Intel Arc Pro B390 vs NVIDIA L4 Comparison

FAQ

Q: How does the Intel Arc Pro B390's compute capability compare to the NVIDIA L4's?

A: The NVIDIA L4 delivers 30.29 TFLOPS of FP32 compute, while the Intel Arc Pro B390 delivers 7.680 TFLOPS. The L4 holds a substantial lead in raw floating-point throughput, roughly 2.9 times the Intel part's peak.

Q: What is the memory configuration difference between the two?

A: The NVIDIA L4 has 24 GB of dedicated GDDR6 memory on a 192-bit bus with 300.1 GB/s bandwidth. The Intel Arc Pro B390 uses system shared memory, meaning its capacity, type, bus width, and bandwidth are all dependent on the host platform.

Q: Which GPU has a higher benchmark percentile ranking?

A: The NVIDIA L4 ranks in the 95th percentile against all GPUs in the database, while the Intel Arc Pro B390 sits at the 50th percentile. This indicates the L4 outperforms the majority of recorded GPUs, whereas the B390 lands near the median.

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

A: The Intel Arc Pro B390 is an integrated graphics processor (IGP) with an 80 W TDP and no power connectors. The NVIDIA L4 is a single-slot, 169 mm long PCIe 4.0 x16 card with a 72 W TDP, no power connectors, and a suggested PSU of 250 W.

Q: What API support do both GPUs offer?

A: Both support DirectX 12 Ultimate (12_2), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. Their API feature sets match, so software compatibility at the API level is equivalent.

Q: When were these products released?

A: The Intel Arc Pro B390 was released on January 26, 2026. The NVIDIA L4 was released on March 20, 2023.

Architecture Differences

The Intel Arc Pro B390 and NVIDIA L4 come from fundamentally different design lineages. The Intel part uses the Xe3-LPG architecture built on a 3 nm process at Intel's own foundry, with the chip codenamed Panther Lake. It belongs to the Arc Graphics-WM (Panther Lake) generation and succeeds HD Graphics-WM. The NVIDIA L4 uses the Ada Lovelace architecture, built on a 5 nm process at TSMC, with the AD104 chip and a generation label of Server Ada (Lxx). Its predecessor is Server Ampere, and its successor is Server Hopper.

The transistor counts differ drastically. The NVIDIA L4 packs 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die, yielding a transistor density of 121.8 million per mm². The Intel Arc Pro B390's transistor count and die size are unknown, so a density comparison cannot be made from the recorded data.

The shading engine configurations are far apart. The B390 has 1,536 shading units, 48 texture mapping units, and 24 raster output units. The L4 has 7,424 shading units, 240 TMUs, and 80 ROPs. The L4 also carries 60 ray tracing cores and 240 tensor cores, while the B390 lists 12 RT cores and no tensor core count. The absence of tensor cores on the Intel side suggests a different approach to AI acceleration, though the B390's FP16 rate of 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1) indicates it can still perform mixed-precision work.

Clock behavior separates the two as well. The B390 has a base clock of 300 MHz and a boost clock of 2500 MHz, a wide frequency range typical of integrated parts. The L4 runs at 795 MHz base and 2040 MHz boost. Memory clocks diverge: the L4 uses a dedicated 1563 MHz memory clock (12.5 Gbps effective), while the B390's memory clock is tied to shared system memory.

The form factors are wholly different. The B390 is an IGP with a Portable Device Dependent display output, meaning it relies on the host device for video output. The L4 is a single-slot PCIe 4.0 x16 add-in card with no display outputs at all, intended for server environments where rendering is compute-only.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

The recorded database contains no direct head-to-head benchmark entries between the Intel Arc Pro B390 and the NVIDIA L4. However, the available benchmark data for the L4 and the percentile rankings for both parts provide a basis for comparison.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the NVIDIA L4 scores 140,838. In Geekbench Vulkan, it scores 121,306. Its average benchmark score across recorded tests is 131,072. The Intel Arc Pro B390 has no individual benchmark scores recorded, and its average benchmark score is listed as 0. This makes a direct numeric comparison impossible, but the L4's nearest rivals provide context for where it stands.

The L4's average score of 131,072 places it within 0.7% of the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 Ti (131,938), 3.1% behind the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada Generation (135,218), 3.1% behind the NVIDIA A10M (135,230), and 3.2% behind the AMD Radeon PRO W6800 (135,396). These delta percentages show the L4 operating at a near-parity level with the RTX 3090 Ti, while trailing the other three by a narrow margin. The B390's 50th percentile ranking versus the L4's 95th percentile suggests a wide performance gap in favor of the NVIDIA part, but without recorded B390 scores, the magnitude cannot be quantified from the database.

The pixel and texture rates reinforce the L4's advantage. The L4 produces 163.2 GPixel/s and 489.6 GTexel/s, while the B390 produces 60.00 GPixel/s and 120.0 GTexel/s. These are theoretical peak rates, not benchmark results, but they indicate the L4 has roughly 2.7 times the pixel throughput and 4.1 times the texture throughput of the B390.

The Verdict

The data indicates a decisive performance advantage for the NVIDIA L4 across compute throughput, memory bandwidth, and benchmark percentile standing. The L4's 30.29 TFLOPS FP32 output, 300.1 GB/s memory bandwidth, and 95th percentile ranking place it firmly in the high-performance segment. The Intel Arc Pro B390, with 7.680 TFLOPS FP32, system shared memory, and a 50th percentile ranking, occupies a mid-tier position at best.

The L4 is a dedicated server accelerator with 24 GB of GDDR6 memory, 60 RT cores, and 240 tensor cores. Its single-slot, PCIe 4.0 x16 form factor and no display outputs point to a compute-focused deployment. The B390 is an integrated GPU with no discrete memory, no tensor cores, and a display output dependent on the host device. Its 80 W TDP and IGP bus interface suggest it is designed for portable or embedded systems where space and power are constrained.

The 95th percentile versus 50th percentile gap in the database is stark. A GPU at the 95th percentile outperforms nearly all recorded GPUs, while one at the 50th percentile sits exactly at the median. This alone tells the story: the L4 belongs to a different performance class than the B390. Users requiring heavy compute, AI inference, or high-bandwidth memory workloads should select the L4. The B390 serves a more modest role, suitable for general graphics and light compute within an integrated platform.

Specification Differences

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

Process and Foundry: Intel Arc Pro B390 uses a 3 nm process at Intel's foundry. NVIDIA L4 uses a 5 nm process at TSMC.

Transistors and Die: L4 has 35,800 million transistors on a 294 mm² die with a density of 121.8M / mm². B390 has unknown transistor count and die size.

Clocks: B390 runs at 300 MHz base and 2500 MHz boost. L4 runs at 795 MHz base and 2040 MHz boost. L4 has a dedicated memory clock of 1563 MHz (12.5 Gbps effective); B390's memory clock is system shared.

Memory: B390 uses system shared memory with system dependent bandwidth. L4 has 24 GB GDDR6, 192-bit bus, 300.1 GB/s bandwidth.

Compute Units: B390 has 1,536 shading units, 48 TMUs, 24 ROPs, and 12 RT cores. L4 has 7,424 shading units, 240 TMUs, 80 ROPs, 60 RT cores, and 240 tensor cores.

Rates: B390 delivers 60.00 GPixel/s and 120.0 GTexel/s. L4 delivers 163.2 GPixel/s and 489.6 GTexel/s.

FP32 and FP16: B390 delivers 7.680 TFLOPS FP32 and 15.36 TFLOPS FP16 (2:1). L4 delivers 30.29 TFLOPS FP32 and 30.29 TFLOPS FP16 (1:1).

Power and Form: B390 has an 80 W TDP, IGP slot width, no power connectors, and an IGP bus interface. L4 has a 72 W TDP, single-slot width, no power connectors, a suggested PSU of 250 W, and a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface.

Dimensions: L4 measures 169 mm (6.7 inches) long and 56 mm (2.2 inches) high. B390 has no recorded dimensions.

Display Outputs: B390 is Portable Device Dependent. L4 has no outputs.

Release Dates: B390 released January 26, 2026. L4 released March 20, 2023.

Percentile: B390 is at the 50th percentile. L4 is at the 95th percentile.

Where Each One Wins

The NVIDIA L4 wins decisively in compute-intensive workloads. Its 30.29 TFLOPS FP32 and matching 30.29 TFLOPS FP16 output make it suitable for floating-point-heavy tasks like scientific simulation, deep learning inference, and rendering. The 240 tensor cores provide dedicated hardware for AI matrix operations, a feature the B390 lacks entirely. The 24 GB GDDR6 memory with 300.1 GB/s bandwidth enables large dataset processing without host memory contention. The L4's 95th percentile ranking and proximity to the RTX 3090 Ti in average benchmark score confirm its high-end positioning.

The Intel Arc Pro B390 wins in power-constrained, integrated environments. Its 80 W TDP and IGP form factor require no power connectors and no discrete slot, making it suitable for compact portable devices. The system shared memory approach eliminates the need for dedicated VRAM allocation, which can simplify system design. Its 50th percentile ranking places it near the median of all GPUs, adequate for everyday graphics and light parallel workloads. The FP16 rate of 15.36 TFLOPS (2:1) shows some mixed-precision capability, though without tensor cores, AI acceleration would rely on general-purpose shader execution.

Neither GPU supports display output in a conventional desktop sense: the B390 depends on the portable device, and the L4 has none. The L4's server lineage, with PCIe 4.0 x16 and a 250 W suggested PSU, targets rack-mounted compute nodes. The B390's IGP bus interface and Panther Lake chip target mobile integration. The choice between them follows the hardware context: the L4 for dedicated server acceleration, the B390 for integrated mobile graphics.