Intel Arc A380 vs Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 80EUs

The Intel Arc A380 is a low-cost single-seed desktop GPU and is manufactured at TSMC using the 6 nm process. The graphics processor has the internal designation DG2-128 and combines 1,024 shader units. In terms of VRAM, you still get 6 GB GDDR6, which are connected via a 96-bit interface (15.5 Gbps, 186 GB/s). This makes the Intel Arc A380 the fourth fastest graphics card model from Intel.

Features

As the Intel Arc A380 is also based on the Alchemist architecture, the small model also has the same features as the faster models of the current Arc models. Nevertheless, there are significant performance limitations compared to the faster models. The most useful feature is certainly AV1 support, which enables encoding and decoding on the hardware side.

Performance

The performance of the Intel Arc A380 cannot keep up with current graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia. In view of this, this graphics card is not recommended exclusively for gaming use.

Power consumption

The power consumption of the Intel Arc A380 is estimated by the manufacturer at 75 watts (TGP). In terms of efficiency, the Intel Arc A380 is not convincing due to its low 3D performance. In the internal duel, the Intel Arc A380 is slightly more efficient than an Intel Arc A580 or an Intel Arc A750.

The Intel Xe Graphics G7 80EUs (Tiger-Lake U GPU with 80 EUs) is a integrated graphics card in the mid range Tiger-Lake U CPUs (15 - 28 Watt, e.g. Core i5 11th Gen CPUs). It is using the new Xe architecture (Gen12) and should be announced later in 2020.

The performance depends on the TDP settings of the laptop and the used cooling. First informations show that the chip can be configured at 15 and 28 Watt TDP default (as the Ice Lake-U chips) and the performance should be around a dedicated GeForce MX330 in 3DMark benchmarks. For gaming we are expecting a bit worse performance due to the missing dedicated graphics memory and driver support. Compared to the older Iris Plus G4 in Ice Lake chips, the Tiger Lake GPU should be nearly twice as fast. Benchmarks with various laptops show that the 80EU version lacks about 18% behind the faster 96EU version and on par with the MX330. Compared to AMD iGPUs, the G7 80EU positions itself around the Vega 7 and Vega 8 chips (see chart below for details).

Therefore, the iGPU is still only for lowest graphical settings and low resolutions in demanding games. Some modern games like Days Gone or Cyberpunk wont run over 30 fps in minimum settings (see below).

The Tiger Lake SoCs and therefore the integrated GPU are manufactured in the modern 10nm+ (10nm Superfin) process (improved 10nm process) at Intel and therefore should offer a very good efficiency.