Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580 vs NVIDIA RTX A400 Comparison

Where Each One Wins

The data splits these two GPUs into very different roles. The Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580 is an integrated part, built for systems where the CPU and graphics share the same package. Its recorded wins are essentially tied to its role as a compact, low-power onboard solution. The NVIDIA RTX A400, however, is a discrete workstation card, and it dominates every benchmark where both were measured. The RTX A400 wins both head-to-head tests, with no wins recorded for the Intel part.

Looking at the benchmark results, the RTX A400 is the clear performance leader in raw compute and graphics API workloads. In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A400 scores 22,844 against the P580’s 9,082, a delta of -60.2% from the Intel part’s perspective. In Geekbench Vulkan, the gap widens further: 22,237 versus 5,258, a delta of -76.4%. The Intel P580 does not win any of the recorded head-to-head tests.

Where the Intel part may still have a place is in its intended environment: an integrated graphics processor with a 15 W TDP, using system shared memory. It is end-of-life, released in late August 2015, and its percentile rank among all GPUs is 39. The RTX A400, by contrast, is active production, released in mid-April 2024, with a 50 W TDP, dedicated 4 GB GDDR6 memory, and a percentile rank of 35. The percentile figures are close, but the actual benchmark scores tell a different story. The Intel part’s average benchmark score is 7,170, while the RTX A400’s average is 6,078. This apparent contradiction is explained by the fact that the RTX A400’s average includes a series of Passmark tests with very low scores, dragging its mean down despite its much higher Geekbench results.

In terms of use cases, the RTX A400 is built for workstation tasks, with a single-slot form factor, four mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. The Intel P580 supports DirectX 12 (12_1), OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.3, but its display outputs are motherboard dependent, and its memory bandwidth is system dependent. The RTX A400 also has dedicated ray tracing and tensor cores, features entirely absent from the Intel part.

Architecture Differences

The two chips come from different foundries, nodes, and design lineages. The Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580 uses the Skylake GT4e chip, built on Intel’s 14 nm+ process, with a Generation 9.0 architecture. The NVIDIA RTX A400 uses the GA107 chip, built on Samsung’s 8 nm process, with an Ampere architecture. The Intel part is from the HD Graphics-W (Skylake) generation, while the NVIDIA part is from the Workstation Ampere (Ax000) generation.

The Intel chip integrates 576 shading units, 72 texture mapping units, and 9 raster output units. The NVIDIA chip has 768 shading units, 24 TMUs, and 16 ROPs. The Intel part has no ray tracing cores and no tensor cores. The NVIDIA part has 6 RT cores and 24 tensor cores. The NVIDIA chip also has a larger transistor count: 8,700 million transistors on a 200 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 43.5 million per mm². The Intel part’s transistor count and die size are not recorded in the database.

Clock speeds show the NVIDIA part running much higher. The Intel P580 has a base clock of 350 MHz and a boost clock of 1000 MHz. The RTX A400 has a base clock of 1417 MHz and a boost clock of 1762 MHz. Memory is fundamentally different. The Intel part uses system shared memory, with the type, bus width, and size all listed as system shared, and bandwidth is system dependent. The RTX A400 has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 96.00 GB/s, and a memory clock of 1500 MHz with 12 Gbps effective speed.

The Intel part’s pixel rate is 9.000 GPixel/s, its texture rate is 72.00 GTexel/s, and its FP32 performance is 1,152.0 GFLOPS. Its FP16 performance is 2.304 TFLOPS with a 2:1 ratio. The RTX A400 has a pixel rate of 28.19 GPixel/s, a texture rate of 42.29 GTexel/s, and FP32 performance of 2.706 TFLOPS. Its FP16 performance is also 2.706 TFLOPS, but with a 1:1 ratio, meaning it does not accelerate FP16 at a higher rate than FP32. The Intel part’s bus interface is a Ring Bus, while the RTX A400 uses PCIe 4.0 x8.

The RTX A400 draws 50 W and requires no power connectors, with a suggested PSU of 250 W. The Intel P580 draws 15 W and is an IGP, meaning it is integrated into the motherboard or CPU package. The RTX A400 is a single-slot card, 163 mm long and 69 mm high. The Intel part has no recorded dimensions. The RTX A400’s predecessor is Quadro Turing, and its successor is Workstation Ada, while the Intel part has no recorded predecessor or successor.

Head-to-Head Benchmarks

Only two benchmarks were run on both parts, and the NVIDIA RTX A400 wins both by substantial margins.

In Geekbench OpenCL, the RTX A400 scores 22,844 against the Intel P580’s 9,082. The delta is -60.2%, meaning the Intel part is roughly 60% behind the NVIDIA part. This is a compute-heavy workload, and the RTX A400’s advantage is likely due to its dedicated memory, higher clock speeds, and more shading units. The Intel part’s system shared memory and low clocks limit its OpenCL performance.

In Geekbench Vulkan, the margin is even larger. The RTX A400 scores 22,237, while the Intel P580 scores 5,258. The delta is -76.4%, meaning the Intel part is more than three quarters slower in this API. Vulkan is a low-level graphics API, and the RTX A400’s Ampere architecture, with its dedicated RT and tensor cores, likely provides a significant advantage in driver overhead and feature support. The Intel part’s Vulkan 1.3 support is older than the RTX A400’s Vulkan 1.4, which may also contribute to the gap.

The database also includes additional benchmarks for the RTX A400 that were not run on the Intel part. These include Passmark DirectX 10, 11, 12, and 9 scores of 32, 37, 27, and 87, respectively, as well as Passmark G2D, G3D, and GPU compute scores of 899, 5,983, and 2,557. These are not directly comparable to the Intel part, but they show the RTX A400’s performance profile across different workloads. Its Passmark G3D score of 5,983 is respectable, while its DirectX 12 score of 27 is notably low, suggesting that the card may not be optimized for gaming-oriented DX12 workloads.

Looking at the nearest rivals in the database provides additional context. The Intel P580’s average benchmark score of 7,170 puts it nearly exactly at the level of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE, which has an average score of 7,171 and a delta of 0%. It is also within 0.2% of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 (7,157), 0.5% behind the AMD Radeon Vega 8 Mobile (7,203), and 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 (7,222). This indicates that the Intel part performs roughly at the level of a mid-range discrete GPU from several generations ago.

The RTX A400’s average benchmark score of 6,078 places it near the NVIDIA GeForce MX230, which has an average score of 6,077 and a delta of 0%. It is also within 0.5% of the NVIDIA Quadro P2000 (6,049), 0.6% behind the Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200 (6,117), and 1% ahead of the AMD Radeon 760M (6,019). This is interesting: the RTX A400’s average is dragged down by its low Passmark scores, but its Geekbench results are far higher than any of these rivals.

FAQ

Q: Which GPU has the higher Geekbench OpenCL score?

A: The NVIDIA RTX A400 scores 22,844, while the Intel Iris Pro Graphics P580 scores 9,082. The RTX A400 wins by a delta of -60.2% from the Intel part’s perspective.

Q: What is the memory configuration of each GPU?

A: The Intel P580 uses system shared memory, with its size, type, and bus width all listed as system shared, and bandwidth is system dependent. The RTX A400 has 4 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 64-bit bus, with a bandwidth of 96.00 GB/s.

Q: Does either GPU support ray tracing?

A: The Intel P580 has no ray tracing cores. The RTX A400 has 6 RT cores, along with 24 tensor cores.

Q: What are the thermal design power ratings?

A: The Intel P580 has a TDP of 15 W and is an IGP. The RTX A400 has a TDP of 50 W, requires no power connectors, and has a suggested PSU of 250 W.

Q: What is the production status of each GPU?

A: The Intel P580 is end-of-life, with a release date of August 31, 2015. The RTX A400 is active production, with a release date of April 15, 2024.

Q: How do the average benchmark scores compare?

A: The Intel P580 has an average benchmark score of 7,170, while the RTX A400 has an average of 6,078. However, the RTX A400’s average is lowered by its low Passmark scores, and it wins both head-to-head Geekbench tests decisively.

The Verdict

The data is unambiguous: the NVIDIA RTX A400 is the superior performer in every benchmark where both parts were measured. Its Geekbench OpenCL score is more than double that of the Intel P580, and its Geekbench Vulkan score is more than four times higher. For any workload involving OpenCL or Vulkan, the RTX A400 is the clear choice.

The Intel P580’s only advantages are its low 15 W TDP, its integrated nature, and its status as a legacy part. It is end-of-life, and its performance places it at the level of older mid-range discrete GPUs like the GeForce GTX 560 SE or GTX 970, based on the nearest rival data. It may still be found in older Skylake systems, but it is not a competitive option against a modern discrete card.

The RTX A400 is a workstation card, with a single-slot form factor, four mini-DisplayPort 1.4a outputs, and support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, OpenGL 4.6, and Vulkan 1.4. It has dedicated RT and tensor cores, which the Intel part lacks entirely. Its 4 GB of GDDR6 memory is a significant advantage over system shared memory, and its 96.00 GB/s bandwidth is fixed rather than system dependent.

However, the RTX A400’s average benchmark score is lower than the Intel P580’s, due to its very low Passmark DirectX scores. This suggests that the RTX A400 is not optimized for gaming workloads, particularly DirectX 12, where it scores only 27. Its Passmark G3D score of 5,983 is more reasonable, but still below what its Geekbench results might suggest.

In practical terms, the RTX A400 is for professional use: workstation rendering, compute tasks, and multi-display setups. The Intel P580 is for basic integrated graphics in legacy laptops or compact desktops, where its low power draw and lack of discrete memory are acceptable trade-offs. For anyone choosing between the two today, the RTX A400 is the only sensible pick if performance matters. The Intel part’s only role is in systems that cannot accommodate a discrete card, and even then, its end-of-life status and low scores make it a weak option. The recorded data gives the RTX A400 a 2-0 win record, and that is the definitive answer.