153). It trails the NVIDIA Quadro RTX 5000 by 1.2% (21,629) and is 1.6% ahead of the GeForce RTX 5050 (21,035). This places it in a mid-range mobile performance band.

Where Each One Wins

The Intel Arc B580 is the clear winner for modern, compute-heavy workloads. Its 20.9% lead in Passmark GPU Compute and 50.2% lead in Geekbench Vulkan make it the superior choice for applications that leverage Vulkan’s low-level access or require substantial parallel compute throughput. The 15.2% DirectX 12 advantage also positions it well for current-generation gaming and DX12-based rendering. For 2D operations, the 21.2% G2D margin suggests faster desktop composition and UI rendering. The Arc B580’s overall G3D score of 15,748 versus 14,796 (6.4% ahead) confirms it is the stronger all-around graphics card.

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile wins in two specific scenarios. First, OpenCL workloads: its 4.5% lead in Geekbench OpenCL (97,178 vs 92,821) indicates better performance in OpenCL-based compute tasks, which are common in scientific and professional applications. Second, DirectX 10 legacy applications: the 27.6% margin in that test suggests it handles older DX10 titles or software with significantly better efficiency. However, these wins are narrow in the OpenCL case and irrelevant in the DX10 case for modern users. The A4000 Mobile’s lower TDP (115 W versus 190 W) and end-of-life production status further limit its appeal, though the power draw is not a benchmark score.

For users prioritizing raw performance across a broad spectrum of tests, the Arc B580 is the recommendation. For those with specific OpenCL dependencies, the A4000 Mobile’s edge may matter, but the overall data favors Intel.

Specification Differences

The two cards differ substantially in memory configuration. The Arc B580 has 12 GB of GDDR6 on a 192-bit bus, yielding 456.0 GB/s bandwidth. The A4000 Mobile has 8 GB of GDDR6 on a 256-bit bus, yielding 384.0 GB/s bandwidth. Despite the narrower bus, the Arc B580’s higher memory clock (2375 MHz vs 1500 MHz) gives it 18.75% more bandwidth.

Clock speeds are also divergent. The Arc B580 runs at a constant 2670 MHz for both base and boost, while the A4000 Mobile has a base of 1140 MHz and boost of 1680 MHz. The Intel card’s clock is 59% higher than the NVIDIA card’s boost clock, which explains much of the performance delta despite the NVIDIA card having more shading units (5120 vs 2560).

Shading unit counts differ by a factor of two: the A4000 Mobile has 5120, the Arc B580 has 2560. However, the Arc B580’s higher clocks and architecture efficiency overcome this deficit. TMUs are equal at 160, and ROPs are equal at 80. Ray tracing cores differ: the Arc B580 has 20, the A4000 Mobile has 40. The NVIDIA card also has 160 tensor cores, while the Intel card has none listed.

Pixel rate favors the Arc B580 at 213.6 GPixel/s versus 134.4 GPixel/s, a 59% advantage. Texture rate is also higher on Intel: 427.2 GTexel/s versus 268.8 GTexel/s. FP32 performance goes the other way: the A4000 Mobile delivers 17.20 TFLOPS versus 13.67 TFLOPS for the Arc B580. FP16 is a tie at 17.20 TFLOPS for NVIDIA (1:1) versus 27.34 TFLOPS for Intel (2:1).

The TDP difference is significant: 190 W for the Arc B580 versus 115 W for the A4000 Mobile. The Arc B580 requires a dual-slot cooler and a 1x 8-pin power connector, with a suggested 450 W PSU. The A4000 Mobile has no power connectors (it is a mobile part). Bus interface also differs: PCIe 4.0 x8 for Intel, PCIe 4.0 x16 for NVIDIA. Display outputs are 1x HDMI 2.1a and 3x DisplayPort 2.1 on the Arc B580, while the A4000 Mobile’s outputs are portable-device dependent.

Architecture Differences

The Intel Arc B580 is built on the Xe2-HPG architecture, codenamed Battlemage, part of the Arc 5 generation. It uses the BMG-G21 chip manufactured on a 5 nm process at TSMC. The die size is 272 mm², containing 19,600 million transistors, giving a transistor density of 72.1M per mm². This is a newer, denser design compared to the A4000 Mobile.

The NVIDIA RTX A4000 Mobile uses the Ampere architecture, specifically the GA104 chip, on an 8 nm Samsung process. The die is larger at 392 mm² but contains fewer transistors at 17,400 million, resulting in a lower density of 44.4M per mm². The A4000 Mobile is from the Ampere-MW generation (Ax000) and is now end-of-life, with its successor being Ada-MW. Its predecessor was Quadro Turing-M.

The Arc B580’s predecessor is Alchemist, and it remains in active production. The release dates differ by over three years: the A4000 Mobile launched on April 11, 2021, while the Arc B580 launched on December 12, 2024. This generational gap explains the architectural improvements in Intel’s design.

API support is identical: both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The key differentiator is the underlying architecture. Xe2-HPG is designed for high clock rates and efficient execution, while Ampere focuses on massive parallelism (5120 shading units, 40 RT cores, 160 tensor cores). The benchmark results, however, show that Intel’s approach yields better real-world performance in most tests, particularly in Vulkan and compute workloads.

The A4000 Mobile’s tensor cores (160) are absent from the Arc B580’s specifications, but this does not translate to a compute advantage in the Passmark GPU Compute test — the Arc B580 leads by 20.9%. The RT core count also favors NVIDIA (40 vs 20), yet no ray tracing benchmark is available in the data to compare that aspect directly. The transistor density difference (72.1M vs 44.4M per mm²) reflects the more modern 5 nm process versus the older 8 nm node, which is a primary driver of the Arc B580’s higher clocks and efficiency.